Sciences Po était pris!

Earlier this evening, my school was taken over by striking students from other universities in Paris (we're pretty sure they were from the Sorbonne, but that has yet to be confirmed). They broke into the main building wearing masks, stormed the biggest lecture hall, and proceeded to yell insults at the professor and generally cause chaos. That building and the library across the street were evacuated, and the riot police were called to arrest the invading students.

I was in Arabic in another classroom building down the street when this happened, and we could hear the shouting and sirens. As far as I know, no one was hurt, but there's no word yet as to whether classes will proceed as usual tomorrow.

This was quite possibly the second most terrifying experience of my life (strangely enough, the most terrifying also happened in school: crouching in the corner of my 8th grade biology class during a school-wide lockdown on September 11.) Now that I have a tiny bit of distance, I can find some humor in it...but at the time, listening to the sirens out the window and the yelling and chanting in the street...it was like Sciences Po was under siege. Which, in an odd way, I suppose we were.

I'll explain more about the circumstances that led to this later, but right now I need to edit a cover letter and CV for my French "buddy" from one of my classes.

Bonne fête Saint Patrick à tous !