Disclaimer: This post is one giant complaint. It contains very little information about the goings-on in my life. If I were you, I'd read it anyway; but if you really just want to know what I've been up to, I have another post on the way just for you.
Well friends, I'm sorry to announce that my fairytale relationship with public transportation and city life in general has sadly come to an end. After enjoying a month of cramped tram rides, hectic bus transfers and generally smelliness, I've finally had enough. I'd love a 20 minute drive through the countryside to get where I need to be. I'd even love to drive from the Colby campus to Walmart. I just don't want to have to sit next to that guy and his smelly dog anymore. And I really don't want to ride a tram to campus with every student in Grenoble who has class at 8:30. Allow me to provide some context for my sudden disillusionment:
- The stereotype that France is a country prone to going on strike is based in reality. There have been at least 5 strikes since I've been here, with another scheduled for Tuesday. Luckily, I've made it through the strikes relatively unscathed due to the location of my house and campus, but its still stressful to have to wonder if I'll be able to get to campus or if there will be a manifestation in the way. Plus, I can't help but wonder if the strikes of the public transportation system are really targeting the right people. I suppose they can be crippling enough to affect everyone, but I feel pretty confident that Nicolas Sarkozy and company aren't riding the tram to work. I, however, would love for the people of France to be able to retire at 60. Unfortunately, I can't vote here and I really need to use the public transportation system. I just want to ride my bus in peace and harmony.
- This post has actually been transcribed from the notebook it was originally written in, at 2:00 this afternoon as I sat in the hot sun watching a bus stop to see if any buses were coming. Answer: Non. I already knew that the trams had stopped, but rumor had it some buses were still running. This was false. Apparently there was some sort of "incident" which led to nearly a complete shut down of the trams and buses. This was inconvenient for me because I had class in the morning until 10:30, but then not again until 5:30. While I had originally planned on going to the gym and doing some errands in between, my plans changed when I realized I would have to walk anywhere I wanted to go. I opted to stay on campus for my nice 7-hour break, which was a great time to do some homework. Then I had a nice 45 minute walk home after my class. In all seriousness, the weather was lovely so it really wasn't bad at all, but a tram would have been much more convenient. By a happy coincidence, I happened to have 1.5 changes of clothes, shampoo, a towel, an apple and a banana with me, so I considered finding a little corner of campus to call my own, but since I don't have class on Friday I decided to make the trek home.
I suppose the lesson I learned here is that public transportation really is great when it works... and when it doesn't work, it's the pits. I've now added "normal cars and roads" to the list of things I never imagined I would miss. Here are a few other things on the list:
- Good ol' college-ruled paper. Almost all of the paper here is either graph paper or a strange mutation of graph and ruled paper. Although my 3-d drawing skills have increased immensely (architect school, here I come!), I actually get dizzy looking at my notes sometimes.
- Milk. I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm still trying to get over it.
- Window screens. They don't have them here and there are flies everywhere.
In summery, things I will not miss about France:
- Constant strikes/unhappiness and public transport problems
- This darn cat. I might miss it a little, but I've thrown it off my bed at least 6 times in the last half hour. When will it learn that I don't want its disease and craziness (fur) all over my pillow?
- French keyboards. I used one earlier today, it was so hard! The A is where the Q is, the M is where the colon is, the W is where the Z is, its all a big mess and I want no more of it.
- Lack of milk.
- Flies
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