Day Two - Going Back To School!

I awoke early, around 6am. I showered and ate and anticipated an adventurous day going back to school. I needed to be at Alliance Francais by 8:30am. The school is in the 6th arrondisement and accessed by the Metro. I was a bundle of nerves. Those family members close to me know, when I was in France 6 months ago, I had a complete breakdown in the bowels of the Metro. Granted, it was after a long international flight from Seattle, and, I, standing before a metro map, which is colored lines and numbers, had no idea where I was or how to resolve it. Fortunately, my daughter was with me and she knew what to do. However, this did nothing to strengthen my confidence as far as the Metro was concerned and I have worried every day leading up to my trip about this frequently used transportation system. In fact, 4.5 million parisiennes use the Metro daily. I can tell you it is a sea of people and they all know exactly what to do. There are 14 lines, all nearly underground. Actually, they are layered one on top of another at different points beneath Paris. The first line was opened in 1903 in conjunction with the World's Fair. The number of lines increased rapidly until WWII when, they literally ran out of room. The Metro remains, today, pretty much the same, making improvements and updating as necessary. I walked to the station at "La place de Republique". I deemed it a bigger station where I could buy a "navigo mensuel" (monthly pass). I thought the pass would cost me about 12 Euros/month, but I was so wrong. The pass costs 65 Euros/month and/or 6 Euros/day. This makes more sense. The city of Seattle will charge a fee of approximately $3.50 for a one-way car trip across the Evergreen Bridge. If you are a commuter from Seattle to Bellevue, you'll pay somewhere under $10.00/day to get to work. Now, in Paris, I can go anywhere, anytime - get on or off one of the 296 Metro Stations for 65.00 Euros during my monthly stay. This makes the Metro cheap. the night before I had studied the Metro map and made sure I knew the direction and the station where I had to make a transfer. I stepped into the "Place de Republique Metro Gare" and found my way to the train. One waits for the trains a maximum of 5 minutes or less. Everything was going smoothly, until I checked the transfer station. A big red "X" across line 4, my next line. I took a deep breath, got off the train, read my map and changed the route. Not so hard afterall.

I arrived at school at 8:30. There were a thong of people. Alliance Francais begins classes every Monday. You decide what you want to take (Oral workshop and French Grammar), take a test, and pay your fees. I will be taking Oral workshop as the Grammar class was filled. There are other schools in the area and I will think about enrolling some place else next week.

On the way home, I stopped at a cafe and had a "cafe au lait" and "un pain au chocolat". I read the French newspaper that lay on the counter. M. Sarkosy, le presidente had fired one of his ministeres. Evidently, her family (La ministere is a woman) had some interests ("perks") with the Tunisia gov't and was trying to protect them during this volatile Arab rebellion. She was fired.

I walked home, used the ATM, and bought groceries. I'm feeling "Almost French".

No school tomorrow.

Sally