Metro Maniac

Hey guys!

I have a weird story to tell you, I know I just updated with a post on Lisbon but I'm splitting these up because they have very different tones.

Today I had French for 2 hours and then public health for 5 hours (it was scheduled to be 7 hours). In French something really shocking happened. A woman came in to tell us that my French teacher was on the metro and something happened with the metro but that she'd be here soon and we should wait in the classroom for her. We didn't think much of it because she's always telling us that she has to plan way ahead to get to class on time because of the strikes, and she's always worried that she's going to be late one day. She came in about 8 minutes late sobbing. We all went completely silent and she mumbled that she might not be able to teach today. We waited, and she said she was attacked on the metro. We frantically muttered that we didn't need to have class, or that we could do independent study. A few people kept asking if she needed anything, but she just continued taking big gulps of air and shakily reaching for the class folder from her backpack.

Now, I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but sometimes I have extremely inappropriate reactions to grave situations that have been sprung upon me suddenly like that. When I had that car accident in high school (when I was doing donuts in the street, as dad always says) I laughed before I cried. So this whole time I'm concentrating really hard on not laughing, and a smile is forcing its way onto my face. I had to put my hand over my mouth to control myself. There's a reason for this and its very normal, psychologists say it's because we don't know how to process sudden traumas..or something like that. Anyway I was struggling between wanting to condole her but also trying to restrain myself from being really inappropriate. Finally she asked for us to give her 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes were up she started class as usual. I'm so grateful that she didn't call on me first to answer her question in french because I would've stared at her with my mouth hanging open, still trying to process the abrupt shift we had just made.

After class she told us what happened. Apparently the metro was really crowded this morning and some woman was trying to get on. My teacher was standing in her way but she couldn't move because it was so tight, and there was a stroller behind her. The woman made it on but cussed her out throughout the entire metro ride. She said the woman almost hit her! She ended up asking a man to walk with her out of the station and then she stood with some police for a few minutes.

How crazy is that!!?? We told her that anyone would've been upset after that and she shouldn't be embarrassed. At first I wondered why she hadn't pulled herself together in the bathroom before walking into class, but then after talking with some people we decided that maybe she had been ok before walking into class, but upon seeing us her adrenaline subsided and she just broke down.

It's getting colder but the crazies aren't hibernating!

Love,

Hillary