Locals Versus Students: One Town, Two Communities

When you search Menton on the internet, you’re greeted with pictures of lemon trees, sparkling blue water, and beautiful multi-colored buildings dotting the coast. It seems like a no-brainer when choosing your Sciences Po campus – who wouldn’t want to live in one of the most beautiful towns in the world? But as students arrived in August, they began to realize that living in Menton might not be as pleasant as it seems online. 

During Integration Week, students started exchanging stories about their shocking experiences with the local community. I heard tales of residents yelling out their windows at students passing underneath, threatening to call the police on gatherings in apartments, and even throwing objects out of their windows at particularly loud Sciences Pistes. It seemed hard to believe at first, and a gross overreaction to average student activity. However, as time passed I came to understand this behavior as typical of the Mentonnais locals, by witnessing it firsthand. 

Le Retro is the quintessential Menton bar for Sciences Pistes due to their student night every Thursday that offers 50% off drinks – and maybe because it’s practically the only bar in town. Starting at 9 p.m, students swarm Le Retro, spilling out into the street because there isn’t enough space to fit us all. Those who live on the street around the bar are typically not pleased by the noise of all these students, and often take to their windows to let us know how they feel. It seems with each passing week, the locals get less and less happy with us, and their behavior escalates. Initially, they would tell us to be more quiet or they’d call the police. More recently, they’ve started to place buckets of water on their window sills, threatening to douse us if we don’t go home. 

This seems to be a common practice amongst the locals of Menton – pouring water on students they find irritating. Bianca Barchiesi, a 1A from Italy, talked to me about her experience “I was hanging out with my friends at a friend’s house, and we were sitting on the balcony,” she recounts. Barchiesi describes the situation as “normal” for a Saturday at 10pm, saying they were listening to music but “it wasn’t really that loud,” and her friends were practically whispering to each other. Seemingly “out of nowhere,” a man suddenly poured water on her from the upstairs balcony.

“He didn’t say anything at all,” Barchiesi explains. “He just poured a whole bunch of water on the balcony and it, of course, drenched me completely.” Barchiesi notes that he gave her no warning and never “showed himself” to her or her friends. He gave her no opportunity to even correct any behavior that could’ve been upsetting him, and instead resorted to lashing out at her. Barchiesi also had several stories of being yelled at in the street, describing these encounters as “scary” and “aggressive.” “It makes me feel uncomfortable,” she admits, “because I don’t even know how to react. Since most of us don’t know the language either, we just have to stand there and endure the aggression from them.”

Another student, Ali Fahmy, a 1A from Egypt, had a similar experience, where the locals seemed to react quite drastically and quickly. He says the worst encounter he’s had with a resident was when he and his friends had “shrapnel from a brick” thrown from a window at them. “Luckily none of us were harmed,” he adds. But the conditions for this encounter also seem relatively tame, as Fahmy describes it as just “standing in the streets around midnight.” They didn’t receive any warnings prior to being attacked either, instead the local immediately resorted to a harsh punishment.

It is quite obvious that, between these two reactions to a student, one seems much more extreme than the other. If the shrapnel had made contact, Fahmy could’ve been seriously injured. Fahmy describes his experience as a “racially-charged encounter,” noting that while it’s hard to pinpoint if it was explicitly racially motivated, he has “definitely experienced worse and more frequent encounters” than his French peers while being here. 

Unbeknownst to many international students before coming here, including myself, Menton is a very politically far-right town, with specifically strong anti-immigrant sentiments due to it being located on the border of France and Italy. Barchiesi admits to not knowing much about the political climate before arriving here, but that she “found out about it pretty quickly.” And she’s right – the political sentiment of Menton becomes quite obvious once you step foot here. It’s  indicated plainly by the “Stop Immigration!” stickers currently plastered all over Avenue Laurenti near campus, clearly directed at all the international students living and going to school in the area. “It goes to show that there is definitely some degree of resentment of our presence in this town,” Fahmy says. 

And while all international students in Menton are technically immigrants, students of color who appear not to be French or who are overheard speaking in non-European dialects, are much easier targets for the locals. Especially compared to international students of European descent, who could be assumed to be French upon first glance. 

Prior to the opening of Science Po’s campus in Menton in 2005, the town was predominantly a retirement community, receiving an influx of tourists during the summer season and the lemon festival, but mostly empty and quiet for a large part of the year. Until, of course, the students arrived. However, the Mentonnais locals’ discontent with the student population is not only due to the noise we bring with us. Clashes with the town’s residents arise due to the fact that most of Sciences Pistes are typically politically left-leaning and progressive, which challenges the nature and beliefs held by the overwhelming majority of Menton. 

In the spring of 2024, following the wave of Pro-Palestinian protests and encampments taking place in universities around the world, Sciences Pistes in Menton blockaded the campus, spray-painting “Palestine Vivra” on the front walkway and flying the Palestinian flag from the balcony. This act of Palestinian resistance sparked outrage not only amongst the conservative locals, but right-wingers across France. Political displays like these have only furthered the resentment held by the local population towards students, progressing from a dislike of the noisyness of Sciences Pistes, to a deep-seated disdain for the culture and ideals our campus represents.  

While the treatment from the locals may have been a bit of a drastic readjustment for many new students in Menton, it has not broken the spirit of the Ummah. Students continue to go to Le Retro, party, congregate in the streets and talk late at night. We continue to display our appreciation for MENA culture proudly. Our 2As seem determined to have as good of a time as possible despite the push back from locals, and us 1As are determined to follow suit. 

In fact, it seems the division between the Sciences Pistes and the locals in Menton has created a stronger sense of community within the student population, as we turn inwards for support and friendship. Barchiesi describes the Sciences Po community in Menton as “a bubble,” claiming the treatment from locals ultimately doesn’t bother her that much anymore since she has other students in a similar position to lean on. Fahmy concludes that “prejudice exists to some degree in most of the world” so he won’t “let a minor inconvenience be a detriment” to his academics and his life. 

These are wise sentiments. Maybe one day the residents of Menton will grow to be more understanding of us Sciences Pistes and welcome us into their community, but until then, these experiences shouldn’t bring us down. The Ummah itself is a special place of connection and friendship, and we will continue on as we always have before. 

Photo Source: Jorge Franganillo, Flickr