Elections abroad...

New metro sights: a woman clipping her nails on the metro (crowded with other people), a baby falling asleep with a bottle in his mouth (adorable), and a bunch of little boys waving at me from a metro car (they pointed at me first which I was confused by and then started waving, they went wild when I waved back, also adorable).

Other news: I tried to register for classes but wasn't allowed because I don't have an In-Session Address. Hopefully my adviser will get that worked out... today. I have my perfect schedule picked out with enough time for me to work 15 hours. My earliest class is 12:55 (although I work three days a week at 10 am so I'd have to leave at 9). My latest class ends at 9:15, but that's statistics and the only time I could take it. I really like block classes so I definitely don't mind.

Elections! On Election Day I nervously checked the internet constantly even though I never got updates. My host parents pretty much shoved me out of the apartment to 'go to a pub and watch the elections'. I met up with Amanda and we went to Harry's Bar (an American bar). The streets were so crowded that they had police barricades from allowing cars in. There were dozens of television crews interviewing people. Amanda and I ran into several people we knew, some of them being interviewed. Of course I didn't see one McCain supporter, most of the people there were young. There were huge lines so we didn't stay there long. Amanda and I got coke and ice cream bars from Monoprix (their version of a supermarket) and camped out on the steps of the Opera house. I woke up on Wednesday to extremely good news!

France did a survey asking the French people who they would vote for if they could vote and over 80% said Obama. From my experience I don't think one foreign country would have preferred McCain. This is an amazing time in USA history and foreign people want someone who isn't like Bush and they want someone that proves the USA is open-minded and good on our word of equality. Race does have big role in Obama winning, we can't deny that. People wouldn't have been nearly as excited about him if he were white. However, I read an article saying the main reason he won is because he isn't Bush. Bush had really bad foreign relations and people wanted someone new. Obama seemed to be ideal because he has ties outside the US and his views on foreign policy seem to be different and just better.

Other interesting election tidbits: Missouri is STILL uncounted for, there's a difference of only 6,000 votes between the two (favoring McCain) so my vote did matter; gay marriage was made illegal by three states: California, Flordia, and Arizona; Arkansas banned nonmarried couples from adopting (they don't want gay people to adopt, but this also applies to heterosexual couples), Massachusets made medical marijuana legal (I had no idea they were THAT liberal); the House and Senate are also democrat; Nebraska voted to end affirmative action; and Washington state voted to allow doctor assisted suicide. We'll see how these change and affect each state and the US!

Can I just brag for a second and share that I was the only one in my Paris Culture class who got a perfect on the matching in our midterm? Yeah, that was me. I'm just saying that I'm doing well in classes right now. When I'm finished eating lunch and updating you people I think I'm going to study!

Don't worry... I had two crepes this week. And some delicious hot chocolate.