Rouennais hitchhiking (and other modes of transportation)

I realize that the title of this post most likely made my mom’s stomach drop a little bit. Not to worry – I will explain.

This morning, I made my way over to the Morin bus stop for the #8 bus. I have two options for taking the bus: The 4 and the 8. The 4 is a bit faster and runs more often, but it’s about a 5 minute walk from my house. The 8 is only a 1 minute walk. As such, when it’s cold or I’m lazy, I take the 8. Today, I got to the bus stop only to see a sign posted explaining that the 8 bus is cancelled today due to road construction, and it pointed me to the nearest 4 stop – Barrieres St. Maur.



Even with the slight delay, I wasn’t in much risk of being late to my class (which shouldn’t be a concern anyways, because I estimate with all sincerity that typically 50% of the students – and usually the professor as well – arrive late to class). However, as I was waiting – and it was cold this morning! - for the 4, a car pulled up and the driver started asking me something in French. Perhaps it was too early for me, or he spoke to fast, but I didn’t catch it. And he seemed to be offering me a ride (and not the other person at the bus stop). His car was also fashioned with a piece of paper in the rear window labeling it some sort of taxi. Needless to say, I was skeptical, so I just said, “Non. Non, merci.”

Finally, he got a bit exasperated and said: “Do you speak English? Do you need a ride to ESC?” He must have seen the official lime green and black ESC bag I was toting. Finally, I realized that he was a student so I hopped in the car. He explained that this was a free, informal carpool service offered by one of the student groups in order to garner support for upcoming student elections. Sounded good to me! I soon learned that his name was Alexandre, we switched to French, and I had a very pleasant and FAST ride up to school. Hope I come across more of these free ESC taxi services in the future!

On that note, I’ll use this experience to further explain my day-to-day transportation. When I first arrived here in Rouen, I pledged I would walk the ½ hour to school each day. Well, it’s a bit cold here in Normandy, and since the walk is all uphill, I soon switched to the bus (except on particularly sunny days when I’m not rushing). I also didn’t enjoy showing up among my very posh, put-together French classmates looking like I had just completed a mini-marathon. Moral of the story: I take the bus to school, and Rouen's 10-15 bus lines can take me almost anywhere I need to go in the city and surrounding suburbs. Rouen also has a small metro line, which I’ve only used once. However, if you want to cross the Seine to the other part of town in a jiffy, the Metro works marvelously.

Other than that, I do a fair share of walking, and I really enjoy it! Since I’m in a suburb just northwest of Rouen, I can get to the downtown historical area (site of Jeanne d’Arc’s burning at the stake, the Rouen Cathedral) in under 15 minutes. My favorite walk is the one to the Vieux Marche for fresh fruits, veggies, cheese, flowers, etc each Sunday. Afterwards, I typically stop in the Café de Rouen for a café and to spend some time translating Le Monde and pretending to be French :-)



Lastly, I live a short 5 minute walk from La Gare Rouen Rive Droite (our train station). Every 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, there are trains to Paris, Le Havre, and many other cities in Normandy. I'm quite fond of the SNCF train system, and I especially enjoy the 50% discount with my Carte 12-25. What I don't enjoy? Getting fined 20 euro last week on the way to Paris because I forgot my Carte 12-25. Whoops.

Tomorrow, I don’t have class, so I will “faire une promenade (take a stroll)” downtown to run a few errands. That’s a good plan too: Bus drivers are striking tomorrow in Rouen!