(Editor’s note: I meant to publish this yesterday once I found internet in Paris, however I just got online for the first time today…so allow me to take you back a day)
We are now finished with the first week of official classes at IEP, and after three whole classes, it feels great to get a break. As the week went on, professors did eventually show up to class, although still no explanation for Monday’s all around failure. Tuesday brought International Finance, focusing on the contemporary “dollarization” of the world, with a professor that is both engaging and welcoming to international students. No class on Wednesday (not sure if this will stick throughout the semester, but I’m inclined to make it work), but Thursday featured not only Multinational Firms and the Attractiveness of Territories, but also International Violence and Managing Conflict. The first showed that the French language has really not caught up to English in business terminology (instead they simply steal words such as capital, joint-venture, and multinational firm, albeit with some order inversion), while the second I attended because another first choice class was canceled, and, after being drawn in by its focus on civil wars around the world, I probably will take instead; you snooze, you lose. Also, apparently IEP has an English requirement, because for both of my Thursday classes, more than half of the readings are in English (despite the class being en Français), making it all the better for us exchange students.
But, so much work is pretty exhausting after a while, and after celebrating the birthday of our program director on Thursday night, the weekend officially had begun. After failing in my quest to go last weekend, I booked my tickets early this time for Paris, and am currently on my way to the capital city right now. With the combination of Penn friends in the Reid Hall program (there is an unspoken rivalry between “that one” and Lyon), other travelers coming in for the weekend (both from Lyon and Barcelona, one of my fellow travelers from the beginning Brian Hwang), and the fact that, after all, it is Paris, I could not pass it up two weekends in a row.
However, first I decided to make a little side trip, and a historical one at that which has taken me back a little over 900 years. Since I still have my rail pass from the beginning excursion (of which I missed part), and the pass is valid for a certain number of days, not individual train rides, I decided to take my travels a bit further today before heading to Paris. This morning, after getting up way too early, I boarded a TGV in Lyon to Paris, but after a quick change of stations (love the Paris metro system), I hopped on another train, this time for Bayeux. This is a tiny little village in the Northwest of France close to the English Channel that is well known for two reasons. I will describe each in turn.
Bayeux itself is home to one of the world’s oldest and most fascinating tapestries, aptly named the Bayeux Tapestry. Now, I’m not much of an art connoisseur myself, but this 70 meter long piece was crafted in 1066 to mark the run up to and the bloody finish of that year’s Battle of Hastings, in which William the Conqueror (the Duke of Normandy) captured back the English monarchy from his traitor cousin Harold. It was remarkable to see the intricate detail of each little “scene” of the tapestry, and to easily follow the story line and main characters of the action just from the drawing. Combine that with the Bayeux Cathedral (also from the Middle Ages), and you have yourself a pretty solid way to spend the first half of the day.
The main highlight of it, and the reason I decided to make this daytrip, however, was the beaches of Normandy. A twenty minute bus ride from Bayeux brought me to the famous Omaha Beach, site of the 1944 D-Day landing, and the beginning of the liberation of France. I know this sentiment is not shared by all, but I felt that as an American who studies international politics, this would be an experience not to miss while in France. I was not disappointed.
The U.S. government financed and erected the cemetery to bury and honor all 9800 soldiers killed in the Normandy fighting, and topped it off with a powerful memorial overlooking the beach. In addition to the overwhelming grave sites, the monument provided historical background of the fighting, as well as names of over 2000 of those missing in action from the fight. Today was beautiful, and with the rows upon rows of plots marked by Crosses (or the occasional Star of David) combined with the crashing waves of the Channel below, it was a powerful scene. I eventually made my way down onto the beach itself and, despite the two horse drawn chariots racing by and multiple guys sailing in little cars on the sand (no clue what they were trying to do, but they were definitely failing at it), I appreciated the gravity of the location. For a second there, looking out into the Channel, imagining the scene from over 65 years ago, you could feel the fear in both the onrushing Americans, and the heavily entrenched Germans (average age of those killed in the invasion? 24 years old. Scary). Far more powerful than Arlington Cemetery, I almost forgot I was in France, as everything was in English and heavily American focused (in addition to the fact that the majority of visitors were clearly Americans like me). Then again, as I was snapping photos of statues and such, a French staffer came up to me to remind me that the park closed at 5pm, which was 20 minutes away. I told her it was no problem, and kept moving, however she felt it necessary to run me down and remind me again as I walked, as she clearly did not want any dumb American to ruin her French schedule of work (a whole different subject). For the record, I got out of there with over 5 minutes to spare, but I found it funny to be so sharply drawn back to the reality of France even in such a powerful site.
In all, it was a day trip definitely worth the early start, sore throat and all. I took plenty of great photos with my new and improved camera, yet forgot to both charge it and/or bring the battery with me, so I’m sticking with one of my Lyon shots for this post. As the train rolls on, I’m not sure how the no camera thing is going to work in Paris, but on the bright side, I guess now I have to come back?
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