Who says the French aren't nice?

The other day, after returning from India:

I stopped in to the cave à vin (wine cellar, aka "cave") to see my wine guy. We chatted and he was delivered 2 slices of pizza from next door for his dinner. Just making conversation I said I aime'd pizza and he packed up a slice for me along with my bottle of wine.

Across the street I visited with my boulangerie lady and didn't realize a line had formed behind me. I was scrambling to pay with coins for my 90c baguette and was short 10c when the 12-year-old boy behind me said, (essentially) "I have 10c for the lady."

The bus drivers say bonjour and bonsoir.

The Monoprix lady wants so badly to give me a plastic bag for my items that she's slightly insulted when I tell her I have my own bag.

My friends Wilfried and Sarah offer to swing by tomorrow when they're in the neighborhood since I'm sick.

And the other day I went to the Madeleine metro to go to Les Trois Quartiers, picked up the sleeping bag, and went back down to catch the metro home. And you never know what you'll find:




An accident on the line causing the metro to be delayed. A line of several people deep:


Turn around to go back up to catch the bus and



the escalators are broken...


But, in the spirit of unity, a nice woman stopped to help an older lady get up the stairs

More than just "Hello Bonjour"

It's a good day for school. While I did have to skip my 8am French and the 10am Situating Ourselves courses so I could start to figure out how to get a doctor's appointment, it was still a good day for class. (Don't worry mom, it's just a normal ol' sinus infection or something. I hear the French have great health care so I should be good to go at a cheap rate in no time.)

I do love my Le Gales "State Restructuring and Policy Change: Government and Governance" course. (you can read the PDF at the bottom of this website if you're so inclined.) Today, he gave a few minutes away from the (ahem, boring) readings on State Regulation Within the State to discuss our final policy papers (4,000 words our choice of topics) and then talked for about an hour with us on the state of France and the strike and Sarkozy. I guess it was the first time I really spoke up in class - since I was the one who emailed the request to discuss. Finally, I guess we all decided that it's definitely time for France to reform and catch up to the globalization playing field, but we're not sure if Sarkozy will do (or has been doing) it in the best manner possible. The French don't necessarily support the strikes this time around, but they're not all out counter-protesting (although some are) since they recognize that sometime in the future it might be their retirement plan Sarkozy comes after.

I caught my #68 bus this morning just as I was about to duck down into the metro to give it a try. I got the #68 back home - totally jammed crowded and crawling slowly through traffic jams. I'm sure the air pollution is doing wonders for my skin and lungs. Regardless, I totally support those folks on strike and I sympathize (especially since I have no idea what it's like to be a train operator), but I do agree that




The Times They ARE A'Changing
(c/o micoolcho in Singapore)

..............

Yeah, so I'm struggling with which policy I'll pick. He's recommended we do a comparative analysis of a policy in 2 countries/areas. We're also not supposed to do something we're familiar with - there goes CCRV. And, of course, we can't do overlapping projects either, ie turn this paper into my "Regulation, Adjudication and Dispute Settlement Beyond the State" class. (I'm thinking about looking at the recent cybercrimes in different countries and analyzing how they're being handled legally and with which international orgs.) In my "Managing Innovation in the Globalising Learning Economy" we're working in groups. I've been spending about 4-6 hours a week with these guys, one from Berlin and the other from Seoul - very cool. We're conducting a survey of future policy makers and current decision-makers, analyzing the impact of pop culture on Seoul and the cultural growth in Berlin after Reunification. It's called "Investment in Social Capital and Cultural Industry - An Argument for Advancing Policy to Enhance Economies of Metropoles." (I invented the title while looking over the application process to UNESCO - they ask for projects, papers, thesis in the CVs of potential interns.)

Whew. And then there's group work in Econ and some paper we're supposed to write in Stats, too. Thankfully our "Situating Ourselves in Complex Settings" class (Organizational Theory) is over tomorrow and it was more of a workshop than a class. We did group work (ugh) to analyze a colleague's previous work dilemma. We're all sworn to secrecy not to reveal any details as it could compromise the person and the institution. But basically it had to do with a large institution not following its own HR policies versus possible corruption with some folks pocketing money skimmed from around the edges. I'm not sure we resolved this one. But it was nothing compared to some dude who talked about the levels of corruption and outright illegal activity he witnessed in an unnamed South American country. Not so much 'org theory' as down-right f'd up ness.

I do like the way this program is really hands-on, not just theoretical, philosophical but we're digging in and doing. This Saturday we'll start four (voluntary) courses on Econometrics and really see how to analyze policy with statistics etc.. or something like that. Then, since there weren't enough 2nd year students signed up for one of the concentrations, "Political Economy of Welfare Reform" will be a lecture series open to all. I'm definitely doing both of these voluntary classes. I figure it's the only chance I'll get so why not. I'll see Paris soon.

