Time pass by so fast that I forgot to update my blog with all the recent events. In order to not break the cycle of General&Life subjects here is my report of the past week. Feel free to skip if you find that sort of stuff boring, I hope hacking posts to be back in some times, though I don’t really know when.

First of all, I began my second semester last Monday at UTBM. It’s more interesting than last one because for the first time I was able to choose some of my UV. To be exact I was able to choose a language and a general culture course. For the former I chose « LE03 : English level 3″ and for the latter « PH01 : Introduction to Philosophy ». Initially I had planned to follow History but, as we are the last student group to select our UVs, there wasn’t any open place left for me. My UTBM’s godfather actually took that course two semesters ago and echoed positive comments, so we will see (my first lesson is tomorrow).

Among the obligatory courses, there are two UVs (« LO11 : algorithmic level 1″ and « TN21 : Elements of technical drawings ») that are worth some comments. LO11 follows the LO10 UV which was, as the I mentioned in previous posts, not a real computer science course. LO11 is a mix between pure algorithmic lessons (with a natural language) and C basic teaching. Unfortunately (for me), the speaker seems far from a real C programmer (« stdio ? What’s that ? ») and the TDs, TPs are far too basic to be of any interest (there are some sorting algorithms at the near end but nothing really exciting). I guess I will have to wait for LO21 (« Algorithmic level 2″) to follow a real computer science so, in the meantime, I can sleep until 10h each Thursday morning, not too bad.

TN21 is another sort of beast. As the title of the UV might have suggested, it’s a mechanical course (yes, you should make a minute of silence for me). It would have been endurable was it not for the 4h of TD during Tuesday afternoon. Imagine how a person who dislike mechanical things the first time it saw it would react and you can get the big picture of my situation. Fortunately, the teacher seems nice and we found out that it was a great occasion to have (mechanical-unrelated) fun. Still 4h may be a little bit too much, I will see how far my endurance go.

Anyway, here is my timetable for the semester :

I think I have more hours than last semester and it seems, for the moment, that there is much more work to do at home too, which mean less time for hacking unfortunately.

Last week was also the integration period for new students (and also a way to have fun for the old ones). It was also the first time I was able to wear my decorated coat (notice the Mono logo on the pocket ) :

Some history for those who don’t know this UTBM tradition : when student first come to UTBM there are called « bijoux » (jewels) and are treated as such (read, very kindly ). Each semester is closed by a party during when these « bijoux » get a red, undecorated, coat that marks there appurtenance to UTBM (this party is also the only time they can wear it undecorated). After that event, these students are no more considered as « bijoux ». It’s then up to the student to decorate this blouse in order to have a unique symbol. Some constant informations are your nickname (« Kiri » in my case) and the Belfort town logo on the right arm. Usually people draw an avatar on the back and some other things on the pockets.

Summarizing this week completely would prove to be a too long post, but be assured that, in the spirit of UTBM, it was a great deal of fun.

So that’s all folks. You can now go back to your usual lazy web wandering (and I can go back to my stage report writing).