Last Night, and Other Random Musings

Friday, 12:30pm
Last night, INTERACT, the student association for International Students
at Euromed, organized a party at a bar in the Vieux Port. It was quite a
strange scene. We were at Shamrock's, one of the many irish pubs in
Marseille (Why is it that every city in the world has tons of Irish
pubs. As far as i can tell, Irish people don't care where they get
drunk, and to be honest, what is so freaking special about signs
indicating distance to dublin, and wood benches?). There were all of
these students from all of these different cultures, and somewhat to my
relief, i found that so many of them are having the same frustrating
experiences with French bureaucracy. I think that Chirac and his
cronies would be well advised to listen to some of the complaints.
Anyway, all of a sudden, this french cover band comes on, and they start
playing the weirdest set. Beach Boys, Richie Valens, Rolling Stones, U2,
some random french band, etc. And all of the people in the bar - french,
american, swedish, indian, mexican, italian - start singing along. And i
wondered, how many people actually understood teh words they were
singing?I would wager less than 10%. Especially after Jean-Marc, one of
the French students i've befriended, told me i was the first person to
explain the lyrics to La Bamba to him. I then commented that a song
tangentially about a sailor was perfect for a port town like Marseille.
It then occurred to me later that night, as we all congregated at our
apartment to drink wine and engage in other activity that is not
appropriate for some of the readers of this journal, that all of Europe
must be terrified that they will have no impact on the next century.
Everywhere i look around me, i see new culture and new innovation
coming from places outside Europe. Their contributions, while mighty,
have all been in the past. When i look at the three or four centuries,
western Europe's influence is clear. But as I look ahead, i see Asia,
Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa all directing the terms of the
future. Where is the cultural significance for France, England, Italy,
etc? Will they respond? Based on the comments of my professors thus
far, i tend to think not. But I hope so.