Bonne Chance...

Warning: This is a long post. Proceed with caution.

L’internet ne marche pas chez moi, so I have been incommunicado for the past 4 days. It has been a long time since I hadn’t checked gmail, huffingtonpost or NYT in four days, and I started to panic around Saturday morning. What if I got offered an internship that I had 24 hours to respond to? How will my friends know I’m alive? Etc, etc. But since I got over said panic, I’ve had a great time feeling slightly disconnected and on my own here. I bought Le Monde and the Pariscope to find out what the latest Sarkozy drama is and when “Les Noces Rebelles” (The Rebellious Honeymoon- it’s the title here for “Revolutionary Road”) is playing this week nearby. I explored a few areas I hadn’t yet- behind St. Germain des Pres, the whole back entrance of Montparnasse Cemetery- and went back to some of my already-favorites. It is hard to believe I’ve been here a whole month- it feels more like a day or two ago that I had my last American meal (Five Guys- excellent hamburgers and great company) and boarded a plane.

Last Monday, I went to “Entre Les Murs,” a pseudo-documentary about a public middle school in France. Although I had a hard time understanding l’argot (the slang) used by the students, it was such a fitting film for me. The students are learning French grammar, and are completely uninterested in why they need to learn the future subjunctive tense since only snobs would say things that way (I agree!). It was also interesting to see how the French school system was portrayed; there was racial tension, homophobic insults, immigration problems for families and students who were unwilling or unable to learn. Most of the challenges the teachers faced paralleled many challenges that the U.S. education system is facing.

After my initial shock-and-awe over Paris and its glamour, I’m becoming increasingly interested in the cultural and political make-up of the country. Many of the reasons I on-face agree with France and its state structure have created consequences I didn’t realize until I got here. For example, I would thing that it is great that there is such job security for individuals that have families and lives; having the knowledge that you can’t just be laid-off without a lot of hubbub is a good thing. But what has that allowed? Individuals who are not adequate workers in jobs that others deserve, people living on unemployment for years and years without really searching for new work, a job search for recent graduates that is more dismal than even the U.S. right now. Similarly, the lack of enforcement on rent payments or kicking out tenants has created a serious housing crisis; since there is no real threat of legal action if you refuse to move out, pay your rent, etc., there are thousands of people living for free in apartments, and thousands more living on the streets because subsidized housing is no longer available. It also seems like there is a general dependence on the state to fix every single problem. I disagree with the idea of small government that libertarians have or even conservatives in the U.S., but one positive result of that is the creation of outside organizations that work to solve issues like hunger, education, healthcare. In France, interest groups don’t exist. There is no lobbying or outside forces pressuring the government. There are demonstrations and strikes, but I have yet to understand how/if they affect governmental action (particularly in regards to demonstrations- I went to one this week for l’ultra gauche, or the ultra left. Sans internet, I’m not positive what their political views are, but I think they are calling for anarchy or at least a substantial shift away from capitalistic government. The protest was fun to be a part of but seemingly a joke; the protestors were outnumbered by policemen 2 to 1, they had no specific action they were calling for, and they scattered around 6 when the policemen told them to. What does that do?). The strikes also occur in predetermined times, at predetermined places and are done before talks begin. They are used here as a sign of solidarity or a demonstration of the strength of the workers, to force talks or contract negotiations. Also, strikes occur here almost solely in regards to workers that are employed by the state. Granted, there are a lot more workers employed by the state here (teachers, transportation workers), but there is no striking against abusive employers that are outside of the French government (like UNITE HERE and the casino industry). My host father likened the strikes of France to people in the U.S. striking the Pentagon- that would never happen in America. Of course, a big part of it is cultural differences and history of civil action, but I’m unconvinced of its effectiveness today. Currently, the Sorbonne and all of the other branches of the Universite of Paris are “en greve.” They are striking against the desire (and possible attempts? Again, sans internet) of the French government to change the public university system. Currently, in France, depending on one’s BACC score, French citizens are given free education (3 years of undergrad, 2 of masters). This is all financed by the state, and education (from pre-k-univ) made up 23% of the states budget in 2003. What a fantastic idea, eh? Well, because of the lack of adequate funding for some of the universities and school in the banlieues (suburbs), some of the schools are in need of an overhaul of the facilities but they have no money to do so. In an attempt to force college students into private schools, so that the state has less of a burden to pay for their education, the government is attempting to pull even more funding from universities. Particularly, they are slashing teacher salaries and refusing to pay for upkeep at schools like Sorbonne. Donc, the teachers are striking and the students are as well in solidarity. But not really- not all teachers are striking, some had a first class, gave everyone the syllabus and bibliography and told them they would see them at the final in 4 months, and some classes are altogether cancelled. Similarly, students are continuing to go to school for the most part, although there have been some noteworthy protests in the past few weeks. I went to the Bibliotheque St. Genevieve with a friend of mine who is a year long student- it is primarily for Sorbonne students, but you can get a library card if you are an international student too. The library is gorgeous and huge, and makes one actually want to study. It looks a little like Deering at Northwestern, or like something out of Harry Potter, but it is bigger and filled with beautiful French people. It certainly didn’t show any signs of a real strike- I am really interested in seeing what happens with the legislation and government’s action.

