Finalement un autre blog!

Salut à tous.

Geeeh, its been ages, since I the last entry. What is there to say, today 15th August there is a public holiday caused by religous tradition. Very bizzare, as there is no word of religion allowed even in school! To point out the conservatism that exists very strongly below the surface in french society. Information about sex and reproduction is not given in school, only in a very technical level... ok, thats that petit thought.
What else is there to say. Its one week until I leave for Switzerland. I must say, I have somehow enough of Montepellier. I am certain that it is a very interesting town, however at the end of the day its only a provincial capital. In addition, without the 60'000 students which are imatriculated in the local unis, not many are here. This means, that one aspect of a dynamic ins missing.
Looking back over the last 11 weeks, I have to say, that it was worth it, but that I am now certainly ready to go home.

ok, à bien tôt!

philippe

Une autre commentaire

Salut à tous.

Il n'y a pas beacoup d'écrire de Montpellier à cause de la vie ici est un peu ennuyeuse....
Alors, j'ai fait un site avec de photos un peu plus actuels.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoseeker/

Philippe

La cinquième semaine

Bonjour à tous!

Comment s'est passé à Montpellier? Donc, je veux vous dire de quelques choses qui se sont passé. Pour commencer, il faisait très chaud les dernières deux semaines. Normalment il fait entre 26° et 33°. Donc, le problème est que normalment il ne faisait pas frais le soir et le nuit.
Le derniner weekend, je suis allé en Suisse pour attendre le mariage de Cécile. Laquelle a été dans ma classe à l'école pour la maturite. C'est pourqoui j'ai pris la longue chemin à la Suisse. En Suisse j'ai visité la fête du Caliente à Zurich le vendredi. Le samedi, il a été le mariage. Et finalment le dimanche je suis rentré à Montpellier. Pour que je n'ais pas dormi beacoup le dimanche je n'ais pas été très fatigue le soir. Mais maitentant je suis très fatigue. Il est mieux que je n'écris plus encore.

à tout à l'heure

La troisième semaine

Salut à tous

Comment ça va? Après avoir fini ma troisième semaine, je fait maitenant un petit résumé. Je pense que je faisait beacoup de progrès en parler français. Alors, je encore fais beacoup de fautes, mais c'est pas mal. Quand j'arrivais à Montpellier, j'ai pensé que je pouvais parler aucun mot. Mais c'était faut. Après un où deux jours je me souvenais beacoup de choses. Et maitenant, je suis dans le nievau B2. C'est pas mal. Alors, mes plus grands problèms sont le vocabulaire, l'utilisation de passé composé, l'imparfait ou le plus-que parfait. Je m'étonne que je comprenne l'utilisation de subjonctif plus ou moins.
Donc, je souhaite que vous ayez un bon weekend.

Tour de Ville

Aujourd'hui j'ai fait un tour de ville avec ma power velo.

Cartier de Port Marianne







Un tram de la ligne 2


Centre ville, je pense dans la cartier des arabs

L'arc de triumph, il y a plus vielle que laquelle de Paris

La parc de Peyrou



Centre Ville

Images de Montpellier

Bonjour mes amis!

Au-dessous vous pouvez voir des images actuelles:

Centre ville de Montpellier près de l'école

Un parade gay et lesbian à centre ville.

Le canal du midi près de Béziers

Canal du midi

La plage à Cap d'Agde

La cité de Carcassonne

Un nouveau cartier de Montpellier

La première sémaine à Montpellier

Bonjour tout le mond.
Comment allez vous?
Alors, je passais une sémaine à Montpellier, la plus belle ville de la France. Je n'ais pas de photos maitenant, parce que je n'ai pas une cable pour connecter la camera avec l'ordinateur.
As the French keyboard really is pain in the neck, I will change to English. Ok, first an information for any of you guys who intended to make contact with via old fashioned paper letter. DO NOT SEND ANY. I will change the place I am staying on Monday. I decided to change, because at the moment I am staying with an older lady, who is absolutely lovely, but I booked half board. Now thats the real thing I did not realize. As I don't know when I will be back in the eve or want to eat earlier, its always a bit difficult to plan. Therefore I will move in a shared flat on Monday right in downtown Montpellier, which is nice. However my bus pass gets worthless as the school is right in downtown Montpellier.
What is there to tell, the weather has improved, the Swiss have just lost their match, I have visited Bezier and le canal du midi today. Tommorrow I will go to Carcasonne with a German and a Swiss lady. Ok, now something about the school. The school is really nice. I have forgotten how much I love going to school. Yes, I am not bluffing. It's really nice to go to class and you walk out knowing you have improved. I bought for 0,2 Euros a novel in french which I started to read. However what is more interesting, I have seen a book in the store called "La geographie de l'Inde". I think I will buy this one, as its an academic book on my fav subject but in French. Alors, j'aime parler francais. Je faisait beacoup de progres et j'ai l'opinion que je sois lentment en train d'utilizer de correctes formes de grammaire. This last sentence just included two major points of grammar we had this week: use of subjonctif, adverbs. We also discussed indirect speech... and its fun.
Ok, now something about Montpellier. First of all, everthing, except the wine, is bloody expensive. In central Montpellier there is now big supermarket. They are all located near the motorway exit. Therefore you have to shop in the very expensive monoprix. Apart from the food everything else is so expensive. Even without the Euro being 1.70 CHF. The liter petrol costs 1.54 Euro. Therefore we know in Switzerland its not that expensive, isnt it. Ok, then the public transport. There are two Tramway lines and lots of buses which reach about every part of the town. However these darn buses stop running at 2000. Only the trams run after 2000. This is so stupid.
Will tell you more next time.

