Buying Tickets For the RER Is A Pain! and I Can Finally Get Internet Access...Of Some Kind

1 Octobre 2007

So, today I had to go to Noissy-Champs, which is a few RER A stops away from Vincennes. The bad thing about my meeting is that I had to go early in the morning and there was such a long line of people to renew their monthly passes! Unfortunately, I had forgotten to get change and I had to run somewhere to buy something quickly, so I could buy a ticket. Ended up that I bought a ticket for the metro and that wasn’t meant for the RER! I was so pissed about being late and not being able to buy the right ticket that I ran through the open gate (meant for people with strollers or large suitcases exiting the station). I felt like a rebel, but a late rebel who was frustrated! I got onto the right RER, fortunately, because my stop at Vincennes, splits into two passages and I had to take the passage heading east instead of south. Once I got off at my exit, a girl saw me and asked if I was here for the assistant meeting. I told her yes and we introduced ourselves and I found out her name was Kate and that she had been to Paris last year, but as a student in college. She told me she was living with a family in the 7th in their very tiny room known in the past as the maid’s quarters. (Basically, it’s one of those 9m2 studios, where if there are more than two people in the room, it’s crowded.) We started looking for the meeting (because the directions weren’t clear…no surprise) and we were eventually joined by some other assistants. After wandering around a bit, we finally found our location and ended up only being like 30 mins late, which wasn’t a big deal as the meeting hadn’t even started yet as they figured people would be late. (How kind.) After two and a half hours, I was more confused and frustrated than before I came. This is because they discussed the documents we received in the US and told us that we were to have brought them to this meeting to drop off. I told them I already resent the documents back to France, as the original letter said they had to be resent. Grrrrr….they make it more difficult that it has to be!!! Kate and I left together for the RER A and when she found out that I had to buy a ticket, she recommended that I get a Navigo Pass (a personal pass that can be used monthly or weekly) to get around on all the metros, trains and RERs that run in Paris. We got on the metro and exchanged information. I invited her to hang out with us for the Nuit Blanche, which was coming up. Later in the evening, I waited for Liz to come back from her meeting (mine was 9-12, hers was 2-5). I agreed to meet her at her apartment around 7-7:30 and we were going to go to the library together. We took the exit that Naomi told us to take (Châtelet) but we got lots, so I asked a police officer where it was located. We finally found it and sure enough, there was free wifi access, but the catch is that you can only access it for 90 mins. Another downside is that not all of the tables have electricity or plugs, so my battery might die after a little over an hour. But hey, it is free Internet access after all. And trust me, even here in beautiful Paris, I feel deprived without it.