Metro Moment

I think pretty highly of the Paris Metro/Train system. Even though it's not very clean and generally smells disgusting, it is overall very reliable and on time. Today, however, the train that goes from my stop into the city was 30 minutes late. Consequently, there were a lot of people on the train. As we stopped at a station closer to the city, the conductor of our train came over the loud speaker and told us that the train across the platform would be leaving before ours. So naturally, quite a few people in a hurry ran over to that train in order to get into Paris faster. I didn't really have anywhere to go, so I just stayed put rather than put up with being shoved around. Not 30 seconds after about 25% of the people emptied out, the same conductor came onto the loud speaker once again and said that actually OUR train would be leaving first. All the riders on our train burst into laughter as many of the people who left came running back. For the first time, I felt kind of a connection with the people on the train. Even though the French are generally pretty expressionless in public, they do know when to laugh, and I laughed right along with them. I also learned that sometimes it is just good to stay where you are.