To Rennes

Posted on May 13, 2007

I am on a train from Zurich to Paris as I write this, with just enough time, energy, solitude, and peace for a little introspection.  Not that it escapes me with as busy as I’ve been, but it hasn’t come to me in presence of my laptop. It usually finds me while I am on the bike, actually.  Now, here I am.  The countryside is beautiful.  I am sitting by myself.  Members of Athleticum Rollerblade are seated somewhere behind me.  There are audible conversations in every language that I am even remotely familiar wih; Various dialects of German, French, Spanish, Italian, and of course several different twangs of English.  A small bearded man in a blue suit and hat just asked to see my ticket while he had a brief conversation with his French colleague.  “Merci.” He said to me.  “De rein” I replied, and only then did he look up at me.  I noticed it was the first time he actually looked at me.  He studied me quickly, I’m sure to decipher the accent, clearly English, but…  He reminds me of the Ringo Star/George Carlin character from Shining Time Station, followed by glimpse memories of my brother Dean watching the show in his youth and collecting the toy trains; Thomas, Henry, James (the red one), and Gordon (the green one). It’s funny, my memory to me sometimes.  Please don’t ask me to attempt to understand why I remember which colours of which toys each train was named some twenty years ago.  Raphael Pflug just told someone they were the “master of the crossword”.  I don’t like crossword puzzles.  I do enjoy writing. To me it is therapeutic, and sometimes I feel like I am good at it.  I feel like I can, when the environment is right, put my thoughts into words in a way that is clear, and somehow more rewarding than in speech since I can share it through this website, with so many people, and of course with the people I love.  I haven’t yet, but I just wanted to quickly say hello and thanks to my mother, Sunday is mother’s day.  J  Hi mom!  I know this context isn’t great, but I am happy you are reading this.  You’re so current!  “My mom follows my website!”  How many people can say that?  Probably more than a few… anyway, I did want you to know how appreciative I am of all the help you’ve given me, especially since I went back to school.  Without you, things would be really different for me, and I know that not much of what I am doing or have done would have been possible without you.  I considered, for a long while, saying something at the party, but in the end decided that it would be ‘hokey’ somehow.  I know it probably would have been.  Then, I may have never taken the time to say it the way I would have truly liked, but this all means a lot to me, and I credit your help endlessly.  It’s funny how sometimes the small silly feelings get in the way of saying the larger important things in life.  I don’t think it is exclusive to my family, and I am from now on going to do more to ensure that doesn’t happen to me anymore…
The ticket man looking at me inspired me to write something specific, and so I pulled my laptop out.  I am in Europe, remember.  The Giro D’Italia starts this afternoon.  The prologue is a team time trial.  The big question is; who will be riding in the celebrated pink jersey tomorrow?
…What I had really wanted to write about is the less tangible differences in Europe from an American [and by that I mean North American] perspective.  I know that I’ve only been here for a very short time.  16 days today, actually.  I have a while yet to go, but it is interesting to me to see what it is that I’ve noticed so far.  The biggest difference that wasn’t obvious to me before I got here is that there is a different hierarchal order to what is important to people here.  What I mean is that there is far less emphasis on commercialism and consumerism here.  It just isn’t as much a part of the landscape, the importance, or the mindset here.  There aren’t franchised coffee shops on every corner, there is no grocery store that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, where you can buy ripe mangoes 12 months of the year, and there certainly aren’t any buffet style, all-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken locations [yes those truly do exist, as awful as that sounds], or Wal-Marts with multi-football-field-sized parking lots within 16 blocks from every front door of every city.  This difference is manifested in the attitudes of people, their system of values, and in the culture here.  There is more social value in a fine wine, or a good cheese, or who it was that baked your bread that morning, and less on the ‘volume of food per dollar’, ‘how much do I get’ or the  signage to indicate the lowest cost of milk.  Shops generally aren’t open in the middle of the day, and the reason is simple; that’s just the way it is.  […and everybody’s just fine with that.]  The break at this part of the day was even a little longer during the Tour of Romandie, Switzerland’s largest cycling race.  (won by Thomas Dekker of team RaboBank this year.)  I think the “I don’t know, its just different” I’ve heard so many times by people can be explained by this hierarchy.  I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I know this is part of it.
I have not heard flattering things about this race this weekend.  At the house we all had a good laugh at how awful it was going to be last night, actually.  Rain, slippery, cobbles, narrow, corners, metal grates, diesel covered pavement, hills, paint, and a “stupid-hard” pace that is sure to be set by the ‘better rain skaters, and those on the right wheels that day.  Apparently, “When Chad did this race, he was lapped out twice.”  The thing is, the course is 3.5km.  Ouch.  I remember Kalon saying that; “If you haven’t raced Rennes in the rain, then you’re not a real racer.”  And that if “you’ve done Rennes in the rain and not crashed, you’ve done something pretty spectacular.”  I think that was my favorite quote of the night.  The boys at the house are a lot of fun.  It is funny to me to hear their vernacular in action amongst themselves.  It really is a different language.  Some of the phrses they use!  It is going to be a hell of a race this weekend, and I mean that in the most non-flattering sort of way.  I will finish, but I am starting the race in my team suit that is already ripped up.  I booked my ticket home a day later than everyone else to spend some time in Rennes, and Paris.  With the WIC comp’d hotel room, and an already purchased departure ticket, I just couldn’t resist.  I will arrive late Monday night, and travel solo.  I brought my laptop so that I could write during the return train back to Zurich.  I hope that all goes well.  One word of advice though; when you purchase train tickets in Europe, be sure to purchase a reserved seat.
Aaron Richard Arndt

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