Election Day In Paris

I think its safe to say that even though Tuesday was the date of the American election, most of the French people were quite invested in it. We've all gotten used to explaining to French people that we are for Obama (or for McCain as it is). I thought the approval rating of President Bush in the US was low, I haven't met a single French person who thinks well of him.

For election day the plan was to sleep early, and then wake up in the middle of the night for the poll closings. My friend Meredyth from school was visiting from London, and we were determined to stay up as long as we needed to. Turns out I went to bed at 7 am, but it was totally worth it.

The first attempt we made to have a true election experience was to go down by the Opera to see if we could get into Harry's Bar. Harry's Bar is the oldest American Bar in Paris, and every four years they do a straw poll vote to try to predict the winner. They've only been wrong twice since 1924, the first time with Jimmy Carter, and the second was in 2004 when Bush was re-elected. For the record, they were not wrong this year. Obama won their straw poll by a landslide. The history of the straw poll goes back to the 1920s when the American ex-pats convened in Harry's Bar to actually vote. The results were wired to the States and added to the tally.

When we got to Harry's Bar we were more than a little surprised by what we found. The entire street was closed off, and filled with people. French people, Americans, young, old. It seemed like all of Paris came out to patiently wait out the night for the results. It was sort of a lost cause for us though. We wanted a place with a TV, so we could see the analysis and the incoming votes. We hung around outside Harry's Bar for awhile, but then headed back to my building.

We ended up sitting with a laptop and MSNBC in my friend Benna's room. It was a bit makeshift, but exactly what we wanted. At about 5 am our time, when the polls closed in California, and there were enough electoral votes in to declare a winner we were all definitely ready for it. The thing about watching the analysis is that you see how its turning just as soon as certain places close. When they declared Ohio for Obama, I knew it was over, but we still had to wait it out.

There were definitely tears shed, and a moment when the window was thrown open and OBAMAAAAA was shouted out into the Parisian night. We stayed up for McCain's concession speech (it was very gracious, I respect him), and then for Obama's victory speech. A note about the gathering in Grant Park in Chicago... if I had been at school in Chicago, you better believe I would have been there. It's a little bitersweet this Paris thing. I missed a moment that I will never in my life get to experience again, yet I am in one of the coolest places in the world. And I keep talking to my friends and hearing how great it was... so then I explain Harry's Bar to them. It's not really the same, but still.

The night ended at about 7 am for me, and I snatched an hour and a half of sleep before sleepwalking to school and sitting through classes. French class consisted of a bottle of champagne and my French teacher halting all learning to just discuss the election. It was pretty cool of her (especially because until that point no one really liked her). I zombie-walked my way to my English Conversation, only to spend two and a half hours discussing the election with them as well.

I guess I was running on the pride I have for my country right now... I managed to stay up till almost midnight last night, running on an hour and a half of sleep over a period of 41 hours. All I know is that the next two and a half months are going to be long long long.

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I found this on youtube, it's a video done up at Harry's Bar. You can see the atmosphere, it was really fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVk474XKETU