Library Adventures

This may seem boring to many of you, so I'm going to jazz it up as much as possible without lying to you. Sound good? Good. Let us commence.

The following was a brief outline of my groggy thought process this morning: it's too early!; that dream was effd up (with guest appearances by Lauren Haner, AJ, Emily Mills, Halloween, Kyle Himsworth, and two contraband dorm yaks... don't ask); yay! the library is open today! I am going to go get stuff done!!!

Here is said municipal library:

You may be wondering why I choose to visit the municipal library instead of the university library to fulfill my studying needs. Well, curious public, I enjoy the longer bike ride, it is bigger and more aesthetically pleasing (with a lovely view of the art museum and castle), and it has a more interesting clientelle.

Today, that last pro turned into a con.

I got there as soon as the library openned and made a beeline for the second floor and scoped out a place for myself with the view above. It was nice... until they arrived.

Just as I was getting settled in, the sound of childrens' voices filtered to my location. These voices qickly multiplied and became a cacauphany of shrieks and coughs and nonsensical songs punctuated by the shushing of their adult supervisors, which was followed by 15 seconds of muted noise before regaining its former volume. You can only get so mad at children being themselves in a public library when they're there for storytime. Plus, they outnumber you severely and it would not end well for you should you take matters into your own hands.

I quickly realized that my location was not going to work for studying, as the childrens nook was right behind me. I made my escape, but was trapped on the stairs by about 30 small French children who decided that I-- being scrunched up against the wall to let them pass-- was an adequate substitute for the railing.

Trying not to think about what their little hands had smeared onto my pants, I dashed for a single desk looking out onto the garden on the first floor. Finally, a chance for me and Montaigne to begin our epic struggle. Alas, this was harder to accomplish than imagined. Why? Because a mother had come to the library to study and had brought her toddler with her. Too young to be with the kids upstairs, she ran around the literature section, shreiking and giggling at nothing. This severely lessened my ability to be studious.

Fortunately for me, they soon left, and I could continue grapling with what Montaigne had to say about true friendship.

A brief note about French libraries in general:

They are not as good as American ones. There is no Dewey Decimal here, and I still haven't figured out how things are organized... I think it varies by the section of the library. There is a lack of resources, and you can say goodbye to any form of interlibrary loan. It's hard to find what you're looking for, and if it's remotely rare or specialized, odds are you won't find it. This isn't my 'Merichun pride coming out or anything. My Lit and Philosophy professor actually worked at Roesch library for a summer when she was my age (crazy-small world, huh?!) and she agrees with me that French libraries leave something to be desired. She loved Roesch library and we had a whole discussion about it durring the class break. So, to sum up, French libraries are prettier and have better work space, but they leave something to be desired in the content department.

After filling my morning with studies, I was ready for this:

And it was glorious.

Tune in next time for a promised post on Rousseau... unless something more interesting happens to me tomorrow.