Cheers.

Montpellier

Hi Friends

Hmmm, where to start. The french keyboard is so confusing, so that I have to change it to English. I don't know where the French were when sanity in keyboard design was given away by god.
I have arrived safe and sound in Montpellier. Having in mind the floodings that happened all over France in the last week its to a certain point surprising. However the weather turned good today. After one day of school a can resume the following. The school seems to be good. At least the teacher, Sophie, is very nice. My french is compared to others in the middle range. At least my general prononciation is not bad. This comes from the point as there are lots of Singaporian people, Sweds, some Swiss and Germans, at least one Italian, a Spanish girl and a Polish one. Quite funny is the fact that of the students 70% seems to be female. The age range is from 20 to 45... but I think the average is about my age or in the early 20s.
I am staying with a very charming elderly woman who seems to love the Kirschstengeli I brought with me. Ok, the room is OK, but by no means perfect. It's loud from the busy road outside. The bed is shorter than me and its extremely soft. But I'll survive. Luckily its not that far from the school... about 2.5kms. I am still unsure whether I should buy a 42 Euro monthly bus pass. Generally speaking the stuff here is very expensive. Fuel prices are about 1.50 Euros per liter, having in mind that I paid 1.70 CHF for one Euro last week.
Alors, mes amies, je vous souhaite une bonne semaine à la suisse ou le lieu vous restez. En 20 minutes je vais participer en une tour de la ville de Montpellier.
Au revoir!

Time to pack!

Hi Guys

University is now over for me. I have passed the Master Exam as well as the Master's Thesis is being accepted. Overall seen I have a good average, which should make clear which marks I have... Basically it's a bit below my expectations, but that's my ego. I have handed in my application for my Master's degree. If everything goes well, I see no point why it shouldn't go well, I have on the 10th October a degree labeling "Master of Science UZH in Geography with Specialization in Human and Economic Geography" or something similar.
Coming back to my Master's Thesis on Indian Migrants in Zurich (if anyone is interested to read it, just write an E-mail or a comment), the most rewarding thing is not the mark, but the talking with people after the completion of the text. I have talked to 3 Indians already, one who participated in the interviews, and they are all very much interested in the fact that someone looked at their ethnic group.
The reason why I did not get a very good as a mark was that I have evaluated the qualitative interviews in a quantitative way, meaning I was not following the subject's conditions on how to evaluate a certain kind of interview... So it's all about expectations. But I would not evaluate it in another way, as I think the evaluation methods of qualitative studies are basically rubish and useless!!!
Looking back at 5 years of studying Geography, what do I think. Everyone who has listened to me in the recent time, must know this. I absolutely love the approach Geography makes in social science (I see myself as an Social Geographer!!! Physical Geography is just a nice to know by product in my mind, but thats another discussion). However due to the fact that we have this broad and colourful mix of subjects in the first two years, you never have a base. I ask myself, how is it possible to make a good social science approach if you don't know sociology, economics, political science and most important of all have no clue of the basics of philosophy. I have figured this out with long talks with my friend Pascal. This lead to the result that I picked up a small book we had in the Kantonsschule which is an extremely brief history of philosophy. In the Kanti I thought philosophy was useless and crap bullshit (sorry for the words!). We had in the last semester of the Kanti some philosophy and we had this book, I have never read. I read it this week and I have noticed that now I know the names of the guys in the book (Platon, Arestoteles, Hume, Darwin, Descartes, Freud, Kant, Weber, Marx, Husserl and what they are all called) and I have at most a faint idea what they said. The problem is, I don't understand it! Therefore it's extremely difficult to understand theoretical ideas of modern sociologists because they build uppon these bases (for those of you who don't my scientific views in detail, I love theory and the combinations of theoretical approaches. But not the talking in extreme detail of one theory but more the overview of many approaches...). Therefore I have bought some books on the introductiory of philosophy. Which now leads to the conclusion that I, if I had to start with Geography again would take as minor subjects: philosophy, sociology and economics.
Now, speaking of theory and approaches, as in Zurich we only talk about the "Handlungstheorie" in the sense of Giddens and if going a bit further of Werlen, whose actor centered socialgeography is in my eyes still a very valuable approach. However we do not discuss sociological alternatives, i.e. Luhmann's systemtheory or Habermas theory of "kommunikatives handeln".
Ok, after this brief scientific discussion, how does my world discovery continue! Tomorrow at 0810 from Wil I am of to France for 3 Months. Sun I am coming!
Until then!
Stay tuned in with my world discovery, enjoy the EM (although I guess the swiss are not going to last long...). Don't ask me who will win!

