It's finally over

At least for now the strike is over. The different unions and the government are currently in negotiations and will be for the next month; when there is a chance the strikes will resume in case they do not come to an agreement. But for now I’m extremely happy and relieved they are over. This means I will be able to go places, tour the city, visit other cities and most importantly I will be able to travel by metro to school without feeling like a sardine. Believe me that the experience of being in a jammed packed wagon at the metro in Paris is one that I don’t really look forward to repeating. Since the strike I haven’t been able to do much sightseeing fearing I would be stuck somewhere in the city and not be able to return home. Besides going to class, I only ventured to go out a couple of times during the strike. Last weekend I walked to Montmartre. It took me 1 hour to get there at a regular pace and about 40-45 minutes to get back at a faster pace. It got so cold as the sun started to set that all I wanted to do was to get home as soon as possible. I also went to visit a friend after school during the week and we then went together to have dinner at another friend’s house. We had to take a taxi to get to his place. What would usually take about 10 minutes to travel by taxi took about 30 minutes due to the traffic jams in the city. And this was at 10 o’clock at night. So you can picture how the traffic conditions where here during this week. I had to sleep over at my friend’s house because there was no way I could get home using public transportation. So this afternoon I’m all ready and set to travel to Saint-Germain en-Laye (by train) to visit Pilar (Libia’s sister) a friend who lives in this small town right outside Paris with her husband and kids and where tonight we will be enjoying a delicious Raclette with some of their friends.

Pictures to come soon!