Let me tell you a little something about strikes

France is infamous for it's strikes (des grèves). I'm pretty positive there is no other country in the world that goes on strike as often as France. In the past 2 1/2 weeks alone, there have already been two.

They're very organized about it though. Usually, the strike is announced the week or two weeks before and word spreads like wildfire. You always know when there is going to be one because people are always talking about it, and it is usually in les journaux (the newspapers). For the most part, strikes only last for a single day and then everything goes back to normal. However, two years ago I think it was, there was a strike that lasted several weeks and students in Paris didn't have school for a while! I kind of wish that would happen while I'm here and I could just travel....but I need the credits.

Right now, the French are pretty pissed about the retirement age (l'âge de retraite) being raised from 60 to 62, which yes to Americans is ridiculous because that's still 3 years earlier than our standards. But the French are pros at striking until they get what they want.

The only problem is, it kind of ruins everyone else's day. When the French go on strike, they go on strike. None of the public transportation is in service and even the dining halls on campus have quite odd hours (not so bueno if you're starving in between classes). The strike the first week of September was the reason we had to get our train tickets changed. None of the trains ran Tuesday (our original travel day) and we would have been SOL.

Strikes are different from manifestations (protests/riots). Manifestations can often be violent and last for however long people feel the need. In 2005 they were a lot of major manifestations in Paris that turned pretty violent. It started with a break-in and the death of two young French citizens who I believe were of North-African descent. This in turned started a rapid-fire outbreak of riots all over Paris and its suburbs with other young French of North-African descent protesting against racisim in France. The President even had to declare a state of National Emergency because there was so much violence occurring.

Anyhow, I expect to experience many more strikes during my time here but hopefully they won't affect travel plans. And hopefully there won't be another volcanic ash explosion from Iceland. Which, by the way, apparently the French decided to go on strike during one of the eruptions so others couldn't pass through to get to Madrid (the only place in Western Europe that had flights running).

An interesting blog from TIME about the retirement delay in France.
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/09/24/are-the-french-right-to-protest-retirement-delay/