Life, with a car?

I have done some posts out of chronological order. This post should have gone before the one about the football match, but I will just leave it after, since that is the order I posted it in.
Part of the delay in any recent posts, was the visit from my mom and my uncle. They arrived in Paris just after I got back from Ireland. In the midst of my recent return and their visit, I was unable to write for a while.
My mom decided to rent a car because we were going to go to Mount St. Michel and because there fears of a strike. She had a GPS and several maps, but because the hotel in Massy was so obscure it took her nearly 3 hours to get from the airport to her hotel in Massy. In fear of the potential strike, we decided to do everything we could in Paris before the strike was supposed to start on Tuesday. Thus, we cancelled the trip to Massy and spent the weekend and early week in Paris. We went to the flea market twice, took in the Louvre (rather quickly), and attended a beautiful service at the American Cathedral. I also finally got a Harris Tweed jacket at the flea market! I look like a 1950's British man.
Although my sister said it wasn't worth it, we had Sunday afternoon free and a car, so we drove to Giverny to see Chez Monet and his gardens. It had closed about a week before we got there. Yet, with a little detective work, we were able to climb a fence and see the pond (although the lily pads were already gone). Not being a lover of Monet myself, I could have gone either way, but it was quite a pleasant drive into the country and Giverny was a wonderful little town. It was readily apparent why Monet was inspired to paint as much as he did.
It was a unique experience being in France, and in particular Massy with a car. I have never had a car here, so I was not very much help in navigating. However, it did expand my knowledge of the town of Massy. We saw sections of Massy I didn't even know existed. It was quite a unique experience when one day, we were driving down a street heading back towards my lycee, I realized, to my amazement, that we were on the street I lived. Somewhat puzzled, I told my mom, "hey this is where I live." Incredibly, you can live in a place for 2 months, and on a street for 2 months and not knowing what exists on the other side of that very same street, in this case, it was a McDonalds. It reminded me of learning about how the Age of Discovery and the Age of Reason coincided in the Middle Ages. The spirit of the time was a general awakening with Columbus sailing to America and just general exploration around the globe. The world seemed so much larger. This then translated to an expansion of the mind. If the world is larger and there is more to be known about the physical landscape of the world, this then leads people to think that there is more knowledge that can be gained. This then expands your mind (not in a 1960's way) or expands what you are willing to consider as possibilities.
There is so much going on around me, but because I cannot see it, it might as well be dark to me. With the advent of a car here, I was able to see so much more around me, what was once darkness became as a light. (This might not make any sense but it did to me so I wrote it down. If it doesn't make sense just ignore it and wait for the next post). Living without a car has been quite a unique experience (that probably could have been sufficient and I wouldn't have had to write all the rest but all that other stuff went through my head as I was walking to that very McDonalds the other day in search of Wi-Fi. They didn't have it but I had a good walk).
My mom and uncle also got to me several of the teachers at the school who have been very helpful in getting me settled here. We all went out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I think it went pretty well. It was a good thing they had a car or it would have been quite costly and difficult to get to the airport without one! I was sad to see them go, but my mom and the rest of my family will be here in about a month for Christmas!