The People

I had several shitty experiences, but I tried to rule it out to the fact that I wasn't prepared or communicating properly. We always blame ourselves, since surely not everyone around us can be an asshole. Wrong.

The French are not kind to Americans. End of story. People had warned me about this, and others had said it's gotten better. Some people on my stories told me the French would be kind because I was traveling alone, and I'm a female. None of that mattered.

I was traveling alone, and 90% of people tried to take advantage of me in some way. Since I like to share my trips in a lot of detail on stories, if you follow over there you likely saw some of this. Let's dive into the sequence of events of just one day.

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5:00 AM: I woke up early since I had to take the underground subway to get to the train station for a 2 hour train to Bordeaux. 

6:00 AM: As I approach the subway, I see that the train I need to get on is actually not running. I walk back to my hotel and speak to hotel staff (the front desk attendant was super helpful so shout out to 25 Hours Hotel Terminus Nord.)

6:20 AM: After speaking with him, he gives me the specific sequences of trains I need to take to bypass the train that isn't running at the moment. I'm now back in the station and have a new path to take. I'm looking for the specific line, and I can't find the entrance. I ask a train station worker where this station is and he asks where I'm going, and he says I have to take another train to get to the original path that the hotel staff instructed me to take. I told this train station worker that the hotel staff told me to take this specific path, and he said to me "Listen, you need to listen to me because you asked for MY help. The entrance to the station is right down there and make sure to enter the side going in this direction."

Someone else had walked up to him and waiting to ask for instructions, so I wrapped up my conversation and as I was walking away, he said to me "as always make sure to guard your personal belongings since you are in the subway" as he looked at my bag. Why didn't I think twice about this strange exchange? Honestly I was so tired, and just wanted to get to the train station so I could make this train to Bordeaux so I didn't think twice. My mistake.

6:45 AM: I go into the specific line and direction he specified to me, and there was no one down there. While it is early, if the line is running there should be someone else here, right? Why didn't I ask him how quickly this train was coming? There's also no one on the other side, so I feel a little nervous now and I slowly start to panic on the inside. I was able to get into the platform, so the line has to be running. Right? People will come. 5 minutes pass, and a man comes in on the opposite platform. He calls out to me and asks if he's heading to a specific station based on the side he's on. I told him I was told by the train station worker to enter on this side and I think he's on the wrong side. Then a group of people walks in on his side and he asks them and everyone's going to the station I am supposed to go to as well, so they tell me to come over to the opposite side which means I have to get out of the platform, climb up the stairs and re-enter the station on the opposite side. Then the thought occurs to me that the train station worker purposely told me to go in on the wrong side. He works at the train station, and it wasn't an innocent mistake especially given the attitude he had about me listening to him since I asked for his help. When I posted about this experience on stories, everyone said he called a friend to come rob me. Thank goodness I talked to the people across on the opposite platform, and I head out of the platform I was standing on with some relief knowing there are people down here.

6:55 AM: I haven't even mentioned the worst part. As I go to leave the platform, I can't get out. All the exits are red and have an X on them which means I can't get out because the doors won't open (even when I enter my ticket.) I start to feel claustrophobic and panicked. Actual panic. That fight or flight kicked in and I started to kick one of the doors. Why did it let me in, if I can't get out? The doors wouldn't budge and I considered breaking through it, but I figured the cameras would hold me liable and I'd be fined for damage so I started to think how I can climb on top to get out. There is a small opening in the side and at that point, I didn't care if an alarm went off so I crawl through it and get out. 

7:00 AM: After that entire scene I said fuck this, I am taking an Uber to the train station.

7:20 AM: I make it to the train station and I'm still a little early. What a morning. I'm annoyed I woke up so early to take the subway when I could have just planned to take an Uber initially.

10:00 AM: I arrive in Bordeaux. As soon I get off the train station, I head to the bathroom. The sign reads 0.90 Euros to use it, and I give the woman 1 euro, meaning she would give me 10 pennies back. She looks at me and said "no, no" and I pointed to the sign and "1 euro" and she kept saying no. So then I did the only thing I could think to do, and I gave her 2 euros. She then gave me 40 pennies back which means she overcharged me for the bathroom. It is common in other countries to pay to use the bathroom (I know some people found this odd but it is common especially in Mexico and highly trafficked places in Europe.) I didn't pay 0.90 euros. Instead I paid 1.60 and I'm assuming she pockets that extra money, thinking she can overcharge me because I'm foreign.

10:20 AM: I've looked at the signs in the train station and realize I need to buy a bus ticket outside the station. I go outside to the kiosk and there's a man standing there who says he has to use the machine for me (and I know he is only there wanting to make money from tourists.) At this point I'm already fatigued with all the thievery so I go with it, buy the bus ticket and throw some change his way for helping me.

11:00 AM: I go to a local bar, order a cappuccino and some snacks. I start chatting with the bartender about the day's experiences from my perspective and he says "I'm sorry that happened, but welcome to France." Is that really how France wants to be known?

Throughout the day, I realized more and more how isolated I was in such a beautiful place. People weren't warm, or social. Waiters treated me like a burden. I mean I was paying with the same money everyone else was, so the sheer lack of customer service really surprised me every single time. Knowing this is how cold people are, I will definitely change my attitude towards the French people in the future.

7:00 PM: I get back on the train, and it's a full house. There's a girl sitting in my seat, and I get up to her and I say "I think this is my seat" and she says "yeah, okay just wait" (quite rudely stated) and she takes her time getting her things together and moving into the seat next to her boyfriend. She then proceeds to take over the shared space underneath the tables even though I clearly have things with me too that need to be stowed. She also had a mean mugging face the entire time (yes for 2 whole hours during the train ride.)

French kindness throughout.

Pick Pocketers

I had done a little research and several people told me not to engage strangers in the streets. Turns out some people only have one way to make money, which is to pick pocket and do conniving things to make a few Euros from tourists. 

As I walked out of my hotel one day, I was surrounded by 3 women who didn't speak French, and they barely spoke English. They asked me for money, and I told them I didn't have any. Then they asked for American dollars, and I said I only have credit card as I made the card swiping motion. The 3 of them were talking to me as a little kid was standing behind me attempting to pick pocket me. Luckily my bag had a hook closure and I had my hand on it the entire exchange, so there was nothing the kid could do. Several of you warmed me that they play tricks on you like wrap a string around your finger and tighten it until you agree to give them money. You either loose circulation in that finger or you pay them a few Euro, but either way tricks like that are prevalent which is so sad.

The sketchiness is even worse around train stations and popular tourist locations like Champs-Élysées. Always keep your bag covered when walking through large crowds, or wear a cardigan or jacket over it making it harder for someone to snag it. I even watched a man "fall" on an American man in the train and when he was falling he unzipped the American's backpack and took whatever was in the pocket. Another women noticed this happening too and she decided to go vocal and started screaming about it and told the man to check his backpack. Luckily the man who pick pocketed him told him "it fell out of his backpack" and gave him his items back but if the woman hadn't screamed and said anything, I don't think the man would have gotten his PASSPORT back.