Last Tuesday, the barricades at Zuccotti Park were brought down and the space was occupied again by hundreds of protesters hoping to change the culture of inequality and greed in America.

I actually went down to the park earlier this fall to check out the scene, before it got brutally cold and pre-pepper spray incident, and was pretty impressed by how well-coordinated and peaceful the movement was.

The set up down at Zuccotti Park was better organized than some political campaigns I've seen - there was a library, a daily schedule, sanitation and food stations (not to mention a pet food station which of course I donated to,) and a biking station where riders took turns peddling to charge batteries for computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.

The environment was not at all aggressive - people are clearly frustrated and eager to vocalize their frustration - but I saw no signs of violence or confrontation when I was down there.

Some of the more jovial protestors even chose to write a song about their plight!

Walking around the park, the whole scene reminded me a lot of the protests and strikes I witnessed in Paris last fall - some have even compared the Occupy Wall Street movement to the May '68 protests in France.

I'll admit, I still question how effective the whole movement will be in changing the culture of Wall Street in America. I felt the same amount of skepticism toward the strikes and protests I witnessed in France last year (I am just as anti-Sarko as the next gal, and respect the French for fighting to keep their government support system intact, but I think raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 isn't that unreasonable.)

Regardless of the outcome, Occupy Wall Street has turned into a massive global movement that will surely make the history books.

As the snow starts to fall in New York City, I'll be thinking warm thoughts of support for the protestors sticking it out in Zuccotti Park. If you're interested in donating to the movement, please click here for more info.

Today the popular French public radio station France Culture hosted a live broadcast from the AMEX cafe at the American University of Paris (AUP), to discuss the results of the 2010 U.S. midterm elections.

As I was one of the few students who actually made it to the first 
7 a.m. segment, I had the opportunity to share my opinions as an American voter living in France. 

On live radio. To millions of French people.

Needless to say, this was both a terrifying and exhilarating experience. 

Below is an audio clip of myself and another AUP student discussing our reactions to the elections. 

To summarize for those of you who don't understand French, I basically said:
- I'm a Democrat.
- I'm from Maryland.
- I'm disappointed, but not surprised.
- I still love Obama. (But he has some work to do.)

Feel free to click here for a recording of the full broadcast (my classmates and I make a brief appearance around minute 103.)

The morning segment from France Culture ("Les Matins") featured analysis and commentary from AUP professor Steven Ekovich and Zaki Laïdi, a professor at the Sciences Po Center for European Studies and founder of the French think tank Telos. 

The majority of the discussion focused on how the loss of Democratic control over the U.S. House of Representatives represents both "l'échec" or the failure of President Obama's administration, and demonstrates a strong dissatisfaction by the American public regarding the state of the U.S. economy. 

Two other segments were broadcast from the AMEX cafe later in the day, including a discussion of the role of women in U.S. politics, and an analysis of the Tea Party movement. 

Analysis: Today was an eye-opening experience for me, and it was absolutely fascinating to get the French perspective on these historic midterm elections.

I felt that overall, the panelists had a solid understanding of our political system, and while the majority of them were more or less politically leftist, I didn't get a sense that they were being overly critical of American voters or our system of government. 

Rather, they all seemed genuinely interested in the cultural implications of these elections, and how the political climate in the U.S. compares to France and the rest of Europe.

I also really appreciated the fact that a station that is so well-renowned in France (it is essentially the French equivalent of NPR), spent so much time covering our mid-term elections. And it wasn't just French radio: every newspaper I saw open on the métro today had front page articles covering the election results -- some even had the same pretty red and blue maps that the American media love oh-so-much.

In contrast, Americans are known for our lack of interest in international affairs. In a 2007 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, only 36% of Americans polled could name the current president of Russia (Vladimir Putin at the time). 

And even when it comes to domestic politics, the majority of Americans remain somewhat disinterested; in the same survey, only 69% of those polled could name Dick Cheney as the current Vice President (although frankly, the rest of them were probably better off staying in the dark about that one.)

Now, I understand that this disinterest in international affairs is the result of a variety of factors, including lack of emphasis placed on world geography and politics in our public school systems and by the American media. 

And I completely understand that just by the nature of our country's size and position in the world, what happens on our shores generally has a greater affect on the rest of the world than the other way around. 

But at the same time, I like to think that the more we can learn about other countries around the world, the better perspective we develop about our own. This is certainly what I've learned thus far over my time living abroad.

I am hopeful that all the recent developments in modern technology, which make it practically effortless to get updates on the world's breaking news, will boost our knowledge of international affairs. 

In fact, here is an amazing site that does just that -- and it's color coded!

Who knows? Maybe in the 2012 French Presidential elections, some lucky French student studying in the U.S. will get the opportunity to discuss her country's elections on national public radio in broken English!