Day 18 - The Explanation

I always tell anyone who listens to me, to NOT listen to me. When it comes to European history I know zilch. Really… nada…. zero… rien… que dalle.

This always amazes my European friends because since like nursery school and all throughout their schooling years the french Education Ministry makes sure they soak in even the most insignificant of dates or names that might have anything to do with L'Histoire de l'Europe. And so, almost anyone you speak to here will know the very basics: the names of all the Important Wars between countries, the names of the most prominent battles, the names of the kingdoms and their bounderies before there were any countries, “Who’s who” in the European Monarchy, what eras the history is divided into, what is the European Parliament and how it came to be, blah, blah, blah....

It’s pretty hard for them to understand that throughout my schooling years in Mexico, my History lessons consisted of:

85% time studying about The Mexican Revolution and The Mexican Independence
10% The loss of the Mexican northern territories to the US
5% The Dictarship of Profirio Díaz or the The Presidency of Benito Juarez (depending on the teacher)
3% The American civil war
2.5% World War I and World War II
.5% European History

That’s how bad it is.

So I guess you can imagine the total look of astonishement I got around me when, as I was standing in front of the Bastille monument for the very first time, I asked outloud: So where's this prison I've heard so much about??

Fned.