Train misses drunken teen napping on track

[Guest ___]

PARIS (Reuters) – A drunk French teenager narrowly escaped death on Sunday after falling asleep on a railway track and slumbering undisturbed as a high-speed train roared over him, police said.

 

The 19-year old, whose name was not released, remained fast asleep face down on a stretch of track near Saint Nolff in southern Brittany, as the Quimper to Paris train passed, leaving only a few grease stains on the back of his jacket.

 

The driver saw the body lying on the tracks and slammed on the brakes, but was only able to stop a few hundred meters further on.

 

"It was his unconscious state that saved him really, as he lay there completely still like a dead body," said a spokesman for the local police force, adding that the clearance under the train is only around 20 centimeters.

 

According to the spokesman, the teenager was making his way back from the Saint Nolff music festival when he stopped to take a nap on the railway line.

 

Roused by police and fire fighters who attended the scene, the young man gave a one-fingered salute before rolling over and going back to sleep.

 

He was subsequently transferred to a nearby hospital where police say he is still recovering from his alcohol binge.

 

"He's not really aware of what happened," said the police spokesman.

 

(Reporting by Vicky Buffery, editing by Paul Casciato))

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/od_nm/us_train_drunk_odd;_ylt=AiyauSYJ92cEsv6tqUI2Y9Os0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFmY2M3dmllBHBvcwMyMDYEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9vZGRfbmV3cwRzbGsDdHJhaW5taXNzZXNk

[bc6]

lol thats a funnie story, well kind of funnie in a morbid sense.

[to2leo]

In other news from archives...

 

'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock

Japanese visitors found to suffer from psychiatric phenomenon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15391010/

 

updated 6:47 p.m. ET, Mon., Oct . 23, 2006

PARIS - Around a dozen Japanese tourists a year need psychological treatment after visiting Paris as the reality of unfriendly locals and scruffy streets clashes with their expectations, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

 

"A third of patients get better immediately, a third suffer relapses and the rest have psychoses," Yousef Mahmoudia, a psychologist at the Hotel-Dieu hospital, next to Notre Dame cathedral, told the newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

 

Already this year, Japan's embassy in Paris has had to repatriate at least four visitors -- including two women who believed their hotel room was being bugged and there was a plot against them.

 

Previous cases include a man convinced he was the French "Sun King", Louis XIV, and a woman who believed she was being attacked with microwaves, the paper cited Japanese embassy official Yoshikatsu Aoyagi as saying.

 

"Fragile travelers can lose their bearings. When the idea they have of the country meets the reality of what they discover it can provoke a crisis," psychologist Herve Benhamou told the paper.

 

The phenomenon, which the newspaper dubbed "Paris Syndrome", was first detailed in the psychiatric journal Nervure in 2004.

 

Bernard Delage of Jeunes Japon, an association that helps Japanese families settle in France, said:

 

"In Japanese shops, the customer is king, whereas here assistants hardly look at them ... People using public transport all look stern, and handbag snatchers increase the ill feeling."

 

A Japanese woman, Aimi, told the paper:

 

"For us, Paris is a dream city. All the French are beautiful and elegant ... And then, when they arrive, the Japanese find the French character is the complete opposite of their own."

[Guest ___]

I hate to say it, but that's pretty accurate from the accounts I've heard from many friends and coworkers from Japan who have gone to Paris for work and vacation.

 

Not trying to rag on the French or anything, but the Japanese in general seem to have had such similar experience. Can't speak for any Aussies or Britts, they may be better able to cope with Paris than the Japanese.

[to2leo]

IMHO, I think the Paris that most of us, foreigners, envisioned is actually Barcelona! 

 

Barcelona has the architectures, beach, mountain view, clean transport and nice friendly people.

 

Having that said, I do like Paris for its unique city culture and TGVs.

[Martijn Meerts]

I visited some friends in Paris once, and they took me out to see the city. I came away with the idea that my friends were the only 2 friendly people living in Paris ;)

 

The best was when I was awfully hungry, and it was a while before dinner.. I went into a McDonalds to grab a hamburger. I just asked for a hamburger, saying it the regular English way. The girl behind the counter acted as if she'd never heard of such a thing. My friend (who is very non-typical French) then ordered one for me using this outrages accent, saying hamburger in a way Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther) would say it.. Seemingly, that was no problem at all ;)

 

 

I'm sure Paris has nice parts and there's probably friendly people there, but the majority of people you see and have to deal with in the city center are just plain rude. Those that have never been to Paris actually refuse to believe that when you mention it ;)

[disturbman]

BURP...

