Paganini

The library at UCSD has an enormous collection of sheet music, and I was able to find scores of Paganini that I didn’t even know the existence of! They basically have all (or at least a good number) of these compositions that he played for such and such queen or such and such special event, and which you can read about in his biographies, but I had always thought that the manuscripts were lost, if there ever were manuscripts. Apparently however this is not the case! So I could copy some of the scores which, let’s be honest, I will probably never play because it does look quite unplayable, but just for the sake of completeness, I should have the Sonata Maria Luisa (on the G string tuned to B) on my bookshelf. Here in Colorado they don’t have that many scores, but still have a good selection. I should be able to copy Ernst’s concerto… And I might even rent some cheap violin or buy one on craigslist. Now, that's great.

To cheat or not to cheat

I found this sign (which is in our classroom) quite interesting. You would never have this in Europe, or at least not in France. However, some European students who came to study in the US told me that it does work. In the sense that, you might have been cheating like mad when you were in Europe, when you arrive for example at Princeton, you have to sign something saying that you won’t cheat for your exams. Then teachers give you exams that you take home, that you have to do in a limited time, without the help of any book or calculator, and, of course, alone. And, strangely enough, you obey the rules. Now, I think I wouldn’t have any trouble to obey the rule of book and calculator. Time is already harder to cope with, and resisting calling a friend is also not that easy. So there are at least two questions that arise: in a way, doesn’t this reflects a more individualistic society? And, is it the fact that you sign something that makes it so official that you don’t break the rules?

Cultural differences

Here are some more cultural differences, numbered because my German year did give me some sense of order.

1- I was speaking with some freshly arrived indigene (coming from Korea), and he was surprised to learn that, in Europe, stores were closed on Sunday. The comment was then “Oh. Europe is boring. What can you do on a Sunday if the shops are closed?”

2- A teacher making a comparison biological methods today and a hundred years ago found it interesting to state that it was like artisans and factories. Which, in my point of view, is appropriate. Where it became even more interesting was when he said that, thanks to chain labor, “workers were doing only what they were good at”.

3- By the way Pierre, I at last saw the Chinese stereotypical behavior that you were telling me about. This Chinese guy was living in the same apartment as me (even though the door of his room was always closed and that he hardly said hello), and on the first day of the workshop, he sat next to me in the computer room. So we had this exercise sheet, with different biological models we were supposed to simulate using some new software during the whole afternoon. Apparently he was a bit lost, and saw that I was progressing in the questions, so asked me “how do you do the first question?”. Well I explained him, or rather he copied what I had on my screen but I think without really understanding. Then I see him struggling with the 2nd question. And he asks me, “how do you do the 2nd question?”. I explain, he says “yes yes yes” and nods, copies my computer screen, and goes on to the next question. Well, what do you know, the 3rd question also wasn’t exactly clear for him. So same thing happens. And this repeats until the point that I stop in the exercise sheet because I want to see some other feature of the software that the teacher didn’t tell us about, and that's not part of the exercise sheet. So, he turns to me and asks me
- How do you do this question?
- Well you know I haven’t done it yet
- You haven’t done it???
- No, I mean, this other feature in the software looked interesting and I wanted to see more of it.
He looks puzzled:
- Oh.
And he immediately left the computer room and didn’t come back for the rest of the afternoon.

Germs are everywhere

After alcohol, here is the other great phobia: germs. You can find the kind of signs shown on the picture at some places of the university, and you can find the dry soaps that kill 99.99% of the germs everywhere. Especially of course at the entrance of the cafeteria, where the signs say that “everyday, you’re in contact with 3 million germs before 11AM”. Now, assuming that you get up early, around 6AM, that’s 17 germs per second that attack you. Do you feel more insecure?

I am terribly sorry that the picture is rotated, but I don't know how to solve this problem. As an apology, please accept this cute picture of E. Coli:

The Great Satan: Alcohol

Speaking of beer, you all know that the drinking age is 21 in the US. What you might not know, is that the so-called fraternities, that have such fancy names as “Kappa Sigma”, “Alpha Xi Omega” and other “Beta Gamma Tau” take their Greek names pretty much as an excuse for the organization of Roman Orgies. So basically, undergrad studies is quite commonly seen as a way to get drunk on your parents’ money. This explains all these weird signs that you have pinned all around, on “how to recognize someone who is drunk”, “the myths about alcoholism”, or “the numbers of alcoholism” (they say that more students die every year of alcoholism than the number of students that get a PhD). In San Diego, the sign says that “95% of the UCSD students believe that it is wrong to pressure a date into drinking to improve chances of having sex”. This is the land of civilization and self-responsibility.

