Kesley??

So I'm eating lunch today...rice, carrot salad, hamburger/steak thing...and Guillaume comes in and says, "Do you put ice cubes in your coffee?" And I tell him I usually don't drink coffee enough to know if I would do that or not, but it seems reasonable if the coffee is too hot. And he looks at me like I'm crazy and says that his host dad from Washington used to put 3 ice cubes in his coffee mug every morning because the coffee was always too hot. I then went on to explain how sometimes when I eat oatmeal and it's too hot, I put an ice cube in it...it got a little too complicated for him to comprehend, but by the end he basically just told me how weird that was. I responded with...well I'm sitting here eating a salad, made up of only carrots....this isn't exactly American cuisine... It's funny to think of how what I see as bizarre here, my family sees as the norm, and vice versa. So many things are the same, such as the conversations about school, work, family, and the routine of breakfast, lunch and dinner, even if they come at odd times (well odd for me...not for them!). But here are the things I find genuinely different...

-everyone has a manual car...if my life depended on it, I would never be able to drive here thanks to my automatic upbringing
-laundry: the washer is tiny and there isn't a dryer so it takes 2 days for the clothes to dry...
-everyone comes home for a nice long lunch everyday
-Fresh bread all the time! I don't mind this one so much :)
-studying habits - the French kind of think you're crazy if you study 2 days in a row... -strikes pretty much happen everyday. I haven't had my University class for almost 2 months now... and there's another national strike scheduled to take place the 19th... -everything is closed on Sunday
-the popularity of classical music
-the interest in current events, and thus the lack of interest in the entertainment industry
-peanut butter just doesn't make the cut here, and my family thinks I'm completely crazy to love it, especially with jelly...
-the lack of t-shirts and sweatshirts - America is the King of these
-the dependence on public transportation or your own pair of legs to get from place to place
-5 television channels...c'est tout.
-outlets
-most grocery stores don't offer bags for groceries - people bring their own!
-you have to go to the pharmacy for cold medicine, aka the French equivalent of Dayquil, Sudafed, you name it
-there are no sports teams at the University or the local schools...do intramurals really count?
-drinking age = 18ish
-the French are infamous for smoking, and alas! tis true. Especially among young people, like teenagers. It's absolutely crazy. And unfortunate. But they do look chic...

-milk is packaged in cardboard containers and bought in mass. It is kept in the cupboard until used, and only at that point is it refrigerated... it's also very thick, definitely past 2%
-orange juice is more of a dessert drink than the beverage of choice at breakfast
-fruit is also a dessert and usually doesn't go along with a meal or eaten as an afternoon snack
-France definitely overdoses when it comes to PDA...
-dog poop...sorry it had to be brought up again! It's everywhere. We need to get France on the pooper scooper plan
-the popularity of peacoats for 2 year olds, i mean they'll grow out of it in like a month...seriously
-crutches do not come up under the armpits, but instead come up to the hips, with braces up the forearm
-the French are on time, and it's not only annoying if you're late, but if you're too early -traffic rules? well I'm not sure they exist
-the formality of 'vous' when speaking with strangers, professors, or someone older than you
-the lack of daylight savings time, at least at this point - it might happen at the end of the month, or April?
-no ice cubes, except in the occasional alcoholic beverage or during the summer time

Alright, well I think this is a pretty good list. I'll have to ask Guillaume later what other things he finds completely bizarre in the United States. Then we'll compare and contrast!

This week has been pretty busy with studying, midterms, and papers. But the worst of the week is now over, and tomorrow I'll be ready to dig into my big papers due at the end of April. Woo. This coming Saturday night I'll be going to my first soccer game in Nantes! FC (Football club) Nantes. I'm not sure who they're playing or if they are any good, but the stadium looks pretty sweet, so it should be fun! I'll be sure to update you on the results.

Also, just as a random ending note, my religion professor thinks my name is Kesley. He takes a roll call every class and it just always comes out the same way. I tried to correct him at first, but eventually just gave up...haha. It comes out Kes-leh. Oh well. Kelsey is kind of a hard name for the French to pronounce.

And here's a taste of the spring flowers we're getting here. I haven't had a chance to get to the big gardens and take pictures, but I'm going to try to do that tomorrow!

Alright, well I hope this week has gone well for you all! It's almost the weekend! Woo hoo! Marie comes back Sunday and Christophe is in Paris until Saturday, so it will be relatively quiet around here tonight and tomorrow. Unless the singing starts of course...

Love and miss you all!

Kelsey :)