How is living in Paris different when the suburbs are rioting?
"Not very" is the consensus answer from Penn students studying abroad this semester.
Since the accidental deaths of two teenagers on Oct. 27, the working-class suburbs of Paris and other French cities have seen a wave of rioting and arson that reached a crescendo last week. Angered by what they see as racism and discrimination toward immigrants, youths have destroyed 8,500 vehicles and 100 public buildings.
But the 62 Penn students studying abroad in France, mainly in the cities of Paris and Lyon, say they remain unfazed by the recent developments.
"The riots have not affected my life in Paris very much at all," Amanda Aycock, a College junior, wrote in an e-mail. "It is almost shocking how unaffected the city, its atmosphere and its people are. Life goes on as if nothing is happening."
College junior Gregg Geffen agreed.
"Things haven't changed at all in Paris; everything is just as it was before the riots began," Geffen wrote. "If I didn't read the news, I'm sure I wouldn't know what was going on."
Marcia Henisz, who oversees Penn programs in France, said that the University communicated with its on-site staff as soon as news of the riots arrived and drafted messages to students currently in France and their parents.
Henisz said that this is not the first time Penn students studying abroad have found themselves in the midst of crises, citing the 2004 Madrid train bombings as an example.
"It's something we just have to work with," Henisz said. "I don't foresee us taking students out of France, and I don't foresee us not continuing to send students to France."
Justin Higgins, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said that the government has posted information that may be useful to U.S. citizens in France on its Web site but added that officials have "been seeing a steady decrease in the violence."
"I think the first obligation of any diplomat is to safeguard the well-being of any American abroad," Higgins said. "The real key is for Americans to try and be on top of the situation."
Perhaps the way in which Penn students have been most inconvenienced by the riots has been in using public transportation.
"Because of the riots, the buses and metros and all other public transportation are not running on a regular schedule," Wharton junior Jared Abelman wrote from Lyon, another French city that has seen rioting. "Living in the suburbs, it is very difficult to get home late at night."
Danielle Zilberstein, a Wharton junior in Lyon, came close to seeing the riots themselves.
"Apparently, a car was burned down the street from my apartment, but no one really noticed until after the firefighters arrived to put it out," Zilberstein wrote. "Don't tell my mom or else she'll worry!"
Zilberstein added that the events have given her a chance to witness contemporary French issues firsthand.
"What is worrying the French more than the violence are the social implications and the issues that these disturbances bring up," Zilberstein wrote. "There are many discussions about how to better integrate France's North African immigrants and about the long-term solutions."
Henisz agreed, saying the riots give students "a way to learn a lot about the politics in France."
"It'll be interesting to see how France reacts," Henisz said. "That's the real question here."