Oh, and if you can't keep up - it's all updated on the Mac calendar. Including the Paris Photo exhibition that I did squeeze in for 4 hours on Thursday. I skipped out after my 2-min presentation to the presentation skills course (pass/fail, "taught" by a consultant, really lame). Lisa, I'll have you know I got my "grades" back today and all the students and the consultant chick gave me scores of good to very good. Thanks to you it's old hat, I guess. The calendar also includes the Interpol concert I hope to make on Wednesday night - metros and my health willing.

Dude, Nicole, were you around when I was obsessed with trying to win the KEXP giveaway for tickets to see them in Paris? I sent like a postcard a day - and even had to run over to the capitol to buy lame capitol postcards so I wouldn't miss a day. And then I found out they only wanted 1 postcard per person for the drawing. I was crushed. Well... It's Paris. It's Interpol. I hope I get some good drugs from the doctor. Mannnn...

PS. A short, funny description of the difference between strikes in Paris and the USA. I love the description of a manifestation - the one I witnessed on Wednesday near school, I'm almost 100% positive the striker guys were drunk.

Greve can tear people apart or bring them together

I'm not sure how I feel about La Greve. I haven't had enough time to process it really - which sounds utterly pathetic. I think I've found myself in a vicious circle - school is overwhelming which makes me feel overwhelmed by school which makes school overwhelming. I'm not sure what I lack (or have) that the other students have (don't have) in this capacity. They seem to have a lot more time to party and hang out and drink ans socialize and I feel like I'm constantly tiring my eyeballs out to read as much as possible. I'm starving for this information but now it's been heaped so high on my plate I can't even conceive of seconds or thirds or a whole 'nuther year and a half of dishing it out!

Anyway... Anne and I had a tense moment yesterday during the Greve. She said she didn't support the unions organizing to keep their retirement benefits and age and actually said she wanted to help Sarkozy because this lowered retirement age is affecting France's power to be competitive, etc. Since my days at PP I've been in favor of unions and I think if they don't stand up to Sarkozy now it's really downhill for their culture and interests. Anne comes from a private industry background, I'm from a non-profit background. Debate is good.

It took me 1-1/2 hours to walk to school on Wednesday morning (left at 8am). I was going to meet Magdalena and her girlfriend at l'Opera at 9am but I got there at 8:30am so I grabbed a bathroom stop via getting a coffee - Starbucks yuck, but convenient. We met up and walked - a lot more leisurely pace than I had carried down the hill - through the Louvre Tuileries, over the Seine as the sun was really starting to show its glow behind the buildings, and down through the city to Blvd Saint Germain.

A few buses were running but mostly it was a speedy parade of bikes, cars, scooters, motorcycles, rollerbladers, rollerskaters, and walkers. We got to school a bit early and ran into a portion of the Greve unions.



Global Governance class was all about cybersquatting: Judicial Globalization
1. World Intellectual Property Organization, Arbitration and Mediation Center, UDRP – Domain Name Dispute Resolution
2. Administrative Panel Decision, Excelentisimo Ayuntamiento de Barcelona v. Barcelona.com Inc., Case no. D2000-0505
3. United States Court Of Appeals for The Fourth Circuit, Barcelona.com Inc. v. Excelentisimo Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, no. 02-1396
4. ICANN-Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy

It hurts my brain, invigorates my thinking, and astounds me - as I'm sitting there - that I'm learning about this stuff. Which starts that vicious cycle again. But, oh no, woe is me... poor me... walking 2.25 miles to school IN PARIS, feeling insecure about global law IN PARIS. It's still very surreal and still a gigantic rollercoaster. One day total self-assurance, the next complete insecurity.

I walked back after classes. My ipod wasn't working properly so I did without which is such a good thing. (No, no, I don't walk around the whole time with my ipod but it is good for the walk/run work-out to and from places sometimes.) There was so much noise and sound and discussion - so much LIFE in this city walking home in the dark.

Today, I tried the metro as RATP said they'd started running more frequently. But, of course, running metros means crowds and crowds. I watched a guy hold the doors open to the car for like 4 minutes while he really tried to shove himself in. The second metro and I tried to shove myself in - making a fool of myself no doubt. The third metro came empty! I got a seat which was fantastic and good viewing for the sardine action. It's comical but annoying, dangerous and community all at once. It took me 1-1/2 hours to get to school. HA!

On the way to the metro this morning, I walked from M: Blanche to M: Barbes. I must have looked too serious or pinched-face because all of a sudden I had this silly teenage boy's face in mine, fingers spread out from his head and tongue out. It definitely had the right effect. I started laughing and laughing while walking totally caught off guard! Perfect!

