Oh, la vache: Part 2

So I haven't posted in a week or 2 because (shocker) I have actually been busy. Work is hard. This past weekend I returned to my field site at Saone-et-Loire, with two friends from Dijon. My American friend Anna saved my life and drove and our German friend Bettina became quite the bailing machine. They both took a million pictures and had pretty good morale despite the weather. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't really improved since the last time I was there and it was a miserable rainy and cold weekend. Alas, we did succeed in doing some work. I was able to collect many samples despite certain small obstacles and Bettina and Anna enjoyed seeing all of the cows, kind of. No, I don't think that was their favorite part but they did enjoy seeing a different part of Burgundy and being able to cook with a real stove and oven at Carole's. The whole weekend was quite overwhelming but it was good to collect some more samples.


Since I returned I've been filtering samples like its my job, which I guess it literally is. My kitchen is now a filtering lab and my refrigerator is pretty full of samples. I'm getting pretty sick of filtering but I'm almost done so I think tonight I may celebrate. My other reason to celebrate is that I now have my carte de sejour. I can now legally stay in the country for the rest of the year!!! I can also leave and come back with no problems; it's so cool. After all of the trouble it took to get it, it was hard to believe that it was real when they just handed it over yesterday.

It's starting to get cooler here so campus seems to be getting quieter. That is also in part because there is another university strike this week. It is not for the sciences though, just the other "fac", droit et lettres or humanities. According to all of the scientists this happens quite often and it is because the humanities people don't have any real work to do. Although, this doesn't seem to be completely true. Despite the fact that all but 2 doors are blockaded there are students trying to use the library and study. When they vote over whether to sustain the strike on Monday it seems that the majority will not be for it. I have to say, I was a little disappointed when I saw how unexciting the strike actually is; there is no actual demonstration. There are just chairs blocking all of the doors. So, not only are the trains striking again but so are the students. And I guess next week there will be a teacher strike, or something like that. There is a new one everyday. Luckily, I don't have any plans to take a train for 2 weeks.

I am running a race this weekend. It is in Beaune, the wine town and is the same weekend as the Hospices de Beaune which is this huge wine tasting/judging every year. So that should be really interesting to see. I'll be running with some friends so I'm really excited about that and while it will be a bit chilly, I think it's going to be very fun. Well, I must return to work and then go home to filter more samples. Hope everyone is doing well at home and have a good day!!!

Ciao,
Sarah