HA HA HA AMERICANS

My story assignment in Paris is about college tuition and fees. At Hotel de Ville there was a protest (again) to change the Parisian government, but mostly to change the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants to change to the current school systems. The change would affect every level of education.

The major con of course to trying to interview Parisians is the language barrier. I really only know how to say pardon me, thank you, hello and please, which isn’t enough when trying to interview a person who only understands and speaks French.

Another not so great thing about not knowing French was not being able to understand what the protesters signs said.

One negative side of Paris that anybody from America has to face is getting laughed at. Today I got laughed at because I couldn’t understand French.

A Parisian man approached me to ask what we were doing, and I couldn’t answer his question. I tried to explain but he just went back to his friend. All I could understand was him laughing as he said American.

On the other hand, three professors came up to Christian Garrucho, Alex Ruiz-Huidobro and I to see what we were doing. All three professors were able to communicate with us through English and explain their position on the matter.

Another great thing was the passion the professors had as they talked to us. They would go on for minutes explaining what had happened to make these teachers and unions angry.

Seeing how much passion they had about the issue, in turn, made me want to work harder to make this story a really good piece. It makes me feel that even though there is a language barrier I can still have a good story, which is all that matters to me.

Shiva Zahirfar
Print Journalism

SATURDAY NIGHT IN SOHO

My first night in London was nothing less than what you would expect from a college student spending his spring break abroad.

I went out to the clubs looking for low cover charges, cheap drinks and good times with my fellow classmates.

We made our way to the Soho area of Central London, which happened to be a short walk from our hotel. I got a tip from a local that if you were looking for bars and clubs, that’s where you needed to go.

He was right.

Masses of young adults, who were probably on the same mission as I was, crowded the sidewalks of the bar lined streets. When we finally went into a club, parts of it were shoulder to shoulder and getting a beer at the bar took longer than it would have taken me to drink it.

So how bad is London feeling the economic crunch?

If last night was a slow night, in which less people flocked to the Soho area then I don’t want to see how congested it would get in on a normal night. Every bar I passed looked to be standing room only.

I don’t know if last night was just a fluke or if it is that area is consistently busy, but nonetheless, people were out spending money, never mind the crumbling world economy.

By the way, thanks to my gracious peers, I didn’t spend 1p at the bar.

By Joe Proudman
Assistant Photo Editor
Photography
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