wamu

So, originally this was supposed to be a glorious recounting of my Thursday adventure where I joined forces with the French workers and marched around town protesting la politique de Sarko en disant qu'il ne faut pas soutenir les entreprise qui sont entrain de licensier leurs ouvriers. I was all ready to be a vocal force with my first in the air supporting the nationwide grève, but it didn't happen. I had received an email from a French classmate telling me about a réuion à La Place de la Sorbonne à 13h ce jeudi, but when I got there, by walking the two hours from Boulogne to the Sorbonne, I was left with nothing with disappointment because there was no large gathering of disgruntled students and profs. In retrospect I obviously should have been more serious about this manifestation and done my own research about where and when to be, but I'll have to remember that for next time. Suprisingly, walking across a good two-thirds of Paris is actually pretty easy. I was able to explore a few coins that I hadn't yet seen, like the areas around the back side of the Rodin museum and Hotel Matignon, discovered a movie theatre called The Pagoda, and the tiny shops of rue du Four.

There have also been some strange emotions in the air as of late. There have been a lot of last night in Paris parties for all of my Middlebury program partners in crime and at the same time i have already had my first two new classes of the winter semester and with them come all of the new fresh-off-the-boat Americans. You would think that interacting with these fellow Americans would be facile, but so far I have struggled. I should be offering up all of my advice on the little details that I have found that Paris has to offer, but the oppotunities for sharing this information are lacking. While they were going through their abridged "Welcome to Paris" month of January, I was passing final exams and saying goodbye to newly found friends, but I have confidence that opportunities will present themselves.

Like tomorrow! Some of us are going to a rugby match tomorrow so maybe I can start the friend making process all over again. Stade Fraçaise is famous for three things: being a decently good rugby club (they are currently 2nd in the French League), they have brightly designed uniforms (flowers, bright pink, Warhol stylized, kahki?) and every year they make a calender where the pose naked except for a few smartly placed rugby balls. Should be a great time!

Finaly, with this five day weekend, I've been on an American new binge via WAMU, my favorite NPR station and Slate. I feel bad that the news isn't in French, but with most of the people that I have met this year returning stateside, I'm missing home a little bit more than usual. When classes start up again for real after next week I'll get back on the French only horse, but until then I'll keep on humming the theme song to APM's Marketplace.

Don't forget to watch the big game this weekend. Team Handball Championship between France and Croatia in Zagreb. Should be a great one.

Allez les Bleus!