Allez les Bleus!

Allez les Bleus! Allez les Bleus! Allez les Bleus!

Go Blue! France defeats Germany 2-0 and moves on to the Euro Cup Final against Portugal (which is actually the house that I am living in while at Cité) !!!

What a surreal moment, rooting on France alongside all of Paris in front of the Tour Eiffel. Although that was the worst second hand smoke I've ever had to endure, and the crowd was packed with people pushing and shoving their way through, it was an experience that I will always remember.

Through the continuous French chants, slow claps, spilled beers, and melting face paint, one thing that struck me the most was the security at the FanZone. Firstly, we were not allowed to bring in any food or liquid, so we had to sit outside the gates and scarf down food that we had bought that we thought would last us the next 5 or so hours. I was not too surprised at this, because many sporting events want you to buy the food in drink inside the venue.

But we were then required to go through a security checkpoint divided between men and women. A bag check required me to throw out my hand sanitizer, which I was bummed about, especially because I get a bit paranoid after taking the Metro. But at least they didn't make me throw away my lotion, I thought. Then we were patted down, not too vigorously, just checking if we had anything hidden around the waist, and we were clear to go-- or so we thought.

We soon reached yet another check point, a second bag check. This one was not as thorough, but still did require us to open up our bags.

Surely that must be it, I thought. But after walking a few meters, we reached a third checkpoint. This one was an even more thorough body pat down. Almost every inch of my body was checked. Then I was moved to a separate station to have my bag checked for the third time. I was required to open my glasses case, my pencil case, throw out my small body lotion (darn), and was questioned about my portable battery.

Finally, we were approved to enter the venue. My first reaction was to be annoyed with the persistence of the security and multiple checkpoints thinking that it was very unnecessary, but then I quickly remembered what had happened just this past November 13. Then I was filled with appreciation for the level of protection that Paris law enforcement had put in place in order to ensure the safety of spectators. I am unsure if this kind of security was put in place immediately in response to the terror attacks, but it must have been increased in the past few months for such large public gatherings as this. Especially since the final match that will occur on Sunday is at the Stade de France, one of the targets during the attacks in November.

In class today we had a guest lecturer, Professor Alec Hargreaves, who spoke to us about France's immigration and the evolving national identity of France. We discussed the Paris terror attacks that occurred at Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 and the various attacks on November 13, 2015, and how they both changed French public opinion not only about IS, but immigration, and public security in general.

Throughout my time here in Paris, I have seen the police and the gendarmerie almost every single day, around the city, at Metro stops, at museums. The presence of armed forces has been increased greatly since November, and it does make me feel safer, but it also reminds me that these kinds of acts can happen anywhere at anytime.

I hope to study more about how immigration has affected the national French identity, and also how to overcome the fear of immigrants or foreigners in the country. But I hope that for now, through this time as France recovers from such tragedies, that Liberté, Egalité, et Fraternité will remain at the core of French values.

Check out ieo.ucla.edu for more information on how you can also study abroad in Paris!