Fun things last week!

So in addition to returning to Paris on Sunday and starting my internship on Monday, I also did many other fun things last week and over the weekend including going go the friendly, pre world cup match between France and Spain, going to the Salon Agriculture on Friday night, and then this weekend Christine was visiting from Rome and Ashley Oliver was visiting from London, and I had quite a fun weekend with them. I also started my last class with IFE which meets on Tuesday nights for two hours, and I will talk about all that stuff now.

I will start with my class, and get to the more fun things… so my first class was on Tuesday night, and it was a regular first day of class, learning names and signing up for dates for homework assignments and things like that, which was thrilling… but I am actually really excited for this class because it is going to be about the history of the European Union, how it developed after the end of WWII and how it got to be what it is today. We are also going to talk about the challenges that the EU faces… question like what constitutes Europe. Where does the eastern border fall? Who can use the Euro? And the ever pressing question What about Turkey? There is also the current question of the financial crisis in Greece and what the European Union can/should do to help them? All of these are big questions facing the Union immediately, but there are also questions about its true nature as a democratic institution since it often overrides or ignores the referendum results of each individual country when the people of the country vote against something the EU wants to see happen… another big question. So yeah, it is all going to be very interesting, and I think it will be a good way to help open up my understanding of European politics from a French perspective. The second one is tonight, so I will let you know how it goes.

So that was Tuesday night of last week, and on Wednesday night I went to the pre-world cup soccer game between France and Spain. If anyone follows soccer then they will know that the USA played the Netherlands that same night, and sadly the lost 2-1, but the Netherlands is ranked 2nd in the world so that is not so bad. But anyway, back to the game between France and Spain. I hurried home from work to change my clothes and make some dinner before heading out to the game which started at 9pm, or 21h00 if you prefer (military time is still confusing to me… 16h00 should be 6pm. Seriously.) So I took the RER D up to the stade de France, and then walked up to the stadium… I was really worried about how I would find the stadium after I got off the metro, but that was really actually a stupid worry cause there were hordes and hordes of people all walking the same way to get to the game. So we finally made it to the stadium and found our section, only to realize that there was a huge line to get into the section! We had tickets already, so all we could do was wait in line… and I was so worried we were going to miss kick off! The line crawled as time went by and were almost to the front as they started playing the Spanish National Anthem, and we were sprinting up the stairs as they played the Marseillais… and we sat down just in time for kick off! It was a huge adrenaline rush just to kick off the game! They open the gates to the game two hours before kickoff… and now I know why.

So if anyone knows anything about soccer right now, then you know that the Spanish team is ranked #1 in the world going into the World cup… and everyone pretty much knew that the Spanish were going to be better than the French, and it was really just a friendly… and the Spanish were friendly, but they kicked France’s butt. In fact it kind of looked like the French team didn’t even know how to play soccer compared to the Spanish… people were expecting the Spanish to be good, But no one was really expecting the French to be so bad, which does not bode well for the World Cup which starts in less than 100 days. Personally, I don’t care if the French are terrible at soccer, I just wanted to go and see the game, two of the biggest teams in the world go head to head… and I sadly can’t go to the world cup in South Africa this summer, so this is as close as I am going to get to seeing a real match. However what was really interesting to me was first how the French fans reacted to their team doing horribly, and secondly how different the ambiance was at the game compared to sporting events I have gone to in the states.

First, the French fans. They were merciless! Every time the French team messed up they groaned, and at halftime when the score was already 2-0 they booed the team off the field. Then when they came back after halftime they booed them back on to the field. I couldn’t believe it! In the states I feel like your team can be the worst team in the entire country, and you still cheer for them no matter what, come a good season or bad season, come rain or shine. But not the French it appears… they might have been a bit more supportive if the game had been more than just a friendly match, but I don’t know. Then when things got really bad, when the Spanish were simply passing around the French as though they were playing a high school soccer team, the French started cheering for the Spanish! I was dumbfounded! Every time they hit another pass, in a series of like 30-‘à passes the French fans would shout olé ! Which is how the Spanish cheers for their team… and finally when the game was over, final score of 2-0 the French booed their team right off the field again. I almost felt sorry for the French team, but not really cause they really played terribly.

Secondly, it was so interesting to notice the difference between the soccer game here in Paris and any other sporting event I have gone to in the States. I haven’t been to a ton of games and things, but I have been to a few MLS (major league soccer) games in the states and some baseball games. In the states I feel like half the reason people go to the game is to eat and drink, and be in the atmosphere of the game… you know « buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks ! » Not here in France. It is all about the game. Hardcore. Some people went and bought something to drink at halftime, but no one took their eyes off of the game for a minute… It was just so interesting to see the different approach to the game. We all know that Europeans take their soccer seriously, but they really do. I also wonder if the World Cup games and friendlies and things like that are an outlet for European nationalism, that really only gets to come out once every four years. The entire continent is very conscious of not being overly nationalistic, or trying to prove that one country is better than the other, since in the past sentiments like that have led to little things like world wars. And particularly with the European Union, equality between states is stressed and each state is considered equal. It is nothing like in the states where people have no problem saying that the USA is the best country in the world… but for example in France the flag only waves on state buildings and it is always right next to the EU flag. And often overzealous representation of the flag is associated with the really far right wing conservative party the Front National, so you just don’t see it that often. However, at the game, the audience was a sea of French flags, and tri color wigs and things of the sort. I just wonder if occasions like this, once every four years allow European countries to have a safe venue to express their nationalistic impulses… it would be interesting to know.

Then when the game was over, I was sure it was going to take forever to get back to the city since there were 80,000 people at the game, but the beauty of the RER is that a ton of people can ride at once, and we were all back in the city in no time ! For some reason I thought that I couldn’t take my camera, which was dumb… but I pulled these pics of the internet, so they are way better than ones I could have taken anyway.

Then on Friday a few of us from IFE went over to the Salon d’Agriculture near Porte de Versailles on Friday night after work to see what all the hustle and bustle was about! I told the story on this blog earlier about how Jacques Chirac would go and spend hours at the Salon d’Agriculture, so I just had to go and check it out. It was outstanding… like the county fair times a million! Farmers come from all over the country to show off their goods, their animals, their techniques, and best of all their food and wine products… if you had tried hard enough you could have made a free dinner out of all of the free samples that were being passed out of cheese and saucisson sec and bread and oil and jam and honey and olives and wine… so outstanding! We walked around to all of the regions of France upstairs and then went down stairs to find the overseas departments of France… which were absolutely crazy, because that was where all the rum was! It was really a great way to spend a night, and have a cultural experience since I won’t be able to go to all of the regions of France while I am here; I still got to taste and see something from almost everywhere.

So then on Saturday I spent the day tromping around the city with Christine and Ashley and Matt which was really fun… and we had a fun family dinner and went and saw the Eifel tower glitter at night…it was a great end to a fun day, and a fun weekend. On Sunday I went to Pere Lachaise and met up with Emily Vernon who was visiting… and I saw good old Jim Morrison from the Doors who is buried there, and Oscar Wilde and Max Ernst (for Mac) and Moliere and a few others… but I didn’t have my camera, so when I go back in a few weeks I will take pics and put them up here. Then Ashley came home and stayed the night with me and we had a lovely little sleep over… it was a great weekend!

So as usual there are a million other details I could include, but I will write about the fun things of this week this weekend, and in the next few days you can still fully expect to read three entries about Rome… they are coming, along with pics of the world’s most delicious Gelato that Anne sent us to find…

Bisous!