Getting a library card

Today I became the proud owner of a Ville de Marseille library card! (This brings my grand total to 5, including: Metuchen, Iowa City, Providence, and the Library of Congress.)

This was the fourth time I’d gone to the library to apply for a card: first I didn’t have enough money (like everything else here, a municipal library card has a yearly subscription fee); next I didn’t have sufficient proof of address (and I managed to go several blocks in the wrong direction and subsequently get caught in the absolutely torrential rain) and the third time, even though I’d specifically planned to go to the library, I managed to forget to take both enough money and my proof of address. Fourth time’s the charm, it seems.

When I arrived, there was a huge cluster of people sitting around the subscription counter, waiting for their turn to be called up – apparently Tuesday evening is a popular time for getting a library card. I sat down to wait. Next to me was a 20-something-looking woman reading through a pile of kids’ books. I stared inquisitively. She laughed when she saw me looking at her reading material and asked what I was reading, and we got into this great conversation. (Turns out she’s a master’s student in economics, and is here in Marseille for 5 months for an internship. She was reading the kids’ books because the big pile of them happened to be next to her and she got bored waiting for everyone ahead of her to get processed.) We got to be great pals over the next 45 minutes, waiting our turns. (This is why I love libraries.)

When it was finally my turn, I went up, handed over my passport and proof of address, and got out my checkbook, ready to fork over 21€. But the woman working waved the checkbook away (just as it was dawning on me that there seem to be different lines on French checks and I don’t know what to write on them), telling me it was ok, I didn’t have to pay, because we had the same birthday. She then leaned toward me and whispered something I didn’t understand, but it was clearly the French equivalent of “keep this on the down-low, alright?”

Well, that was certainly a coup. Apparently it’s handy being born on February 9.

Month 1 Update

I’ve been here just over a month, and I’ve been having a fantastic time. Here’s a brief summary – and I promise, for all of you desperate to read more about cogsci, I’ll be going back to posting cool things about language processing soon.

Work
Fantastic, especially my (main) advisor. (My other advisor seems very good too, though I haven’t really had much contact with him.) He’s smart and attentive and clearly cares about my research opinions and how I’m doing. I’m currently doing introductory work (lit review and mental gymnastics) on three different projects – two from which we’re choosing the one to be my main project, and a smaller side one just for something additionally interesting to do. The two biggies are a choice between (1) the effects of word production on comprehension (how does what you’ve just said influence how (easily/quickly/semantically) you perceive subsequent words?), and (2) a masked priming study to look at how semantic or phonological interference might trickle through the lexical system. The mini-side project is a Stroop Effect task looking at how the congruency of previous trials affects the processing time of the current trial. And, I’m back to programming! Who knew?

Activities
Abundant. There are tons of events going on here – maybe more now because it’s the end of the summer, but I’ve got plenty of fun things to do outside of work: lots of great hiking in the surrounding mountains, frisbee, ridiculous events, schmoozing at cafes, things like that. I’m getting to know the people from the lab and they’re all really cool and we’ve done some out-hanging. I have also resolved to go see a soccer game at the stadium in Marseille in the near future, before it gets cold.

Food
Delightful. I get a baguette every day on my way to work. I buy fresh cheese each week at the local market, and that’s astoundingly good. Fruits and veggies, too, are all fresh from Chez Eric, my friendly greengrocer, and extremely delicious. Food seems to be cheaper, here, but it is a little hard to judge.

Language
Expanding. My French has improved enormously. I’m certainly not fluent, but I have a much, much better ability to actually hold coherent conversations. I’m now pretty much able to hold my own (of course with not totally unfrequent requests for repetition).

Bureaucracy
High. I have directly caused the deaths of at least 4 or 5 trees with all the papers I’ve signed with “Lu et approuvé” (“Read and approved”). But,

• I have a bank account
• my credit/debit/ATM card is on its way
• my papers are being processed by the Préfecture so I can get my residency card (the extension of my visa)
• I will have a cell phone extremely shortly (this weekend! I’m doing it!)

Social security still needs to happen. But that’s also on the docket for this weekend.

General Happiness Level
Extremely high. I am thrilled to pieces to be here! Seriously, though, everything is truly going fantastically. Write me letters, or request one from me!

Also, it only took a month but I finally found where the lab fridge is located. In my defense, it was hidden in the bathroom, which is not the most intuitive place to look for it. That’s French culture for you?