Last train to Paris

TGV- France's high speed train

I am typing this post on the train to Paris and Diddy’s “Coming Home” just came on shuffle. (How fitting the song is on the album “Last Train to Paris”?)  Even though I know that this is not my last train to Paris ever, it is my last one as a resident of Dijon.

Before getting on the train my landlady, Carmela, came to my flat around 11 to make sure the flat was ok, take the keys, and also help me with getting my luggage to the train station.  We took a taxi and had lunch before my 1:20pm train and she insisted on paying for lunch as a “final treat”.  Lunch with her was quite calming and it felt as though everything had come “full circle” as back in September she collected me at the train station when I first arrived and that night treated me to dinner.  My first and last meals in Dijon were with Carmela and it was cool to be able to reflect on the year with her, as she has been a great resource throughout.  After lunch we headed to the platform (as we ate at nice little café in the train station) where my friends who are still here were waiting to say good bye to me.  Carmela and I said our goodbyes (and she made me promise to e-mail her to let her know when I’m home) and as I was waiting on the platform with my friends I started to tear up.  It was all hitting me again that this was really happening.  The train arrived and they helped me lug my heavy suitcases (I forgot how awful it is to deal with 2 pieces of luggage, a tote, and an oversized handbag solo!) and waved goodbye to me from the platform.  Cue actual tears.  There they were waving, blowing kisses and I was a ball of emotion in my seat.  As difficult and sad as I felt about leaving, it proved even further just how much these people and this city have changed my life for the better and that is what makes goodbyes so hard. 

It’s so difficult to truly express how one can feel such sadness and such excitement at the same time.  As sad as I am to leave my friends here and this beautiful country I also have amazing people, and a lovely country, to come home.  A street near where my flat was called rue Alfred De Musset and I find one of his quotes the most fitting for this time:

“Le retour fait aimer l'adieu.” –Alfred De Musset

(The return makes one love the farewell.)

And so as the quote implies- it will only be a matter of time before I'm back in la belle France.

Word of the Post: le train -- the train

Présidentielle 2012

This year I get to experience two presidential elections as both France and the US will hold elections this year!  The French have their elections in the Spring and it usually consists of 2 rounds.  There are ten candidates for the first round and a final two for the second round.  The winner of the second round becomes the President-elect and takes office almost immediately for a 5 year term.  To catch you up to speed here are five things to know about this year's election.

On April 22^nd the premier tour, or first round, of the French elections started.  I was in Nice and as Alice and I were eating dinner in a trendy bistro the premier tour results came out.  The place had a TV behind the bar so we could see how each candidate did: Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP), the current President, and François Hollande (PS) were the top two candidates: Sarkozy gaining 27.18% and Hollande gaining 28.63%.  An alarming aspect of the premier tour was that the Front National (FN)’s candidate, Marine Le Pen, gained a 17.9% which was a record high for the party. (This is alarming because the Front National makes up the extreme right in France's politics boasting anti-Europe/anti-immigration policies that make the American extreme right look left.)

Once the premier tour results were in the remaining candidates, Sarkozy and Hollande, had just one televised debate, on May 2, before the seconde tour.  (Check out this BBC article article to read more on the debate.)

French election ballot

Today, on May 6, French citizens voted to either re-elect Sarkozy or change it up by electing Hollande.  It was my last night in Dijon and the few of us still here decided to watch the results and go to Place de la Libération as Hollande was the predicted winner and there were to be celebrations there.  We got drinks and sat outside at one of the cafés at Place de la Lib and watched as everyone celebrated Hollande’s win. (Hollande won 51.62%; Sarkozy 48.83%)  The atmosphere felt quite similar to the general feeling in the U.S. when Obama was elected: peaceful, happy, excited.  (Hollande even had a similar slogan “Le changement, c’est maintenant”.)  There was a stage set up for a band to play songs so everyone could celebrate the new President! “Hollande Président !” was chanted over and over in a similar way to hearing the crowds chant “Yes we can” when Obama won in 2008.

For me it was so perfect for the second tour to take place on my last night in Dijon; experience two of my passions (politics and France) simultaneously!

Word of the Post: la politique -- politics