Differences

Here's a really great other picture from the guy performing where we picnic-ed on Saturday. This week's been pretty normal, and class at the Louvre yesterday was fun. It's always nice to have someone who can give you a little context come along with you (our professor), rather than just wandering around thinking, "oh, that's pretty!"

After the Louvre, a few of us went to Angelina's, where everyone told us we could get the best hot chocolate in Paris. By hot chocolate they essentially mean "hot chocolate cake batter," which sounds strange but is actually amazing! They bring you an empty mug, a little pitcher of hot chocolate, and a little bowl of real whipped cream-- no sugar added. Then you make your own hot chocolate concoction. I probably drank a day's worth of calories in about a half hour, but wow it was delicious and definitely worth a visit for any chocolate lovers out there! Especially for a pick-me-up if you are feeling all Louvre-d out (it's right down the street)

In other news.. here's a running list I've been keeping of some funny differences I've noticed between the U.S. and French culture:

• Bowls/mugs: Maybe it is just my family but on more than one occasion I have drank tea or coffee out of a bowl, and I have also drank carrot soup from a mug (sans spoon)
• Water usage: I haven't experienced this but some friend's host families have asked them to use only 2 minutes of water per day: you get in the shower, get wet all over in 1 minute, turn off the water and lather up, then turn the water back on and rinse off in 1 minute. Brr! Anyway, the contradiction to this is that they wash down the streets and sidewalks every single day here. Even if it's raining!
• Evian: a huge bottle of Evian cost me 50 cents the other day-- I thought it was funny since it is considered très chic in the U.S. to carry around Evian seeing as it costs like $3/bottle
• Dryers: out of the 16 of the students here from AU, only two of us have laundry dryers at our homestay! I know that utilities are more expensive here and so it's more economical to airdry things, but geez...clothes that have not been dried (especially jeans!) feel weird, and more importantly, fit terribly! I will definitely have a deep appreciation of dryers when I return. (Also FYI the washing machines here are about 1/2 the size of washers at home)
• Produce: since fresh fruits and veggies are much more expensive here, they are obsessed with only buying produce that is in season. My host-mom has given me several impromptu 'lessons' about what fruits and vegetables are in season, and in the kitchen of a friend's apartment is a chart that says what produce is in season at what times of the year. Literally, this topic has come up more in the past few weeks than it has in my entire life.
• Other languages: I just want to end with a very humbling thing I've been realizing the past few weeks. Pretty much everyone in my French class (as I've mentioned before, there are three Americans including myself, and people from all over Europe, Asia, and a few other places) knows at least one other language fluently. Many of them speak English quite well even though it's their second language, and then they are also taking French, and plenty of them know another language as well. It's because they start learning other languages as soon as they start school..this needs to catch on more in the U.S!

I am off to happy hour with friends and then it's time to study for tomorrow's test and pack for Madrid. I am excited to see how my English, Spanish, and French, all meld together this weekend...it will probably either result in a disaster, or miraculous wonderful Spanish skills. We'll see!