My bank is merging

I learnt today in the paper that my bank, the Mechanics and Farmers Bank, is going to merge with another durham institution: the Community Mutual Savings Bank.

Thankfully, they are going to keep the M&F name. I have to say, I mainly got an account there because of the Bank's name. The Mechanics and Farmers Bank: what a cool name.
I don't know why, I think that name is great in today's technology oriented society.

(I also have to admit that I also got an account there because one of their branches is really close to my house and is opened on Saturday.)

What I did not know and discovered reading the Article is that my bank is actually kind of special. It was an historic bank founded during the segregation, one hundred years ago and that It has played a major role in promoting the development of a black middle class. This bank was part of what was called "Black Wall Street".

By the way, the bank it is going to merge with was created almost at the same time and for the same purposes.

So, good luck with its expansion plans to the Mechanics and Farmers Bank.

Bar Exam

 

New york Bar Exam July 2007

Yeah, I had the opportunity to go to Saratauga Springs, NY to take the bar exam. The exam is tought and I only 3 weeks to prepare for it. So needless to say that I was pretty nervous about it. :(

The exam took place on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 of last month. I had decided to fly there on Sunday to better know the town to prepare myself psychologically etc...and also to avoid the stress of having muy flight cancelled at the last minute and miss the exam.

The first day of the exam was dedicated to New York questions and the second one to the multistate portion. The New York section consisted of 50 multiple choice questions and 4 essays. The multistate one consisted of 200 multiple choices questions to be answered in 6 hours.
I found the New York part relatively easy compared to the multistate one.

I have no idea about the results of the exam but I hope that I passed. I know that I did ok in the essay portion but I really can't tell about the multiple choice section.

Other than that my testing center was in Saratauga Springs, NY a very charming city. Here are some pics of the city I took while I was there. The city is very horse oriented with a Polo championship and a horsetrack.


 
 

Alaska forever

One of the most interesting parts of the US lies maybe not where you might think. I mean that New York, L.A., Washington, the Grand Canyon are all interesting places to visit, but a very unusual place to go might be the largest state of the Federation : Alaska.

Alaska has a very different history than the rest of the nation for several reasons:
- It is maybe the first American territory to be populated by settlers that would have crossed the straight separating Russia from America,
- Vitus Bering was indeed the first Russian to cross the straight in 1741, and therefore it became a Russian territory. It was only in 1867 that this huge piece of land was bought by the US for $7,2 millions.

Alaska became the 49th state on January 3rd, 1959 (Hawaii was incorporated as a state on August 21st, of the same year).

Resulting from these years of Russian occupation, several and unique orthodox churches were built in Alaska. Something unique in Northern America.

So if you're interested, the Alaska tourism bureau is a good place to begin your research otherwise you can always read this great article published in my newspaper the New York times.


Photo from nytimes.com

No border please

An interesting story was told in yesterday's New York times, the one about a sleepy little town settled on the US-Canada's border. The town is called Stanstead in Quebec and Derby line in Vermont.

There is actually some border stations on the main streets of this little town but on the other ones one can freely go from Canada to the US. Sometimes, it is even impossible to tell in which country you're in.

I know that because I travelled throught this little town in the summer of 2005. It was really cool. Some of the buildings are on the border itself like the Opera house and the library (in the picture).

Some houses are on the US side but the driveway is on the Canadian one.



The town has been like this for ever and now the authorities are trying to change this. They are affraid of a potential terrorist threat and of illegal immigration. To me, this is just non-sense, there is no threat at all and illegals immigrants can easely avoid the border town by crossing into Canada throught the nearby fields and or forets.

On top of that the local authorities are not willing to disclose to the public what exactly is at risk. How many illegal immigrants are we talking about?

The way of life of this charming city is at risk of disappearing. People will be less likely to travel to the other side to go grocery shopping, see friends etc...

I believe that cooperation between the two countries border agencies is the best way to address security issues and not barriers that only complicate everyday lifes.

French Universities

French Universities need a serious makeover. Their facilities are cramped, the faculty unmotivated, the research almost inexistent etc....
Fortunate students try to avoid them by integrating the Grandes Ecoles: those elite institutions. For the rest, the Public University is the only available option.

I did 5 years of studies in France in 3 Universities: Bordeaux IV, Paris I and Paris II. At Bordeaux IV, some lectures were given in lecture halls with more than 1000 students! This is not education, this is mass-education.

The new reform is supposed to give more freedom to Universities' administrators to recruit top notch professors, regulate the spending etc....

All of these are welcomed reforms in my opinion. They are much needed. France must invest into its students so that they can easily find a job once they graduate.

The French Universities need more money that is for sure, and libraries that are open on Sundays!
I am a strong believer in keeping the University almost free to everyone, but not to the detriment of the education. If to guarantee a better education, students have to contribute a little bit, I don't see the problem. What is important is that they get out with all the tools that will make them more attractive to potential employers.


So will see what exactly comes out of this new reform, but I really hope that our government will be able to shake things up!

EU

I am really happy about the results reached at the Brussels Meeting regarding the future of the European Union. Apparently, the 27 members have reached an agreement on a formula that would allow the European Construction to go forward.

I had to say that I was disappointed with the Polish position that was blocking everything. The EU accepted Poland a couple of years ago and since then this country has only brought problems to the EU: Nationalism, racism, ultra conservative positions etc... Honestly, I am a great euro-enthousiast but I feel that I have nothing to do with the values this country has brought to the western countries of Europe.

I really don't understand why do you want to join a club if it is only to oppose everything the other members are trying to do.

Ok, French people were really dumb when they rejected the EU Constitution, but at least we were not actively trying to block the other members.

This agreement is a minima but I personally believe that it is still a great victory for Europe.

Regarding the way our new President conducted the negotiations, I tend to think that he did a great job. Comparing with Chirac, which was not capable to understand how Europe worked and had only in its mind the interests of the farmers' lobbies and nothing else, Sarkozy has so far demonstrated that he was capable to conduct marathon negotiations involving different types of participants, interests groups and cultures.

Bottom line, I am really happy with the conclusion of this agreement.

Passports

After the big mess surrounding the passports requirements imposed by the US to all the countries benefiting from the Visa Waiver Program (including France), the US imposed on all its citizens to present a Passport when entering the country by plane (for cars that should be for next year).
Of course, here too, things did not go well and the Passport Agency has not been able to meet the demand. Too much demand for new passports and not enough agents to process them. People had to cancel trips, go queue at the Passport Agency etc...
As a result, the rule has been suspended.

This drives me crazy. If the US want to secure their borders and control who enters and leaves this country, as they repeat constantly on TV, they should be able to produce the use of safe documents such as a passport.
This would make things so much easier.

The only good thing about this suspension is that it will annoy Lou Dobbs ;-)