Although strictly speaking the Université Populaire Européenne (UPE) is actually part of the University of Strasbourg it is very much regarded as something entirely separate from the City’s sprawling educational establishment, which this year, as ever, is welcoming over 40,000 students. The reason being is that the UPE is where those of us whom have [...]
Music Schools in Strasbourg
Monday, September 5, 2011
For a city so small it is quite surprising to learn that Strasbourg has no fewer than 17 music schools within it’s boundaries. So if you, or your children (on Wednesdays for example), would like to learn an instrument, sing in a choir, play in an orchestra or simply study the art-form then you’re spoiled [...]
Foire aux vins?
Friday, August 26, 2011
When is a Wine Fair not a Wine Fair? When it’s The Wine Fair! Ok – not funny, but true. I refer of course to the famous Foire aux vins which takes place every August in Colmar. With such a name, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this particular festival had something to do with [...]
Sweaty season
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Hot Summers, cold Winters… is pretty much the way to describe the climate here in Strasbourg. In Summer though, while the idea of warmth might sound attractive, it is the inescapable humidity at night which drives local residents to the mountains or to cooler night air elsewhere in France (usually further south). Daytime temperatures are [...]
It can’t go on …
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The British obsession with dissing the Euro project had to end sooner or later. Although, none would have predicted that the collapse of law and order across the entire country would be it. Now, as violent youths ransack high-streets up and down the country, the Eurozone PIIGS seem to have been quickly forgotten. With images [...]
Koenigshoffen ‘East’ or Robertsau ?
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
I recently received this wee message from Andrew who poses a number of not uncommon questions about Strasbourg. Seeing as there’ll be a vast influx of new students to the city very shortly – I thought an open reply might prove useful to other new readers of EiS? I am soon to be moving to [...]
A Little Bit of Chaos
Monday, July 18, 2011
Is it wrong to write a review for your own book? It’s certainly not illegal. Arguably, if prepared to admit the conflict of interest up front, there’s no reason why an author shouldn’t at least have a go at convincing people to buy their own work. Ahem. In the most impartial and balanced way you understand?
Rastamouse : linguistic regression for the nation’s youth
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Language development in a bilingual child can be severely retarded if they see no point in learning to communicate in a language that is not spoken locally. So, as the parent of bilingual children, one of the reasons you need to make regular trips back to your homeland is to demonstrate to your offspring that your native language has value, and thus to give them the impetus to learn it.
Holiday? What Holiday?
Sunday, July 3, 2011
One major disadvantage of having kids abroad is having to trade in your time previously allotted to ‘holidays’ for visits back ‘home’ – to ensure your offspring get some quality time with their extended family. While in theory these visits need not be stressful nor expensive they are inevitably usually both – as well as [...]
Henman syndrome
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
One minor change to my annual telly-watching schedule, since moving to France, is that I have had to exchange Wimbledon for Roland-Garros in the summer months. Roland Garros (taking it’s name from the famous French pilot – of course) takes place in the last two weeks of May each year and, being one of the [...]
Car boot sales
Saturday, May 28, 2011
In Britain they’re known as ‘car-boot sales’, in the US as ‘garage sales’, but in France as vide greniers (literally: emtpy-attics). In all cases the formula is pretty much the same – people gather somwhere to sell all the junk they don’t want for a knock-down price. These are not to be confused with brocantes (antiques [...]
Tous les Soleils
Friday, May 20, 2011
I am very slowly closing in on ‘integrating’ into French society. It has taken five years to get to a point where I no longer feel awkward in a French speaking environment (and am finally ‘DELF‘ qualified!); although I am still unsure as how to greet certain people I have no hang-ups about kissing the [...]
Radiation sickness
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I am currently trapped in French bureaucracy like never before. I chose to end my activities as a freelancer or ‘professionel independent’ at the end of 2010, naïvely believing that this would mark an end to the incessant paperwork that comes with running your own business in La Republique. On the upside it has meant [...]
Cancel your assurance d’habitation now!
Monday, January 17, 2011
I hate the insurance industry with a passion, for insurance firms and agents are, without argument, in league with the devil. They profit from spreading fear and anxiety amongst us, presenting the worst case scenario for every aspect of our lives, in the hope that we will delve into our pockets for a little peace [...]
Tout va pas bien
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The town I grew up in, in the west of England, was blessed with but one miserable little theatre, and although it regularly hosted some very entertaining shows, it was on rare occasions that all 200 or so seats were filled. For I, like the majority of fellow town-folk, considered an evening out at the [...]
Mont de Contades
Thursday, December 30, 2010
It was our intention to head up to Champ de Feu, the nearest ski station to Strasbourg, to go sledging on Boxing/St. Stephen’s Day this year, however this plan seemed hard to justify when 40 cm of snow settled in the City itself on Christmas morning; and given the fact too that the council had [...]
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