Smorgesboard

Oh hey there! Guess who got an unheard of 18/20 on her commentaire. Oh yeah. Right now i like you a lot sciences po...until i fail something next week.

Last Thursday I went to a prison for my prison class. First of all, it's across the street from a pre-school. So creepy! "Let's have convicted felons across from adorable little children!" "Okay, great idea!"

I thought that they would all be in jumpsuits (i was hoping they would have their own color and not orange like the US) but nope, they were just chilling in Adidas sweatpants. We got to go into some of the low security wings and they were just walking around. Freaked me out a little. We went into cells too! It felt like I was intruding or almost breaking in. They had pictures of family members, books, posters, it wasn't as harsh as I expected. Over all, the prison reminded me of ship. The thing that stuck me the most was that until a few years ago (we're talking 2000s) prisoners were separated based on their race or ethnicity. French in one section, African in another, Jewish in another, etc. So weird. I couldn't get over that.

Even though I am very much against Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, I love the Christmas decorations here! I'll give France a break, they don't have Thanksgiving, so they don't know better. Most of the decorations I've seen are either very traditional or very bizarre. Case in point, animals getting drunk is the theme of the Gallaries Lafayette Christmas windows. When I take pictures I'll post!

A few hours ago Algeria won the last spot for Africa in the world cup. OH my god the mayhem. Since there are a lot of Algerians here there was a huge celebration. I was on the subway and it was filled with people singing and dancing and wearing the Algerian flag. On my walk home the same stuff, dancing in the streets and honking horns.It made me really happy even though I thought it was Iran for a hot second (the flags are similar, but still an embarrassment.) It's what I imagine Chicago to be like when (if?) the cubs ever go to the world series. Or really any sports team in Chicago. I tried to remember the last time there was so much excitement over a Chicago team and I think it was when I was 9 and the bulls beat the Jazz. Sigh, come on Chicago.