OCR Text |
Show Student Tells of Travels Abroad farmers, truck drivers and the European Eur-opean equivalent of the fuzz. Almost Al-most without exception everyone I meet in this fashion raises the question of Viet-nam. The French are as curious to see how an American Amer-ican student feels about the war as I am to find out about European opinion on the same topic. Of course, everyone is against the American foreign policy, but as an American individual, I'm usually very well received. For two days following the death of Jane Mansfield, every Frenchman who picked me up told me about the accident. Not, I think, because they liked her, but because they are eager to share something with a person who is a foreigner to them. This sharing and interchanging of cultures, habit, and opinions makes travel as a student very enjoyable and educational. by William Conrod Ed. Note: The following is the first in a series of articles written by a "Chronicle" reporter on assignment in Europe on the relationships between the American College student and the common peoples of the European Continent Landing at Orly Field in Paris on a sunny June morning is an intoxicating experience. The country coun-try around the airport is dotted wth neatly arranged fields periodically periodic-ally broken with trees and red tile roofed houses all closely coinciding coincid-ing with what I had expected to find. Granting, of course, that this business of preconceiving what one will find is dangerous as it is very limiting. Wandering around, lost in Paris with 30 pounds on one's back, gives a change to the initial state of intoxication, in-toxication, and once the hangover had passed on, I find the experience experi-ence of adjusting to a large city with a foreign language a very satisfying one for it is really a learning experience. Perhaps the most striking feature fea-ture of Paris is its diversity. From stately buildings of much fame, to the strip joints lit up in Pigalle the GI's "pig Alley" and the formal gardens effectively illuminated illum-inated in the dark hours of the Paris life. Parisians seem quite formal in their manners as well as in their dress. They still seem to know how to enjoy life more than many Americans Amer-icans in large cities. The habits of relaxing over long meals, prepared pre-pared with the proverbial French flair, and just walking at night to enjoy the city seem to be experiences ex-periences that I, as an American, could benefit from. The people riding rid-ing the Metro seem to have an alertness about them that I find missing in the U.S. species of Homo Sapiens that are found, without looking, on the New York subway system. After staying in Paris for a week I headed south by my means of summer transportation going by rule of thumb. As I found out later, hitching is a slow business in France during the tourist season, but it is very rewarding in that one has the opportunity to visit Europe while being a part of the people you're trying to understand. I've been picked up by all kinds of people: business men, tourists, |