A VERY French day ;)

So yesterday morning I woke up late, hurried to school and some how was early to school - this was surprising not only because of the sleeping late but also because yesterday was a transportation strike, those of you who keep up with international news know that the city of pairs was immobile yesterday- and Grenoble being one of the largest cities in france followed in suite- the only things running thankfully were the trams- what i use everyday to get to school. SO I arrived to school early and was excited to get the change to look over my homework one more time in the common area before heading to class. I walked to the building I go to the CUEF in and realized the door was shut- no wait there were 3 desks stacked on top of one another with a rock on the bottom one so you could not move them to get to the door. Thinking this was odd but I must just have missed something I walked to where another door was- this door had a bike rack nailed to it yes nailed to it, caulk in the lock and the area that separates the double doors and a garden planter thing with rocks piled in it put in front of it. This was when I realized something was not normal and as I listened to the many groups of students speaking in both English and French I realized every door in the entire university had been blocked in some way so that you could not enter. Students had apperantly gotten up very early (not very French like) and blocked all the doors -Why? - we have no idea no one does but least to say the whole situation was very French students do it all here! And if you know me you will know how cool I think that is -not a big fan of defacing public property, but I have to admit it was nice to be in a place striking where I did not have to worry about violence at all people were all very chill with the whole situation.
In France you get paid while on strike , so they happen quite often- the sad thing is that the people who often strike are the ones with the best benefits and the highest paid but I guess that is how they go that way currently the issue is that the transportation companies wanted to make the week a get this "mandatory 38 hour week" lol yes in the US you are all going umm I wish I could only work 38 hours a week and have it be full time, with my 5 weeks of mandatory vacation and 10 paid sick/personal days, but hey this is France roll with it. Oh did I mention University is free here as long as you continue to pass your classes and pay your $300 social security tax a year- along with a few school fee's. Medical care is free too as long as you work or are under the age of 18 years old saying all that might I remind you they pay a heafty 10% sales tax on EVERYTHING, higher on gas and a few other things as well as a 20% income tax. Now that I have given you all a little lesson on French politics I can tell you that I did not have class yesterday- there was no way to get into the building so we spent it in a very French was we went to the patisserie got Gaelen's hair cut very European and awesome and then went to a party for all the host families and API students. Basically an awesome day in France!