Dateline ISU...

I'm writing from the battleground on campus here in Strasbourg, France, where recent events have left students running down the streets in celebration. They waged a long battle - 4 hours cramped in the trenches of auditorium seats, hands cramping around pens bleeding the last of their ink as the ideas drained from their brains.

It was a nearly silent battle, except for the anonymous cougher in row 4-left. Side battles nearly erupted the student noisily eating carrots to keep her strength up. And another student narrowly avoided ambush after he was caught rustling ... plastic bags full of snacks.

In the end, the troops filed past the podium, dropping heavy stacks of scribbled paper like lead bombs that failed to detonate.

It's over. The last exam ever. The final final. This ship has sailed.

And now, in the aftermath, new alliances are forming as students bound for Russia ally with the few that speak Russian.


That's all you'll hear for the next week from this reporter -

Next stop ... Red Square. After that, the Moon (and helium-3).

Renee Boileau
foreign correspondent