THE METRO

Today I met up with my new friend Maggie and we went to the Hunting Museum in the Marais (more on that in a moment). Afterwards we got on the metro to go home. I knew the metro can be pretty bad when it's crowded, but little did I know that I had not truly experienced this Parisian rite of passage.

When boarding a crowed metro train, people revert to what can only be described as a Lord-of-the-Flies-anything-goes mentality, and any shred of civilized society is forgotten as they shove their way on. The signal that the doors are about to close sounds, the last frantic stragglers squeeze in, and we hear the curses of those unfortunate souls left behind to wait for the next train. And so the uncomfortable ride begins. At one stop, a sweet-looking old man in a plaid scarf  and a newsboy cap literally shoves me out of the way as he gets off. We are pushed further into the car as more people get on, and as we start moving again, I am forced to seize the arm of a complete stranger to avoid falling to my death (by embarrassment). We near the stop where Maggie and I will part ways, but we are in the middle of the car and I need to get to the door. I make eye contact with a man who asks me if I want to get off and I say yes. "Ce n'est pas possible" he replies with a grim smile. The train stops and I am in fact able to squeeze my way off, but my adventure is not yet over. I still need to make my way to the connecting line that will take me home. Never have I been in such a crowded place where every person you see looks as though they will never be happy again. Not to mention the fact that most people are trying to get ON the train. And so, like a lonely salmon, I make my way upstream in a river of despair. There is a scream and a commotion to my right as someone gets caught in the relentlessly closing doors. My jacket gets caught on a woman's purse and for a moment I think she might kill me right there. I get trapped between two double-baby strollers. At last the crowd thins as I make my way up some stairs and I am able to get onto my next train. As I climb the stairs up to the street at my local stop, I feel as though I have never felt air so clean and refreshing.

This unfortunate experience was not enough to ruin my day though. As I said before, I payed a visit to the Hunting Museum, where I got in for free with my student id card. Taxidermy, beautiful paintings of animals, and antique hunting rifles mixed inexplicably with a few modern pieces. Anyone who knows me knows that this is my kind of place.