Shakespeare pie

There is every year a Shakespeare Festival at the University. The evening we went, they were actually playing "A servant to two masters” by Goldoni. I won't go into the plot of the play because it's altogether too complex, but it's a typical Commedia dell'arte play, which happened to be rendered as a mix of Goldoni and of “American Pie”, or “Borat”. You cannot imagine everything you can do with food. The comments by the family just in front of me after the play were that “it was great!”. I have to admit that the creativity of the director was amazing, and that I will never see a piece of bread in the same way as before. And you have to grant everyone for professionalism. But you know, it’s (most) probably more fun to see Goldoni this way than the way you would see it in a classical French theatre. And also you make Goldoni accessible to everyone. So in the end it’s always the same question right? Andre Rieu doesn’t know how to play, he’s vulgar, but at least now some people know Strauss’ waltzes and might be pushed to listening more classical music…

4th of July

For the National Holiday we gathered in the local stadium, where a proper celebration of Independence Day was organized. It all began with songs, that gave place to kids and non- kids jumping over ropes, themselves being replaced by songs. The audience had to choose between 4 songs, each of which had been selected by one of the coaches of the University, who all gave special meanings to their songs. For example there was this coach who had chosen a song about becoming an American, which was of course of special meaning to him, since he had “fled from Yugoslavia to go to the country of Freedom”. I have to say I was sitting between a Slovene and a Russian. The other coach selected “God bless America" (see here for example) and dedicated it “to all our guys who are in Irak and do a wonderful job over there”. The third one asked for “This land is my land” (click here for a modern version), the last one for the “Stripes and banner” anthem (the original, the best-known remix), sung by his 6-year old daughter. The song that got the most cheering from the crowd was to be sung entirely. This is democracy right? I mean, we shouldn’t forget that the US is the country that invented democracy, and spread it all over the world (especially to Greece). But as even in a Free country, elections can be biased, we had to stand the 6-year old girl. The show went on with the “World famous freesbee dogs” (what do you mean you don’t know them???), celebrities that were followed by a choir. Even the help of God, however thoroughly asked for in the songs, could not prevent the conductor to beat out of rhythm. A live buffalo, the local football team mascot, ran around the stadium and, last, someone read the “We, the people”, which nobody listened to, even if some parts of the text are very interesting. It all ended up with an endless firework. Very nice evening actually. We just had to go and gather some beer and drink them indoors, in the common area. This is not allowed of course. You should be in your room, with your door closed. But we were lucky and nobody showed up. I should add that, according to a poll shown on Fox News, July 4th is “a day to go in your garden and have a BBQ” for 44% of the Americans, and “a day to celebrate freedom” for 40% of the Americans. Does this mean that these 40% don’t have a garden?

My arrival in The Great Country

The trip began quite in a hurry since my train was leaving at 8h17 and that I didn’t hear my alarm clock, or rather heard it and fell asleep again, so that I reopened my eyes only at 7h57. Now, those of you who know Goettingen also know that we need basically 15 minutes to go from my apartment to the train station. Nonetheless, defying time, I jumped into my pants, hardly buttoned up my shirt (it was anyway buttoned up from yesterday) and grabbed my suitcase, running to the station. I actually arrived at 8h10, so that I even had time to look at some newspapers at the newsstand. After arriving at the airport, where I am quite proud to say that I answered all the questions in German (basically this means I got my name right in German), and after having gone through all the security checks and all the checking-in process, I had a last minute call from Lufthansa who had an “important message” for me, namely they wanted to know whether I had only one luggage. Apparently they were satisfied with my positive answer, and I just had to hop into the plane to find myself between a German biologist and an old Russian lady, to whom I had to translate what was written on the immigration card. For those of you who are interested, the movie in the plane was “Blades of Glory”, which I cannot but not recommend.

Anyway I arrive in Newark and I go through immigration services, where the guy at the desk apparently doesn’t believe that there is such a thing as a Summer School in Colorado, and he asks me to go to this special room, where agent Schmulowski double checks what I already said to the first guy, asks me if anyone will help me financially during the month, and wants to know how much money I have on my bank account. After this interlude, I go to the baggage claim, and Lufthansa has another “important message” for me. And guess what, it also concerns my luggage… Well, what do you know, they’ve lost it. Or anyway, it’s still in Frankfurt. Well, I just have to go through the customs, where I am again interrogated by someone different than the usual guy (but that’s because agent Schmulowski wrote something on my customs card), who wants to know how much money I have on me, asks me where my luggage is, and wants all the information about my work and the place I work and the place I go to. Did you know that they observe you behind their tainted glass offices by the way, and wait to see what you’re doing? Isn’t this perverse?

I arrived late enough in Colorado to have to go to eat at Taco Bell and not be able to finish my second Taco or whatever that was on my menu. Happily some people around me had less demanding taste than my refined French palate and gladfully accepted the remaining piece of food. Let’s call it the “remaining item” rather.