"I never think of France," Mathias answers sadly, shaking his head. "It's a wonder the Eiffel Tower is still standing."

It's brief, but he misses home, then. He misses being able to hop on a train and be in France within mere hours, in Paris by the end of the day. "I stood up there for the first time when I was seven," he says, remembering that trip with a faint smile. "My parents took us to Lyon on a business trip and then decided at the last minute to keep going to Paris."