French Restaurant

From George Andrews in Nice.

French students in Aix have a restaurant service which makes the Victoria set-up look very ordinary.

For one franc thirty (about 1/9) students get a full course meal with as many second helpings as they wish. The restaurant is open for lunch and lea every day of the week and married students bring their babies along with them. The service is subsidised by the government who also provide large hostels near the University where students can live for about 50 francs (£4) a month.

French universities have very little campus life such as in New Zealand universities. There are numerous clubs, but these are nearly all politically orientated and are interested only in propagating their own philosophy. Cafes, where you can buy anything to drink any time, take the place of a student union building and common rooms and the huge restaurant provides the other focal point for student activities.

Study is frequently interrupted by strikes on the part of students, teachers, electricity, water, restaurant employees, but this, we are told, is part of the French culture and must be tolerated.