-Before I start my usual rants, I must say it has been a rather cool summer so far, temperature-wise that is (and other stuff too I guess). Before I left, it was already in the 80's in Virginia and rising, not a good sign considering that it wasn't even June yet. Ever since I've gotten here, it hasn't risen above the mid 70's, and sometimes at night it can get as low as the high 50's. Now, if memory serves me correctly, it doesn't stay like this all summer. So as much as I am enjoying the delay in heat wave now, it'll get here by July. This brings me to the word of the day:
AIR CONDITIONING
by which I mean the lack thereof. Somehow, back in the early 1900's when air conditioning was first invented, Europe didn't really seem to catch on. From there I guess they figured they just missed the boat on this one. Now, on a really hot day when the sun is beating on you and you just have to escape the heat, there are two feelings that you can't beat: drinking an ice-cold beverage and walking into a well air-conditioned room. I've already covered the former not being a possibility, and now I'm telling you that the latter isn't gonna happen either. I'm not just referring to private residences and offices. Even the mall feels like a swamp. Even movie theaters aren't well air conditioned, Movie Theaters! Being able to sit in a cold-ass room for two hours is one if the biggest draws of paying to see most summer movies nowadays. Here all they give you is a weak fan system that feels like some guy across the room is breathing on you, at best. I read an article online earlier stating that in 2003, nearly 15000 people died of heat stroke in France alone. Fifteen thousand! It's one thing to take green initiatives to save the planet in the long run, but when your people are dropping like flies, you'd think that the government would maybe take some action, at least maybe set some regulations for cooling public buildings. Also, the sheer amount of cigarette smoke in the air doesn't help either. I suppose if I absolutely needed to cool down I could hang out in one of the computer cluster rooms, though that is generally frowned upon. Other than this, my only defense against this heat is the desk fan I bought on sale for 20 chf. If it breaks, or someone steals it, I'm just screwed I guess.
-Now you're probably asking "why don't you just get an AC window unit and install it in your room?" Well, it just so happens that the French/Swiss thought of this possibility and thus, all of their buildings have windows that make this impossible. By this I mean that all windows swing open on hinges rather than slide along grooves. This means that even if you were able to find an AC window unit, you wouldn't be able to create a seal around it and it would be useless. "But couldn't you just leave the window open? At least then you'll get some cool air blowing in." Ok, fine. I could open the windows to get some air flow, except there's one other thing I forgot to mention. NONE OF THE WINDOWS HAVE SCREENS. That means if I open the window, not only will air get in, but so will anything smaller than the window frame. For someone who bugs particularly like to bite, that's a problem. I'm not just talking flies and mosquitos either. There are some bugs here that could totally be played by Jeff Goldblum. If I try to sleep at night with the window open, it's open season on my carcass.
+ On the topic of windows, there is one thing that the got right here: the blinds. Instead of the soft, translucent materials you find in American shades, They use rigid metal for the blinds here. Furthermore, they are fully retractable, so they disappear completely if you want them to. Also, the metal bars that compose the blonds are separated by small chain links. So when they are still hanging, there is some room for light to get through. If you lower them low enough, the metal bars start to stack on one another, so that you can prevent any light from getting through, particularly nice if you like to sleep late like me. I'd be doing this more justice if I could take a picture, but it was already kinda dark out by the time I thought of this, so maybe in my next post I'll put a belated picture so you can get a better idea of how this works.
+ I will end this post on something completely unrelated to anything above. That is that 5-liter beer towers rule. Yes, these exist. And the best part, they're not even the largest size. Pitchers will no longer be the standard for ordering beer for multiple people, at least in my mind. America, get on this.
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