I found out early this week that the Everett Internship grant has been “suspended indefinitely” because of the economy. This grant funds a lot of the internships I was applying to- MOMA, NPR, Harlem Children’s Zone. I’m not sure what this means for my summer plans- I’m trying to look at it as a blessing in disguise and a way to justify staying in Europe for a while after my program. Waitressing in Chicago would not be the worst thing in the world by any means….We’ll see, but it is hard to worry/deal with this summer when I am very very far away, mentally and physically.

This week, I also went to a great museum in the far west of the city. Musee M…something Monet. It’s the M-name’s former residency, and a pretty schizophrenic collection. There are three rooms of Napoleonic furniture, with impressionist paintings. There’s also a room filled with callygraphied and gold-leafed ancient religious books. But upstairs! There is an amazing collection of impressionist work. I am so glad to be taking advantage of this city artistically, and I think that taking a modern art history class and drawing are both helping me understand, value and view critically all of this unbelievable artwork. In particular, I loved the huge Monet water lilies and a few others I forgot to write down…regardless, I want to go back again when I can- beautiful and small.

I also learned this week why I must not wait until 9 pm to make decide to make dinner- nothing is open. The grocery stores all close at 8 in my neighborhood, and I was running late and had no food= a dinner of some of my roommate’s Uncle Ben’s minute rice, and some lentils from my microwavable dinner. I should have known that any microwavable dinner that isn’t frozen or fridged, just kept at room temperature, cannot be very good. It was gross and I need to remember to go grocery shopping before I get into such dire straits again. For the past few days, I’ve been oh so French and bought an apple, a demi-baguette, and either some cheese or sausage. Cheap and so delish! I think that I’m starting to feel the effects of never really eating vegetables though, and I think I’m going to buy supplements because headaches are no good.

School-wise, everything is going well, although I need to put more work into my French language and culture class to get anything out of it. My class at ICP is interesting but kind of hard to follow, and I have the TA section at 8 am on Wednesdays….kill me. I like everything though, and I feel like I’m learning a lot. I only wish I was talking some sort of class that was more focused on the evolution of Parisian/French culture or politics….an independent study I suppose?

I have also started to experience the true joys of the metro system. A few days ago, at the Bastille, I accidentally ran into a 9 or so person orchestra rehearsal on my way to transfer trains. It reminded me of an article Colby gave me last year, about some primo violinist playing in the NYC subway. There was a large crowd, and I stuck around for a while. After talking to my host family here, I guess that Bastille is well-known for wonderful music in the subway. Yesterday I had a much different experience. There are a lot of homeless people who live in the stations during the day in seeping bags. When our train was stopped at the station, one of the homeless fell onto the tracks on the other side. I didn’t see it happen, but all of the sudden everyone was loking at the tracks and the man I was sitting next to was yelling. The homeless man was helped out by two of the commuters on the other side, but he seemd disoriented and had a hard time walking. Here is a true taste of Paris; the man on my train started complaining about how annoying that is, that he didn’t have time for the train to be delayed and that homeless men should just find somewhere else to jump.

It’s finally getting nicer outside too- less peacoats and scarves. Although I broke my pair of black boots and am going to need to buy some new ones, because even if it is 100 degrees, I have a feeling that the Parsians would be in stylish boots.

I’m definitely traveling less than I originally thought, and it’s for a couple of reasons. Practically, traveling is very expensive. But in reality, if I had all of the money possible, I’d still want to be here. Four months is not nearly enough to learn about and in Paris, and I want to explore and know and be as comfortable here as possible. If at the end of this program, I am still in desperate need of French advancement (which I am sure I will be), I think I’d like to come back after graduation to france, maybe paris, and learn and become fluent. I also think I would like to live in Senegal or a comparable country and teach English. If I don’t find my calling for a ew years post-graduation, I’d love to country and language hop for a few years and learn learn learn. The little I’ve picked up, both culturally and linguistically, in this month have really opened my eyes as to how important different opinions and beliefs and views are to make a holistic understanding, on specific topics and just on a general worldview.

My host father was so shocked when we were talking about journalism and media in the U.S. and in France. The fact that normal cable or satellite in the US has zero international news stations was so shocking to him- he couldn’t understand how we learned about anything. I told him that Americans are more interested in 30 channels for football usually, and he started telling me about the Noam Chomsky book he is reading. Oh life.

So, one month down. My feet are officially wet, and I want more and more to do France the “hard way.” Today I'm going to the Opera "Madame Butterfly," and I plan to fully revel in all things Mardi Gras here. A plus! BISOUS