Impromptu trip to Paris-

I just got back from Paris last night - luckily. It was looking like I wasn't going to make it out of that city at all at first. It was a fine example of how different the French culture is from the American culture. There was a train strike yesterday that made the train I was supposed to take back to Chambery get cancelled. So, my friend and I had to hop on the first train to Lyon and then take a bus all the way back to Chambery. It was all really complicated and stressful and we spent most of our last day in Paris dealing with the transportation system. It's so weird to me because they strike all the time, but in America if people continue to strike they just lose their jobs and get replaced and then it's over. Here though, they don't lose their jobs so they just strike. It's different and it's highly inconvenient.

Also, I got this newspaper at the metro stop yesterday that explained why there have been French military fellows with big big guns waltzing all over the place. I think that in another country there were some French people kidnapped and now they are worried about terrorism, but not super worried. The article mainly said the threat is really to French people outside their country, not within it. And it also mentioned they aren't worried about Bin Laden because he doesn't care about France, just the US. Thanks, article. But, the men are just guarding highly populated areas just to be safe. It's intimidating and comforting I guess.

I have mixed feelings about Paris. I like parts of it and don't like other parts of it. I think part of that was just me having really sore feet and being really tired. I went to the Louvre and just feel like I wasn't even in the right mindset to appreciate it. It was just kind of a mess of a trip and there was a lot of poor planning. A few people that went with us kept saying "Oh, don't plan things -- it doesn't matter, we're in Paris" but it did matter. You don't just go to a big city like that without some sort of plan.

I got to go to Roland Garros though, and that was all that I wanted to do in Paris. Mission accomplished. I'm ready for classes to start so I can start learning this language!