Breathe
By Liliana Mejía
A few months ago I had to travel to London and I took the opportunity to spend the weekend in Paris. I decided to take the Eurostar which is the train that goes from the center of London to the center of Paris. While the rest of the group I was traveling with was hailing a cab to the airport to take a flight back to Mexico, I was doing it to go to St Pancras station. This simple event made me feel totally empowered and proud of the full exercise of my freedom to be able to make a trip like this alone. Little did I know at the time, that this trip would give me space for the reflection I share in this column.
Coincidentally, that weekend the Rugby World Cup semi-finals would be played in Paris and Argentina would play England, so the train was full of fans from both countries. In the carriage in which I was traveling, in front of me, sat two Argentinian gentlemen who started talking about me, assuming that I did not speak Spanish. I, in my "empowered" attitude, listened with curiosity while pretending to be reading. The dialogue between them was as follows:
Argentinean 1: "Hey, this girl is pretty"- referring to me.
Argentino 2 " In its category".
