Today was an eventful day. I woke up early so that I could get to Kayser and work on my group project. I had to take the tram because there is a strike by the public-sector workers, and so the RER is closed down. For those of you who know me really well, you know that I have no sense of direction whatsoever. So even though I got mapquest walking direction from the tram to the center, I found myself lost in Paris at 7 am this morning and the credit on my phone had run out. It wasn't until 8:30 am that I reached my destination, scared and frustrated. I treated myself to a lemon tarte for my stressful morning, and vowed to myself that from now on I will reload my phone as soon as it gets low on texts or minutes. I mean I was the very definition of lost. I had no phone, don't know French, and I don't know the general area. But by some miracle I found my way, and at least now I know how to get from the tram to school.
I had my first presentation today in class with a group. We presented on Montaigne, which was difficult to do because he is a stream of conscious writer who contradicts himself every other page. Also, my professor, Philippe Desan, is one of the leading scholars of Montaigne, so there was no way to make up stuff or pretend like I knew what I was doing - I HAD to know what I was talking about. Fortunately the presentation went really well, but I must say that Montaigne's and my professors view that history does not have a lot of credence in our lives is something that I will always disagree with. Without history we would have nothing. History is what we build upon, and without the past, one would keep repeating the same mistakes. Granted there are some mistakes that man will always repeat, but we wouldn't be in the same position today if the knowledge of yesterday was not there.
I want to get back to the strike though. They are striking because there was a raise in the retirement age. This strike was not that new of news to us. We were informed last week that we would have to take a different mode of transportation starting today, and that it was an indefinite strike. I applaud the attitude of strikes here. In Minnesota, there was the nurse's strike and it was a lot of people's opinions that the nurses were wrong. This effected their lives, and so they didn't like it. That is not the case here. In fact, Jake and I went down to the Bastille area today and protested with the strikers and sympathizers. There were no people on the sides of the streets yelling at them and no signs telling them to stop. All we experienced were supportive people. There were children singing songs, concerts on the Bastille, and stickers of all sorts everywhere. And then when we were on public transportation today, we were packed in closer than sardines, but no one was complaining. This is how it should be. In the US the corporations are too big and powerful, which makes it hard for unions to strike because the companies will just bring in temporary workers. It diminishes the power of the union, which is dangerous because corporations already hold a lot of power and often the people who make the decisions that effect the union workers, are so distant from the situation that they do not care who they are impacting. Strikes are a direct and powerful way to voice opinions, but I feel like in the US they have lost some of their lustor.
As for the rest of my day, Jake and I wandered around the Bastille area, saw where VICTOR HUGO lived and ate a falafel that was absolutely delicious. It was fun to just walk around a part of Paris without having time constraints or being in a big group. Well I am off to plan my itinerary for my trips to Edinburgh, Dublin, and London!
Until next time.
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