A Slice of My French Life

Different things about France

1. People don't like you to wear shoes in the house. People always wear slippers inside.

2. The toilet is in a different room than the shower. I guess kind of like what we would call a "half bathroom" (except there may not be a sink, in which case you'd go into another room to wash your hands.) But then the room where you take a shower doesn't have a toilet in it. So, in France, you can't "use the bathroom" unless you are literally going to take a bath.

3. People drink water (or wine if it's fancy) with their meals. Carbonated drinks, etc. are for little kids and/or consumed apart from meals.

4. Cheese is usually eaten after the main meal and before dessert.

5. The men are much more comfortable with their feminine side. Sometimes I'm unsure whether a guy is gay or just French. That's not to say they're flamboyant in a stereotypically gay way, it's just that they are more fashion conscious, at least to American eyes. Pants and jackets are streamlined, not big and baggy, and they pay attention to accessories—scarves, shoes, hats.

There are lots more, but that's all I can think of for now.

Boys

There are no plausible situations at all, which is fantastic for me because I am totally staying focused. The development of any opposite sex-related anything has always been dramatic for me, and I can't afford that right now. Literally. Most of the students are in their early twenties, so I'd say I'm older than most (although there are a fair share of older adults as well). All of that to say that recognizance of my age keeps me grounded. There is a beautiful Colombian in my class and though I'm somewhat of an honorary member of his hispanophone clique, he's ridiculously young. There's also a rather sexy Libyan I chat with from time to time and the reasons that would be a bad idea are hilarious, but not really. However, it seems that I have managed to acquire somewhat of an admirer, but again, he's fresh from the cradle and is a more obnoxious, Arab version of my little brother. Not the business.

Internationality

It's really cool being a part of an international program like this. When I studied abroad in Spain, the program was specifically for American college students, so I could always fall back into English with my classmates after class. But here, there are people from all over the world, so I can't always rely on English. I went ice skating with a few people Friday night and one of my friends and I were joking that we had a representative from almost every continent in our group: I was the North American rep, my friend's Norwegian, there was a guy from Ecuador with his Japanese girlfriend, and a couple of guys from Saudi Arabia. The United Nations Goes Ice Skating.

Pictures

I went to the chateaus of Cheverny and Chambord Saturday and have been meaning to put up the pics. I'm too lazy to put captions to go along with them tonight, so enjoy them in their out-of-context loveliness: