Les Flics

French Vocabulary Word for the day: "gendarme", the French word for policeman.

I spent some quality time with 3 gendarmes last night at around 4 in the friggin' morning while returning from a Super Bowl party. The guy who was giving me a ride home at the end of the Colts' victory in Super Bowl XLI was pulled over by les flics (slang for "cops") just outside of the Bastille. Unlike in the 'States, apparently the police here don't actually have to have a reason for stopping you. (They later explained that they stopped us because of some irregularities in the license plate of the car, but I have a feeling that it was more because it was a rather suspicious-looking jalopy cruising around at 4 in the morning). Anyways, after being searched for drugs and weapons and the like, we were allowed to carry on our merry way without any repercussions. As a result, by the time I made it my apartment it was past 5am, and after showing up to work with only 2 hours' sleep, I was having flashbacks to my sleep-deprived residency years...

But: despite our little adventure with The Law and my overall state of exhaustedness, it was worth it. I will always remember The Year I Watched The Super Bowl In France (it was great hearing the French commentators saying stuff like "Quel breakaway!" and "Il s'en va!" during the game), and from my point of view the game had a happy ending with the Colts bringing home the goods. Congrats, Indianapolis.