It's no secret that I neglected posts all of last semester, it was a busy time, people! But times they are a-changin. I have crossed the pond and have arrived in one piece to the sunny city of Montpellier!
I got here on January 2nd I will be here studying French French and more FRENCH until the end of May. Five months to drink champagne and eat croissants and look at cute boys! Life is pretty good for me....I guess.
I spruced up the blog's look and said au revoir to the old name. I am a Second Year Sophomore no more! I don't even know what Junior Juxtaposition means, let alone how to spell Juxtaposition (thank you, spell check), but I like the alliteration, so we're going to go with it. If anyone has anything more clever to add, be my guest.
To start things off, I've compiled a list of things that have surprised me so far about France:
{most of these revolve around food. Surprise Surprise}
1. French markets (for the most part) do not sell refrigerated milk and eggs. QWHAT? I know, it threw me off guard too, but its the truth. I guess you buy them and just refrigerate them when you get home. The idea of buying warm milk goes against everything I believe in, so I have yet to try it, but I did get some eggs today, so lets cross our fingers that my inevitable end is something far more romantic then death-by-eggs.
2. For 1.6E, one can go to the equivalent of Target (Monoprix for all you hip euro-trotters) and buy a bottle of champagne and not get carded at the checkout counter.
3. They do not have Diet Coke here. Its called CocaCola Light. and it is NOT Diet Coke. Its basically Coke Zero - tastes just like regular coke :( We all have to make sacrifices I suppose.
4. Homeless people run rampant here. And they aren't your average side-of-the-road-we're-in-downtown-minneapolis homeless people. Its amazing how the French people ignore them so blatantly. In Minnesota we all try our best to avert our eyes from the people on the corner with the cardboard signs but here, there will be a man sitting on the curb missing an arm and people walk past without so much as a glance his way.
5. No one smiles. Its actually very inappropriate as a women (or vice versa) to look directly and smile at a man unless you are trying to send a message. If you know what I mean. So of course I've been smiling and looking at everyone and recently was told that the locals will perceive me as a prostitute if I keep it up. Oops.
More to come, boys.
A Bientot!
