What a day! The transportation workers are on strike today. This is no surprise; the strike has been in the works for some time and was planned specifically for today. Thus some of the trains were not running and the buses—at least in the direction we needed to go this afternoon—were running very slow because more people were driving. We had class today at 14h and six of the eight students in our class met to take the PC1 (a bus) at around 13h35. Yesterday, our coordinator told us that it’s uncommon to wait 10minutes, at most 5 minutes for a PC1 but this afternoon we waited nearly an hour. At the stop outside of MPF (our dorm), we waited for about 45 minutes, then we decided to walk down to the next stop, which is about a 7 minute walk—still no PC1. By this time its after 14h, class has started, so we decided to walk to the University of Chicago Paris Center where our classes are held. What an incredible walk! The length didn’t bother me but the wind and the insanity of the construction along the middle of Boulevard Jourdan and Boulevard Massena did. Paris is in the midst of creating the Tramway, an amazing new above ground train that will make their already amazing transportation system another 100 times better than the CTA. Right now though, the construction is just awful. It reduces both the street and the sidewalk to incredibly small widths at various unannounced intervals and allows for crossing Jourdan or Massena only about once every mile or two on curlicue paths set out with metal dividers. Some sidewalks aren’t even accessible and pedestrians have to cross the street to continue traveling in the same direction. In the end, we saw only two PC1s and the six of us arrived to class about an hour late but considering that we would have spent 3 hours just talking to each other in French, it wasn’t so bad.

After class, some of us traveled home on the train lines that were not on strike. In particular we rode, the 14, which is the most amazing specimen of public transit that I have witnessed to date. The 14 is completely underground and completely automated. I’m sure this type of system exists somewhere in America but wherever it is I’m sure this one is better. The train itself is enclosed in glass so that when it arrives at a station, two sets of doors open, the glass encasing and the train doors. The station at which we boarded looked like something out of a futuristic sci-fi film with its chrome fixtures and ominous blue ceiling lights (I should have taken pictures). The trains come often and are huge. Once I boarded, I looked down the car toward the middle of the train and I honestly did not see the end of it; it looked as if it went on forever! The seats are very comfortable and the train travels at probably 60-70mph. I felt like I was going through a space pod at warp speeds—it was amazing!

After the 14, we transferred to another train the RER B, comparable to Chicago’s subway. The underground station was extremely crowded—a pick pocket’s dream—and very hot, again like Chicago’s subway. Most of the trains were delayed and when one came, we couldn’t even board. There were like 5 “layers” of people between us and the train doors. Nearly all of the 5 “layers” were able to board and they were packed onto the train like sardines. At the door we were waiting at, a man was barely on the train and another passenger, who couldn’t fit on the train physically, stuffed him into the car. It was hilarious to see the train take off. It moved very slowly so I could see faces smashed against the doors. One guy was pressed against the door sideways with one arm halfway in the air. I’m not used to being rude, so when the next train came and we were right in front of the door, it was hard for me to push and shove in order to hold my spot but I was able to get on the train. Although, when someone was exiting, I was almost steam rolled into a guy standing behind me. The whole time I was afraid someone was going to take my room key card out of my back pocket. I don’t know why anyone would want it but I just didn’t like being pick pocket distance from strangers. The most bizarre thing about this train ride was that people only started making their way toward the door when the train arrived at their stop. No one tried to pry their way through the crowd before their stop. The other students from my group attempted to do so before our stop because they were sitting but no one would let them through. I was standing opposite the door I had to exit and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get out. Standing amongst the seats or sitting, I would have thought I’d have been stuck on the train but thank God we made it home. What a day.