1) I bought a phone. It was the most expensive purchase I've made thus far. There are really only four phone/telecom companies in France, which means not very much competition and thus higher prices. It was 39 euro to buy the phone and 20 euro per month for unlimited texting and 40 minutes of call time. blargggggg. Did I mention that phones in France are nowhere near the quality (even cheap ones) of phones in the US? This was a consensus among our group.
2) Ads. They don't exist very much at all in Angers (not the visual type; radio and tv ads definitely occur). It's quite beautiful actually (sorry Advertising majors), not to have billboards everywhere (I'm talking to you, Indiana Toll Road!).
3)The French have perfected the art of staring, at people or at things going on around them. Men more so than women. There's quite a bit of construction going on in Angers (they're putting in a train/trolley system), and you'll randomly see a couple old men pausing and staring at all of the construction work.
4) The French dress, in general, much nicer than Americans do, especially men. No one ever wears tennis shoes or sweatpants (our house mom explained that she would consider someone who wear sweats in public to be badly raised or rude...!)I'm obsessed with French shoes--there are several shoe places in Angers, but again, the exchange rate is not in my favor, so for now I'll just have to admire. Most people don't wear lots of color (just one or two flashes of color on a handbag or shoes), sticking to neutrals like brown, gray, and black, but having LOTS of layers. Even girls in high school will wear high heels on a daily basis.
5) Grocery stores. I (and my roommate and friend Hilary) have an inexplicable love of seeing grocery stores in other countries, and even other places (we loved going into NYC grovery stores too). It's so much fun seeing the artful arrangements, comparing prices (avocados aren't terribly expensive in France...who knew?!), seeing the different cultural products (even in the equivalent of Walmarts, the bread section is still huge and prominent and there is absolutely no such thing as wonderbread or the crap that Americans eat). I can spend ridiculous amounts of time in French grocery stores, just wandering the aisles and thinking about how cool it all is.
6) Approach to exercise. Most French people don't "exercise" in the sense that Americans do or attempt to. Everyone walks or bikes to other places, but you don't go running or do jazzercise. There aren't any remotely overweight people. I'm not kidding. And apparently French people who do go running often don't wear running shoes or exercise wear, but wear normal clothes and shoes instead. I'm still looking for a yoga place...le sigh. As much as a love a good workout, I have to admit the idea of "eat what you really want, in small portions, and walk everywhere" seems to be working very well.
7) Snacking doesn't really happen, and tv ads for "snack foods" are required to have a sort of surgeon general's warning that says "snacking is bad for your health." Can you imagine ever having that in America?
8) Cats. Lots of shops have a cat, and you'll sometimes see them on doorsteps or walking down the sidewalk. Lots of people have dogs too, and it shows on the sidewalks occasionally.
9) LOTS of people smoke, men and women. You'll see it outside the high schools and my university. Anti-smoking laws are often disregarded. My family, luckily, doesn't smoke.
10) Parking--people totally disregard any parking laws. Cars parked on sidewalks are a frequent sight on my way to school.
11) The city of Angers has really interesting street names. I live on the street "Jean Commere", who was a 20th century painter who committed suicide in Angers. There are two streets named after Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy in Angers. Rue Anne Frank is a block away. Poets, philosophers, artists, politicians of many nationalities have streets named after them here. It puts "Mayor Mike Fahey Street" in Omaha to shaaaame.
12) We visited Angers' 13th century castle yesterday(I love being able to say that I live in a city with a castle!). It's right above the river, and its moat is now full of flowers and shrubs. It was really a cool experience--you can see most of the town from the upper level. And we were all a bit surprised about how little it was "preserved", in the sense that you could walk freely through everything and that some people had even carved their names into the slate stones on top. And I think it signifies a different legal system when the walls on the top of the castle (if you're standing up there) are only mid-thigh and there's no railing. Here's a photo:
In addition to seeing the castle, there is a really famous tapestry from the 14th century (I think) that's like 2 football fields long about the book of Revelation. It's called the Tapestry of the Apocalypse. It was really beautiful but also really hard to understand the French guide. The upside was that there were really cool signs saying "the Apocalypse this way." (photo from my friend Lindsay):
Bisous,
Claire
So cool! I'm glad you are having a good time. How are your classes?
ReplyDeleteClaire,
ReplyDeleteHow many meals do you get with your host family?
hello anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI only get one mandatory meal per week with my host family and one per week at school, but we get 10 euros per day as a stipend (although food here is tres expensive!)