I had some meetings today with the director of International Relations at the Institut National Des Telecommunication (INT) about the attempted flag burning incident. We learned that the individual involved was not a student at the INT but the niece of the caretaker. Disciplinary steps have been taken and this girl is no longer allowed in the buildings nor is she allowed to engage in conversation with myself or the other international students. Had this girl been a student at the INT she would have undergone many levels of discipline including immediate dismissal from the school. I was very pleased to hear that they considered this to be an absolute disgraceful act and that the faculty and students were very disturbed by the incident. I was given a formal apology from the INT and was told that the girl was ignorant and definately not of higher education intelligence. She was also under the influence of marijuana which is not tolerated at the INT and she was possibly drunk which is also not allowed (the bartender on campus is suppose to cut you off before you are drunk). I do not expect an apology from her, nor do I want one. She most likely does not have an answer as to why she did what she did. We suspect it is because she was looking for attention and wanted to get an American guy (this just proves her ignorance). I was informed that she was urged by the INT students to apologize to us shortly after the incident which she did, but she was unable to apologize to me because I had left the bar in protest and went directly to my room. The other Americans seem to have accepted her apology and we do not hold a grude to her, nor do we hold her actions to be those represented by the country of France (or humans for that matter). At any rate, I hope she wasn't planning on becoming a student at INT because she will never be accepted now. Also, once again, this kind of behaviour has never happened in the history of this school which makes me wonder yet again, why does the unthinkable and unimaginable always happen when I'm around? In no way did I, or anyone for that matter, provoke such an act of disgust. We did not parade around with our flag, we did not jump up and down screaming we are number one, most of the Americans did not even want to hold the flag and felt scared having it because they did not want any incidents to occur. I felt it was appropriate for us to display our tiny 3.5 x 2 inch flag (not sure of the correct dimensions) because we were invited to celebrate our Independence Day on campus at the bar and because this school has many American, and other nations flags, on display at all times. Furthermore, the Mexican students who are here display many flags and never leave home without a huge Mexican flag attached to their back, which is disturbing to many people of varying nations.