Back from my Erasmus in Sheffield

by Gabriele Merlo• •

While I am writing this article, nearly 2 months has passed from my comeback from my Erasmus experience and what I feel actually is very strange: happiness remembering what I lived in Sheffield and sadness because I am no more there.

At the beginning of September I took a plane to go to Sheffield to spend a semester at Sheffield Hallam University. My first impression was of being completely lost in a big city that I did not know at all: even if nobody knows, Sheffield is one of England's largest cities and, compared to Neuchâtel, I had to get used to live in a ‘real’ city.

When I arrived there everything looked so strange and different: though before going there I had already spent some time in England, the situation was very different: I had to start a semester in an English University and to be sincere…this scared me a little. However, with all my stuffs packed in my backpack, I

Finally, the wait is over. The newsletter of the institute is here. Just in time to cheer you up after the holidays! Well, it is not that big for the moment but I guess it is not too bad for a beginning. Of course, I imagine there is a lot of things to

improve... and for that, we count on you to suggest ideas, send

comments and specially write articles. Okay, it sounds serious....

but no, do not worry. It can be a lot of fun if you write on something you like: for example your last

holidays, a concert or even a football match. It can only work

with your help.For the moment, the aim is to try to keep it monthly. Let’s see if we can do it. Thank you for the people who

participated on this issue.

Anyway, I’m looking forward for the Pub Night and hope that many

people will come as usual!!!

Assad

The Newsletter is here!

THE E-PAPERNEUCHÂTEL ISSUE NO. 001

THE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF THE ENGLISH INSTITUTE OF UNINE APRIL 2009

tried to face this new experience: world is a place to live in, not a place to be scared of. In a couple of days I found the place where I would have lived for the following five months, a typical English house for student: red bricks, draughts from windows and humidity. Nevertheless, even if the house was not one of the best place to live the rent was cheap and the house was huge! Unfortunately, I lived with three other foreign students and not with English people but, since I had to spent just one term in Sheffield, this was the only solution in order to avoid sleeping under bridges.

The 22nd of September I started my courses at Sheffield Hallam University. My first reaction? Panic and panic again! Not about the fact of understanding the courses, following a course in Sheffield or one in Neuchâtel is quiet the same thing, my difficulties were more linked to the first conversations I had with English students: language spoken in a lecture room differs from English spoken by ‘Sheffielders’; however after one or two weeks, just the time to get my ears used to this kind of ‘slang’, everything was alright: the classes were interesting and people very kind.

ALBUM OF THE

MONTH

U2

“NO LINE ON THE HORIZON”

2009

Four years after their last album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”, U2 are coming back with their 12th album called “No Line On the Horizon”.

For me, it is a disappointment. Maybe I was hoping too much after the lack of success of the precedent album. It is short of inspiration. However, there are a few a slow songs that are still good to listen like “White as Snow” or “Unknown Caller”.

Nevertheless, I have no doubt that it will sell really well. An album by U2 is enough for a commercial success. Unfortunately, the most famous irish band has no plans in coming to Switzerland for a concert.

by Assad Ali

This experience at Sheffield Hallam University remarkably helped me to improve my English: every day I was surrounded by English people and of course I had to express my self in English if I wanted to be understood by people; this helped me to improve my oral skills as well as my written skills. The courses I followed in Sheffield were very interesting even if I found that the level required by the University was sometimes lower than here at Neuchâtel. However the choice of courses to follow at Hallam University is very large and even if you are not registered in some classes, it is interesting to follow some lectures in order to improve your English.

Culturally speaking, my experience there give me the occasion and the chance of knowing something more about English culture: during my time there I got in touch with many English students and with English culture. For example I spent some nights out in pubs drinking and chatting with people or I went to the stadium to see Sheffield United to understand what football means in England – that is quiet incredible from my part, since I do not like so much football! Moreover, I knew other people coming from so many different parts of the world, students at Sheffield Hallam came from everywhere: China, Africa, India, France, Finland, Greece, Russia, etc. In this melting of culture I knew some people – English and non-English- with who I became really good friend. In this way, this experience not only made me improve my English but, in a way, made me a little more mature than before since this stay abroad left some memories that I will never forget.

Why did I choose to do an Erasmus exchange? Because of so many reasons that because of the limited space I can not list here but, what is sure and easy to say, is that the bit of life I spent in Sheffield was one of the best experiences I ever had in my life.

