A post from France!
The trip has been wonderful so far. Hard to believe we'll be leaving this Friday (actually I feel like I've been here forever but I mean that with all good intentions..like.. I feel comfy). Currently, I am in Greg's house near Annecy. Relaxing the last few days before our voyage "home". My throat has been hurting lately so I was given a drink with rum, lemon, honey, and then a packet of aspirin pourn in. Translation: I may be out in a matter of minutes. Is pourn a word? A form of pour? I was about to write porn but that can't be right.
Anyway, clearly there is a ton to talk about. We spent time in Lyon (gastronomy capital of the WORLD yumyum), Paris (totally impressive minus the mean people, long lines, cold weather, and just ok food... I think I will return in the Spring to give the city a second chance to enchant me), Annecy (adorable town in the Alps with a beautiful lake), and time here in Rumilly where Greg lives. This entry won't be for details, because I don't want to spend forever on the comp and I think the rum+aspirin is starting to make my vision blurry. I will list my main impressions/experiences/etc...
1. BOY do they eat a lotta cheese here! Not just cheese, dairy in general. As a part of the meal, after each meal, between the meals... the cheese aisle in the supermarket (no worries, I filmed it... tourist what what!) is longer than, well, some really long aisles. It's delicious, don't get me wrong! But I think this may be the root cause of the smelly French stereotype..if you know what I mean. No? I've been farting a lot.
2. The French, as far as my experience goes, are so so so SO much less proud, much more open, much more accepting, of what I guess I would call the naturalness of human beings. If you're sort of fat, you say it and joke about it. If you have to go poop, you say it and maybe make a weird gesture. You grope your significant other in public, you yell when you feel like yelling, you say you don't like something when you don't like it, instead of the "I mean, it's not bad, I don't love it, but I mean, whatever" that I normally do. I'm probably generalizing EXTREMELY but it just seems like they speak so much more openly and blatantly and way less politely about everything: past experiences, good and bad, about faults. Things I feel like our culture covers up a lot due to discomfort, they put all out in the open. I'm not saying one is always better or worse, just that it's something I've noticed and had to adapt to.
3. The French language is so, so beautiful. Curse words, dirty words, sentences that have no real meaning, it's all the same. Sometimes I have Gregoire curse at me in French just to see if it sounds ugly, but nope, never does.
4. I can't think of anything else right now because I'm sleepy. I'll update later and it will be splendid.
5. Just thought of something because Greg's mom offered me a macaron and I said yes even though I'm the least bit hungry. Well, 2 things. First.. they eat a lot of sweets. Or, I have eaten a lot of sweets... SOO MUCH.. chocolates, cakes, macarons, pastries.. ("you must try this, its traditional French!" "Oh you must try this, we eat it every Sunday!" "Oh this is very French, particulary from this city!" "This pastry shop is the best one we must buy something from here!"). Good lord if mah teeth aren't rottin by the end o this.. hm, is this rum+aspirin hitting me now? In ze form of a souzern aczent? Or French?
5.5 Anyway, second thing is I have realized I must learn how to say no. Especially to food. I keep repeating to myself "Everything in moderation, even moderation" but I think I'm taking too much advantage of this phrase and using it to justify my gluttony, which is gross and definitely, definitely, sworn by the sky under which I live, temporary. When I go back to Madrid, salads and water everyday.
Ah, c'est la vie! La vie est belle!
I hope everyone had a magnificent holiday and New Years!! I love you all!
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