Greetings!!!

Last day of University

Today is the big day... well it's supposed to be. I'll be heading off to Zurich quite soon to have the presentation of my Master's thesis. This means today is actually my last day at Uni. Gee, it's already been 5 years. After having practiced this presentation about a zillion times I am able to speak it through backward and forward in my dreams!

See you!
Philippe

4 Days to go

Hi Guys

It's four days to go. Not to the ending of the world, nor to the start of a new world discovery, but to the end of my studies at Uni. On Friday afternoon I have my presentation of my Master's thesis, which's title is: "Citizenship in Transnational Societies - A Case Study of Indian Migrants in the Zurich Economic Area". Basically its a socialgeographic study on the integration of Indian citizens living in and near Zurich. Well, on Friday it's all over. I ask myself, what have I learned in these five years of studying Geography? Well, I have heard a lot about describing the world (this is what actually Geography means...). But I still have the feeling I know nothing.
What is much more important for the near future is my upcoming stay in Montpellier. In exactly two weeks, I will be in Montpellier attending French classes. I am going for the near-hard-core program. 12 Weeks in host-family with 5 days a week 4h of class in the morning and on three afternoons 2h of conversation class.
There is just one paradox. Although on the short run its much more fruitfull to invest into French, on the long run I really want to learn Spanish. I think spanish is such a nice language. It is much nicer than french (which think is a really elegant language) and it is tons nicer than English. Therefore I think I will be spending some time in Southamerica to learn Spanish... but these are still plans. In between I need to go back to India and see some more of this fascinating subcontinent. Ok thats for today.

Saludos desde Thurgau

Sportlich ist der Mensch

Hallo Zusammen
Und nochmals in deutscher Sprache. Nach meinen Konzentrationsschwächen gestern, habe ich dann den Weg auf mich genommen und bin zum Vitaparcours in Aadorf gefahren (ja,ja, mit dem Auto). Dort habe ich eine gemütliche Runde gedreht. Ich bevorzuge zwar Fahrradfahren, jedoch nach zwei Touren am Montag (50km) und am Dienstag (25km, mit ziemlicher Steigung) waren und sind meine Beine ein bisschen mit Muskelkater belastet. Deswegen habe ich mich dann fürs Rennen entschieden. Ich war vor über 15 Jahren mal in diesem Vitaparcours. Ist eigentlich noch ganz schlau, man kann rennen und noch ein paar andere Übungen machen. Ich beabsichtige in Montpellier ein tägliches Jogging einzuführen, damit ich ein Bisschen fit bleibe... Irgendwie muss man ja den französischen Wein verdauen....

Gruss
Philippe

P.S. für alle die es nicht Wissen, Alice hat heute Geburtstag...

Mal ne Runde in deutscher Sprache

Hoi Zämä.
Zur Abwechslung schreib ich mal eine Runde in deutscher Sprache. Nun, es gibt eigentlich keinen speziellen Grund irgendwas zu schreiben, ausser dass es mir gerade langweilig ist. Konkret heisst dies, ich sollte mich damit beschäftigen, was ich bei der Disputation meiner Masterarbeit nächste Woche Freitag sagen möchte, ich mich aber irgendwie nicht motivieren kann. Den Vortrag hab ich fertig und optimisiert. Jedoch weiss ich nicht genau, was ich für die Disputation vorbereiten soll oder wo ich anfangen soll. Eines ist klar, das Prüfungskommitte besteht aus Elsasser, Bühler und Heim (Bodenkundler). Ich hoff nun, dass dieser letztgenannte iregndwelche schlauen Fragen stellt und nicht irgendwelchen Mist.
Naja, aber ich kann mich nicht motivieren irgend einen Strich zu tun. Vielleicht sollte ich jetzt eine sportliche Pause einlegen und nachher weiter machen, so wie ichs die letzten 2 Tage gemacht habe. Ich denke, das ist warscheinlich die beste Idee.
Also, ich geh dann mal Sport machen.

Saludos
Philippe

Chronological Picture Overview

Peru:


Cusco

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Nazca Lines

Paracas

Paracas

Paracas

Paracas

Paracas


Lima

Lima



Lima

Lima

Trujillo


Trujillo

Trujillo

Chiclayo

Chiclayo


Mancora

Mancora

Ecuador:

Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil

On the road to Cuenca

Cuenca

Cuenca


Cuenca

Incapirca

Lama at Incapirca

Puyo

Puyo

On the road to Tena

Tena

River Rafting at Tena

Quito


Quito

Quito

Quito

Mitad del Mundo (Equator Line)

Jumping from South to North over the Equator

Same again

Riding on the back of a Pick-Up

Crater lake near Otavalo

Same

Same again