A FEW QUESTIONS TO ...

1)Why did you choose to teach in the English Institute at Neuchâtel?

I arrived at Neuchâtel for the first time on a hot May morning and, finding the university quite charming, I decided to stay. Come to think of it, it is little surprise for a medievalist to be enchanted in this particular month. As we learn in Sir Orfeo, a poem in Middle English from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, magical things happen “in the comessing [beginning] of May” and, more specifically still, in “undertide” [in the morning].

2)Tell us something your students might not know about you…

Well, I sing, preferably in the shower. For other activities I occasionally indulge in you may refer to the picture. It was taken at the harbour in Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, last year. Actually, I enjoy traveling.

3)Tell us a few words about the English Institute...

Teaching at Neuchâtel is fun. The students are nice and so are my colleagues :-)

1)First of all, tell us more about you...My name is Eva Baehler and I live in La Chaux-de-Fonds (where today, 6th of april, there is still a considerable amount of snow; indeed, my picture has been taken during summer)! Like many students in arts (I guess), I don’t really have a very precise idea of my future job… However, like many students, I’ll probably have to teach (I got used to the fact). Except of English, I’m studying French and art history as well.

2)Why did you choose to study English in Neuchâtel?

I did choose English because, I don’t know why, this language has always attracted me. One often says that it is the easier language to learn, but I disagree! By studying it, I’m realizing that it is more subtle that it previously seemed to me. And to answer the question completely, I did choose to study English in Neuchâtel simply because there is no university in La Chaux-de-Fonds (at least not yet)!

3)Tell us a few words about the English Institute...

What I especially like about the institute is: the pub nights! More generally, I like the fact that this institute organizes parties, which is a good opportunity to meet students, assistants and professors in another context and often more…relaxed than usually! And to not look too “unserious”, I would add that I’m very pleased to study English in Neuchâtel because I love English literature and I find that we get classes of high quality!

... Eva Baehler

... Katrin Rupp

Dubai, the new world

by Assad Ali• •

Last winter, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in the UAE and specially in Dubai. Even if I was prepared and have heard a lot about it, I was amazed when I went here. I

have travelled often to New-York; I thought I was used to skyscrapers but Dubai was nothing I imagined.

This arab city has experienced a remarkable development in a very short time. Twenty years ago, it was just a small town in the desert collecting pearls. Now, it is a major city, flourishing in many areas like in tourism, luxury, finance or real estate.

Here, everything seems possible. You can find the only 7 stars hotel in the world with the Burj Al Arab or the highest building in the world reaching almost 1 km high. It is the only place where after a desert safari with temperature approaching 50° in the summer, you can go refresh yourself with ski under -3° in a shopping mall. The growth of Dubai never stops. People say that if you leave the town for 3 months, you would not recognize it when you get back. Constructions never end: 25% of the cranes of the world are located in Dubai.

One funny thing about Dubai is that real locals represent only 15% of the population. You will most probably not see them because they stay apart. The dominating ethnic group is the south-asians which is more than half of the population. One quarter are westerners.

Despite the stereotype, the United Arab Emirates do not rely on oil. The revenue from oil counts only for 6%.

Their main contributor to the economy of Dubai is the real estate business, including construction and financial services. Surprisingly for an Arab country, Dubai is very free and liberal for many aspects; sometimes more than Europe.

Even though I would not like to live there and prefer a simpler lifestyle than the luxury of Dubai, I would still recommend people to go there once in their life. What has been made in a

period of 6 years is a massive achievement. I think that today, Dubai has the same situation than America in the 60’s. It represents a place where everything is brand new and modern; everybody can find huge success there. Maybe the “Dubai dream”? I would rather call it the new world...

AROUND THE UNI

Last year’s Barbecue Party took place between the Euro 2008 and Festi’neuch.

The Christmas Party in 2007 was a successful event as usual with everybody singing!

by Sebastien Anker• • •

The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) meeting took place in Strasbourg, as you may recall it, on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary. This summit was the occasion for Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to reintegrate France into the NATO’s military commandment and therefore engaging the nation even more into global conflicts. Aside from the official meeting, it was the opportunity for the anti-NATO demonstrators to protest against the summit, as well as for the infamous “Black Blocks” to ransack Strasbourg’s town centre.

