Week 1: Trains and Wireless Internet

This is the story of many firsts. This is my first blog, my first trip to Europe, and my first week in Paris.

Before you get to the good stuff, to the salacious details of my first week in France, I need to make a confession to you. I need to share with you a detail of my French experience that most people don't know, a detail that I have concealed for fear of being ridiculed and shunned from the high-class world of MBAdom; I am homeless.

That's right, I am a no-good, couch surfing, sans-abri. While I continued to shower and use deodorant, and I have yet to actually be forced to sleep ON the streets, I am sure you can appreciate that my primary concern since arriving here has been to undo this sorry state of affairs and find Philippe and myself an apartment. Consequently, we have been looking for apartments day and night. Well, sort of. You see, there was a hitch in our plan, a hitch that some might say was predictable, but we didn't see it coming at all.

No, my friend, we did not realize that France has been slow to dust the silicon off of its cigarette packs and wine bottles, slow to uncoil the copper wires that supply the electrical current to the vast network of commuter trains and metros. No, we did not realize that France has not yet become addicted to free wireless Internet, and the dearth of this precious resource posed a serious problem to our apartment hunt.

OK. I admit, I am not being fair. Technically, WiFi IS available. Technically, at Montparnasse Train Station, a station that greets thousands of commuters from the southern suburbs and the South of France every day, for example, WiFi IS available. But, technically, it is available at the reasonable price of 3 Euros for 15min of WiFi access.

The mathematically inclined reader has already realized that this works out to a rate of 12 Euros/hour! If you purchase the ever so excessive 1 hour of access, the cost declines to the reasonable rate of 8 Euros... let me remind you that on Via Rail, one can have 24 hrs of access on a MOVING train, for the price of CAD 9.

Those of you who intend to come to Europe on graduation please take note: I suggest setting up a wireless network - there is money to be made!!

So shocked and appalled but this obvious attempt by France Telecom to continue its nefarious monopolistic pricing practices and exploit petit moi, I immediately went to the Bibliotheque Nationale de la France to use the Internet in a public facility. The BNF is an impressive complex with 3 15-story towers and two massive reading areas. (Incidentally, the complex is designed by the architect that Philippe wishes to work for). In order to access the library, you must buy a card, so I paid my 18 Euros for an annual membership (I thought, at the time, that 18 Euros for the year was a great deal, given the cost of Internet elsewhere). I gained access to the beautifully appointed reading rooms, sat down, and plugged in my computer...

Et voila! Nothing. NO INTERNET. NONE.

You read me right my friend, the largest library in France does not have WiFi. Not even one zone. (I am sure that there are some that are thinking to themselves "but why oh why would one not check before buying an annual subscription?? Well, I ass-u-med that the Internet was the defacto standard at libraries by now - and you know what they say about ass-u-me...)

"Oh but wait," you say. You say, "but, there must be a place that uses wired Internet? There must be a station where you can use the archaic but effective method of copper wires to gain access to the information super highway, the source of thousands of online databases, journals and intelligently written blogs?" Well my dear reader, in France, must is a dangerous word to use. Even though there MUST be Internet access, there is none.

I am sure that even readers less astute than you who read my blog have realised the implication of this obscene lack of technological advancement.... I paid 18 Euros for BOOKS!!!

I think that by now, many of you must be thinking that I will remain homeless forever! That, since my connection to the world is so tenuous and costly, I will be moving into a homeless shelter tomorrow...

Luckily, this is not the case. Philippe's Sister-In-Law's Aunt, Regine, who works for the Québec Government in Paris, put us in contact with a very fine older gentleman who has agreed to rent his apartment to us. He has agreed to forgo many of the rather strenuous requirements for rentals in France, and is allowing us to stay without a large deposit and is offering a very reasonable price. So, as of Monday, I should be the proud owner of a French lease, an address, and a pull out bed that is perfect for guests, should they decide to come.

By now, you must be getting a bit tired of my ramblings on Internet access and rentals, so I will conclude with a few words on the extensive, complex and not entirely fast train network in Paris. For those of you not familiar with the Ile de France region, I should explain: HEC is located in Jouy en Josas. Jouy en Josas is located 20km south-south-west of Paris.

In order to get to Jouy-en-Josas train station, I have to take at least two trains, and a Tram (the HEC campus, in case you are of the mistaken opinion that it is close to the train, is a 10 minute walk up a (rather large) hill).

The process takes 1h30 at most, 1h at best and the train system is complex. In fact, in addition to having lines A-E, RER trains come in two lengths (pay attention that you are at the right end of the station), stop at a variety of stops (distinguished by the name of the train - VICK, CIME, etc. etc. - VERY clear ways of letting us know where the train is going), and have relatively early last trains (23:30 is the last train from HEC); to be concise, HEC is VERY far from Paris.

But, since I have only been here for a week, I can't say for sure if it is really going to be problematic.

What I can say is that Paris is beautiful, ancient, crowded, diverse, and, of course, NOT wireless ready.