It is indeed the little things.

......

Tomorrow I'm off to the doctor visit and tax payment for the official carte de sejour - long-stay visa. I hear there's an x-ray, blood pressure check, tax payment of 55E, and then done deal.
3.07 miles to the doctor.
2.20 miles to school.
2.17 miles back home.

Between school and home, I think I might treat myself to a leisurely stroll through the Carrousel du Louvre for the Paris Photo exhibition.

I often wonder if there's some part of photography and writing that is playing itself out loudly within this grad school plan. Perhaps some of my struggle is in integrating all the pieces and right now only a few aspects are receiving the most attention in the 'grad school plan.' I've heard of many students attending Global Public Policy or Public Affairs programs to augment careers in journalism. I need to investigate that more.

I got fat in Berlin

Well, I put the pounds back on that Paris made me lose. We ate so well in Berlin!

But I have to run off to a group work meeting (during vacation no less! blasphemy!) and then I have to use this vacation / reading week to actually catch up on reading so the blog post will have to wait.

In the meantime, there are a ton of new Paris photos - trying to catch up with those before loading up the Berlin ones.

Here's the link to the sets. What's new?

La Fete des Vendanges de Montmartre
dinners (yes, mom, I'm eating)
#74 bus ride
Sciences Po events (INSEAD RESPONSE conference - highlight was seeing the President of Microsoft International, low point was realizing they all do the corporate social responsibility for the money)
Day in the 1eme and Marais
Nuit Blanche (added and grouped)
Montmartre 18eme
Marais - 3eme and 4eme (post-Soiree Blanche, walking around the day after)
Saint Germain / rue du Bac (I was focusing on capturing some fashion on the streets and coats I'm interested in)
Pigalle / Clichy (like maybe 4 photos here)
Paris Metro (starting a collection of metro pics I think)

Here are some for persual now:

Lately I've been thinking about lovers and transport

In rue de Douai apartment, Paris.

Well, there's just too much to share and too little time when things move quickly. I had high hopes on detailing each step I took, found, got help with to get here. I'd like to help others who are interested in participating in this program or in graduate school in Paris for it seems like there's a need.

Last Friday, I met an American student from my program and she hadn't heard anything from the financial aid office here, had no idea that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid 8-page Student Aid Report (FAFSA SAR) had to be post-mailed to Sciences Po, to the chosen loaning bank, and the loan brokers/"police."

On the same hand, as we were comparing our Type-A personalities and the feeling of lack of information for preparation, she reminded me that, well, it's just France. It's another culture. It's another way of living. Details later. General idea now. Sip your lovely cheap wine, amble slowly up the rue, and worry not.

So, I guess, I'll try to piece it all together as things go but I won't hold myself to some rigid tale of step 1 to step 2 to steps all the way to this apartment near Pigalle.

And yes, here I am sipping some of that lovely, cheap, red wine. I've closed the shutters to the main rue outside and am ready to give a bit of reflection thus far.

There are some small tidbits missing from every travel guide and every website I've seen so far. Small tidbits which can explain a culture, an attitude, a mannerism, a way to get lost or be found, a way to get along or feel isolated. For instance, the metro - main arteries of travel in the heart of Paris, the subway - stops running around 12:45/1am.

Now, today is precisely the 6th day I've been in Paris, and the 9th day in total that I've ever been here. Native Parisians and new locals keep telling me I should try the bus or Velib to get from place to place. Well, I've decided that travel through the city will be kind of like Donkey Kong. Level 1 (least difficulty): cab from airport to apartment; Level 2: walk from apartment to food shopping street (rue Lepic), Sacre Coeur, restaurants; Level 3: metro from apartment to school area; Level 4 - take a bus from apartment to Champs Elysees; Level 5 - Velib around; Level 6 - Velib bike at NIGHT; Level 7 - become an expert on Noctilien buses. So far I've gotten to Level 4 without incident and got a brief tour of the night bus last weekend by a fellow student who lives in my neighborhood.

Each a little bit more of a risk. Each a little bit more of confusion. Each a little bit more of a loss of control. Each an adventure, each a success, each a trial. I'm pacing myself with the newness of it all. After all, I'd prefer not to go into culture shock and a slow toe-in to the whole adventure will make for an easier adjustment to the next two years.

So, as I was saying. The metro stops running quite early. They say New York is the city that never sleeps. And I hear Paris is for lovers. Somehow I thought that love would happen at all hours and the quickest link between two hearts would seem to be the metro. Alas, not so. Perhaps there is more romance in the late-night/early morning desire via bicycle.

Anyway, thank goodness for the tour of the Noctilien bus. Inch by inch I'll feel more freedom as I get to know the veins and arteries, short-cuts and bike lanes of Paris.