The devastations in Strasbourg’s centre went round the globe: the former customs’ office on the Europe bridge in flames, the Ibis hostel, as well as other edifices in the neighbourhood burned to the ground. The depredations after Saturday the 4th of April’s anti-NATO’s demonstrations were severe. The police’s reaction was immediate: the town centre was blocked all of Saturday’s afternoon, forbidding some pacific demonstrators to join the official demonstration.

From one o’clock in the afternoon, the security forces had already blocked every access to the town centre, where the official meeting was held. Strasbourg’s cultural and economic centre is indeed a semi-island with few access points, which were sealed off

immediately after the riots started. Therefore, numerous protesters wishing to go further were block on the Alfred Kestler road, the easiest access from the “autonomous village” created by the anti-NATOs. In opposition to the events on the Europe bridge on the border, no violence was to be seen (see photos). A few reporters and cameramen were, as well, forbidden

access to the centre.

As for the “autonomous village” located in a field south of Strasbourg, its appearance was surprisingly common to any rock festival. Tents, lots of tents, rock music, and vegetarian food. Without the constant noise of German helicopters hovering over the camp, and the presence of homemade barricades in all the streets

around the village, it could have resembled to Woodstock. “G8- G20. Barricades block the roads but open the path”, figured on one of the surrounding buildings. Or how riots are also the poets’ corners.

In the end, this summit reflected the flaws of a system, which allows anti-riot forces to block peaceful demonstrators, and remain apathetic in front of true rioters. Who will certainly be back at the next NATO meeting, which hopefully will not take place in a city inhabited like Strasbourg with thousands of civilians.

“Barricades block the roads but open the path”

EDITORAssad Ali

CONTRIBUTORSSebastien AnkerGabriele MerloAlaydis Schwander

THE E-PAPERISSUE No. 001

April 2009

UNINE ENGLISH INSTITUTEEspace Louis-Agassiz 1CH-2000 Neuchâtel

All pictures are taken by their respective authors. The theme used for the layout is from

Pages of Apple inc. The next issue of the E-Paper is planned for end of May.

If you have any comments, suggestions or you want to send an article, use the email address

below:assad.ali@unine.ch

by Alaydis Schwander• • •

Being a great lover of Indian films, and especially Bollywood films, I was quite curious when I heard that a British director made an Indian film, which is, I must precise, no Bollywood. Adapted from Vikas Swarup’s novel Q and A, the film follows the story of Jamal, a 18 year old boy from the Mumbai slums who is about to win the Indian version of Who wants to be a millionaire?.

The plot is organized around his defense against the accusation of having cheated in the game. The story evolves through different flashbacks revealing how each answer has been revealed to him. Starting from the struggle of the young Jamal and his elder brother Salim to survive in the slums, the film follows their adventures as they grow up and as well as the love story between Jamal and Latika, and finishes with the traditional happy end, when the couple are finally reunited.

The film’s content could be interpreted as being “Bollywood”, whereas its form is “Hollywood”. The storyline of the film uses the eternal themes of destiny and love, which can be interpreted as an idealized push of optimism in the worst of the world. As for the structure, the pace is breathtaking, not one moment is lost, and the plot is well constructed through a very rational explanation of the events.

One irrelevant detail in the film illustrates well the latter point: In order to have a great physical resemblance between each age stage of the main three characters, a great care has been put in the choice of each actor to interpret Salim, Jamal and Latika. This made me think of one character in a Bollywood film, “Kabhie Kushi Kabhie Gham” (Karan Johar, 2001), who is presented in the first half of the movie as child: a young boy with a strong tendency to obesity, round face and brown eyes. We find him later as an athletic, strong build, good-looking and green-eyed grown up. This contrast is not even relevant in the plot of the story, it can only make us think that the casting director appeared to have an deficient sight. I happened to understand that this did not even bother the Indian audience. A simple difference of cultural perspective…

Slumdog Millionaire, a “Hollywood” movie

PUB NIGHTDon’t forget the usual Pub

Night of the English Institute. A great

opportunity to meet staff and students of the

institute in a cheerful atmosphere.

It will take place at the Cafe du Cerf on tuesday

the 21th of April starting at 6pm.

WE NEED YOU!

This newsletter can only be possible by the help of students of the English Institute. If you think you can write something in english for the newsletter, feel free to do it. Do not hesitate; we would really appreciate. It does not need to be long