Hey everyone!
First I want to just say happy 21st birthday again to my Michigander Caitlyn Fitzgerald (yesterdat)! And to a night well spent!
Back to the blog...
So
I’ve finally decided a layout for my blog posts; I will choose one or two
topics and just talk about those. I’ll be doing it this way in order that I can
spend less time on a single post and just get all the experiences up on here in
multiple posts. That being said, my posts are going to be subsequently shorter
but there will be more of them. If I decide to write longer ones, I will. The blogs may not even being connected like this one isn't with the previous (sorry) but I will be writing about what I promised just not in this post. Anyways, on to the topic of this post: Metros, the problems the pose to us,
& how I’ve dealt with these.
For the people who haven’t left the
country but have been to big cities like NYC, most of this you may already know
especially if you’re a brought up city kid/person. I will go by mentioning
things that people who are not accustomed to the city life should expect and
then my ways of dealing with them here in France. First of all, it is much
faster: The majority of people walks faster & will remain in their own
world by keeping a set of headphones on.
Second, there are lots beggars and vagrants
some of which not only sit around with a sign asking for money and others who
will get directly on the trains or buses and personally go up to each person
and ask for money. I advise and have also been advised to not give these people
money. I’m not implying to be stingy, however. The fact of the matter is that
yes, some of these people are legitimately homeless and need the money but on
the other hand, a good handful are not even from here or in true need of that
money. To relate to another aspect of city life of which you will need to be
aware, thieves, these “beggars” work within a network and come from other
countries trying to make money. Thieves, as I only briefly mentioned, work in
the same way but with little kids as their tool to turn you into a defenseless
patsy since they work well with their small hands and cannot be legally put
into jail.
Third, don’t get too close to the walls
unless you want your nasal cavities bombarded with the unpleasant smell of
urine.
Fourth, if you want to not look so much
like a foreigner, here are a couple things I’ve done to blend in; Always look
like you know where you are going even though you won’t upon your first visit,
toss on a scarf (girls AND guys) and a cardigan or blazer with some cords for
more conservative/business casual look and tights for women while avoiding flip
flops, short skirts, and hoodies. Remember, this is just from what I’ve
personally seen and experienced so I’m allowed to make a generalization but
this does not mean I do not see people wearing the latter clothing, I just see
in much, much less in comparison to the former several.
And finally, I will end the post with a
metro story and one situation where it is impossible to be picked out as a
foreigner: Speech. So yesterday evening, as I am passing through the ticket
gates and walking down the stairs to the platform, I notice some type of
security with C.S.A. marked on the jackets asking the people passing through
for something. I get there and they ask me also. Since there was a term for the
procedure that would only be known to native French speakers or possibly only
people who live in Paris, when I asked what was going on I did not and could
not completely understand the two word response. Upon asking again I was
repeated the same information as if I had a hearing problem and not a language
problem. After still not understanding what was going on, I was pull aside by
three people and demanded to pay some €45 fee. I did my best to complain and
the only English any of them knew was the word for “ticket.” Being the nervous
wreck I am and having the past not-so-pleasant experiences with authority
figures, I panic and start to freeze up. I gave them another fresh ticket from
my 10-pk and explained that when I went through the gate I had thrown away my
ticket in the garbage since I didn’t need it anymore but they wanted THAT
particular ticket or my NaviGo pass (a rechargeable card used by frequent train
goers, mine having been recently bought and only filled for the month of June
and, thus, left at home). I somehow got them to lower the fee to €30 and when I
asked what would happen if I didn’t have the money, they said I’d have to pay
€60. Apart from being in a state of panic, this particular evening I didn’t
have my documents on me and so I didn’t argue as much as I normally would have
for fear of being detained and only God knows what else. Their purpose was not
only to catch people who were jumping the gate because if it were, they would
be positioned closer to the gate, but also to suck money out of people who don’t
know of this procedure and still use the paper tickets instead of a card since
there are conveniently placed trashcans between the platform and gate. This is
a form of corruption where people who have power will abuse it when the risks
are low and benefits are high. There is a point and a moral to my story: Always
have copies of your documents so you can fight the system when they try to
steal from you, always ask for complete clarification like I tried to do so
that you fully understand what is going before you submit to anything, and as
the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do and try not to stick out
when away from home because you can get targeted “legally” and illegally.
Thanks for reading and check out my next
post!
No comments:
Post a Comment