Culture Exchange Fun

Today was a pretty decent day.  The first exciting highlight was that I finally received my Paul Valéry student ID card.  Which will entitle me to many unspecified things.  I guess.  But it’s nice to finally have it.  Apparently I can put money on it and use it to eat in a really low-costing student cafeteria on Paul Val’s campus.  So that’s exciting.

My first class went well and then afterwards I grabbed a very good loaf of bread for lunch.  It was exquisite.  My second class, history of the region, met at the Jewish Mikvé and we were given a more in depth examination of the Jewish quarter in Montpellier.  My second trip there was just as profound as the first and it was very interesting to hear about the history of this ethnic/religious enclave.  Throughout most of Medieval Europe, Jews were persecuted rather severely by Christendom, but they flocked to Montpellier due to its tolerance and openness to foreigners and foreign ideas.  They were especially attracted to the medical school here, where their expertise and familiarity with the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic languages allowed them to translate many documents from the Semitic world into Latin, allowing Europeans their first glimpse into the more advanced world of Arabic medicine. 

After class, I caught a coffee with some friends before heading home.  After dinner, I went back to town for a get-together organized by the Minnesota program that was essentially a conversation hour between American and French students.  It was a really interesting cultural exchange idea where the Americans practice their French and the French students practice their English, taking the conversation in turns.  I definitely plan on going to more as they come up during the semester.