 

You know, I might live in Berlin but I'm still a Parisian. The people are not rude, they are rough and over stressed. Paris is very harsh on people and that's what you feel when you deal with them. That plus a certain cultural leaning. But common, that's not so awfull. Sure, compare to the States where is everybody is over friendly France is a cold place. I know I don't like many traits of my folk but I can't say they are rude. They are stubborn, stupid and sometimes bad tempered but that's not worse than anywhere else in Europe. I've seen many people trying, even if they don't manage to speak an understandable english or speak english at all, to help lost foreigners like everywhere else. As a matter of fact, French people tend to be over polite when you deal with them thus being if they are not working somewhere where they have to serve someone - meaning you - and that's true for a (big) minority... What I hate the most is the constent bikering and the fact that nobody admit it when they are wrong. They will instead try to show you how stupid you are... but I thought these were universals human traits.

 

If you really want to see how is Paris take look at the Cedric Klapisch movie Paris. Everything in it is so true.

 

I might say, French and, even more, Parisians might be cold but when you meet someone there and they are friendly to you then you have found a real friend. But okay, my perception might be a bit altered and biaised. I might be so used to it that I don't see things anymore. Like in Berlin, it seems that French are the only people who finds Berliners polite and friendly...

 

Anyway there is no doubt that for Japanese (and Americans) Paris must be a shock. Their culture is so polite and reserved, a tad too much even. I remember it quite clearly, Tokyo was really unbelievable. Everyone was so polite and nice but it was so obvious it was just a one way In restaurants and shops nobody answered the greetings and the overpoliteness. Customers were cold as stones or ghosts. It was like nobody was aknowledging the mere presence of the workers. To see that was making me feel so bad...

 

As for the Hamburger story... it's totally believable. English is not an universal language. If you are not used to hear some pronounciations there is a high probability you don't understand what's the people are saying. I know I can't understand some french accents even if I speak the same language as them. I know that some people don't understand my german even if, for me, I pronounce words exactly like I hear them.

 

Back on topics, Paris has many friendly people but in order to know them you have to be acquainted to them in some way. I know I was one.

 

Sorry for the long post...

[bikkuri bahn]

re. "Paris Syndrome" - on my first trip to Paris (coming from Japan), just trying to find the (poorly signed and confusing) stop for the shuttle bus to the Charles de Gaulle Airport SNCF station snapped me out of my Japanese mindset of assumed efficiency into my native U.S. mindset of low expectations.  Nevertheless, Paris was quite enjoyable, even more so on my second visit.

[Guest ___]

Like, I said, Vince, not trying to rap on the French,. Just keep in mind that most Japanese have grown up with western television from the big four English nations. (Australia, Canada, the UK and the US so there is a little less culture shock. Followed by that, the second most studied language and culture to the Japanese is German. With that said, France's culture is quite far from that of what the Japanese are familiar with.I'd expect the culture shock for many Japanese would be the same if they were dropped in Italy, Spain, or Corsica.

[disturbman]

Corsica? You know it's not a country?!  It's quite peacefull and nice as a matter of fact. I really love the place, they even have a train line but I never rode it. I'm betting it's quite interesting since it goes through the inland mountains.

 

But, back on (my) topic. I think the cultural shock lies more in the image of the city itself. Paris is known to be the city of love and France the country of refinements. Therefore their expectations must be too high and violently not fullfill. The should have been warned, French are Gaijins after all.

 

Still I'm wondering if this shocked doesn't also happen in the rest of the western world. I don't completely believe in the efficiency of TV program cultural immersion. I did see a lot of things on Japan before going there but nothing really prepared me to what I discovered. It's just now that I'm back that I can more understand what I saw in movies or series. It's the same with the US, still I'm overflown (with everyone elese) with american cultural references I don't necessarily get them. There is still part of your culture I don't get. And I will most likely never get them.

[Guest ___]

Corsica? You know it's not a country?!  It's quite peacefull and nice as a matter of fact. I really love the place, they even have a train line but I never rode it. I'm betting it's quite interesting since it goes through the inland mountains.

 

But, back on (my) topic. I think the cultural shock lies more in the image of the city itself. Paris is known to be the city of love and France the country of refinements. Therefore their expectations must be too high and violently not fullfill. The should have been warned, French are Gaijins after all.

 

Still I'm wondering if this shocked doesn't also happen in the rest of the western world. I don't completely believe in the efficiency of TV program cultural immersion. I did see a lot of things on Japan before going there but nothing really prepared me to what I discovered. It's just now that I'm back that I can more understand what I saw in movies or series. It's the same with the US, still I'm overflown (with everyone elese) with american cultural references I don't necessarily get them. There is still part of your culture I don't get. And I will most likely never get them.

 

 

 

I jsut watched Noir so Corsica was fresh in my head, LOL. But yeah, I agree with the thoghut foreigners hold in so far as expectations go by foriegn media, movies, TV shows, anime and etc.