Les Rues font les regles.

Bonjour a tous !

So this Saturday I witnessed my first French protest. I was on my way to the tram station to go home and the street seemed a little more animated than usual, but I didn’t think anything of it at first. As I approached the station, I could tell that the extra noise wasn’t just the gaiety of a Saturday afternoon, I realized that it was une manifestation (a protest). Over the heads of the crowd, I could see Palestinian flags waving and signs bouncing to the beat of a chanting mob. The train tracks were covered by the mass of people rallying for Palestinian resistance! Having never witnessed anything like this before I had a string of reactions. I was instantly energized and drawn toward the mob. What on earth were these people yelling? As I walked toward the mob I was next struck by fear when I saw a wall of police officers surrounding the mob, it was a peaceful protest, but I was scared all the same. After my brief euphoric infatuation with the protest came to an end I panicked. How can I get home with these people blocking my train?!…was I going to have to walk the whole way?! Luckily, the French are accustomed to these sorts of civil disruptions and were not panicked at all. They had the tram cut into two different branches, each one running to the end of the line and stopping just before the protestors so all I had to do was walk to the next stop. When I got home, my mind was still a flutter with the excitement of the encounter, and the first thing I did was to run to my host mom and tell her about what I had seen. She replied with very little interest, telling me that this sort of things happens all the time. I can’t help but love France a little more because of this. There is something so romantic about a country where people are passionate enough rally and take their beliefs to the street as a part of their daily life. Vive la France where the rues rule the country!

A tout a l'heure!

Lauren