As some of you might know and remember, I have been in France since February. We're leaving back to America on the 20th, and on the 21st, I have to go on a church trip to Boston, Massachusetts, so I thought that I would post this before we get busy packing this weekend and saying our goodbyes to our friends.

I'd just like to comment on how much I have learned this entire time I've been here. Not only have I learned how to speak a ton more fluently in French that I did before, I've also learned about new cultures, meeting new people, trying new things even when they seem disgusting, and the French people themselves. Forgive me if this seems boring, but I just have to tell everyone about the times that I've had here.

First of all, I've learned a lot about speaking French. This in itself was worth the entire voyage - I can now order food at speeds the same as regular French people, and my accent has changed from American-French to Southern-French-French. I have recieved lots of "No! You can't be!"s when I tell the French people I'm actually American. This is what listening to conversations, people, cartoons, and cooking shows did to me in three months of my time. I have learned so much about the French language - verbs, past tense, future tense, you name it. I can even participate in normal conversations with French people as long as they don't speak way too fast. (I'm still getting used to that)

Next, I've learned more about the French culture from visiting it than I have ever learned from the TV, Radio shows, and general biased-ness against the French people. Before I came here, I thought the same thing as the rest of those who haven't visited France - the French are rude, snotty, they wear bourées, they like to eat snails and frogs all day long, the women have moustaches and armpit hairs, and no-one cares about what you smell like. While only the smelling part is true about this, all of the other things have been proven wrong. I haven't met one French person who ruined my day because they were having a bad one - the one time that a person was grumpy and distraught, he collected himself before he could do anything that would ruin our day and tried his hardest to be nice and friendly. There are some people that I know from the US that would never even try to do this. The French also don't wear bourées, only the tourists do, and if you wear a bourée through the streets, the people will stare at you. (I know this as a fact) They also don't really like snails all that much. The cafés and other places that I've been to have only served snails once, and this was at a very fancy restaurant. The women are like women in the US - they care about their appearences, so no moustaches. As of now, I haven't looked at any women's armpits, so I can neither confirm nor deny if they trip their pits.

Next, meeting new people in France was one of the most fun things that we did the entire trip. We must have visited at least 30 museums and 20 churches while we were there, but that was nothing compared to making a new French friend. If we accidently bumped into someone on the sidewalk, we quickly said "Escusez-moi de vous derangez, monsieur/madame." They would laugh and say "C'est bon! C'est bon!" Then we would get into a conversation about anything on the news lately. We would both walk off feeling better and smiling to ourselves. Talking about smiling; it's okay to smile in France. Everyone does it. No-one will think you're a hypocrite if you smile for no reason. Smiling and strangers will most often make them smile back, and then maybe if you're lucky they'll come over and talk to you. Also, the French seemed perfectly okay with the fact that we were American. They all hate Bush, but they don't bring that into normal conversation. Rather, they like to talk about your hobbies, what you do at your job, what food you like; practical stuff that anyone would talk about at the dinner table. The French men are also not stuck-up and proud, rather, the ones that I've met have been nothing but silly and funny. They always have a joke about everything, they like to tease you when something funny happens to you, and they never, ever do that cheek pop thing that you see on TV. Overall, they're a nice society of people.

Finally, when I was in France, I had to try out many new things. Food was the major concern - I have tried out at least 700 new dishes this entire time that I've been in France, from salads to fishes, from ham to frogs. You have to try out new things here - there is no Macaroni and Cheese or burritos. And if you somehow figure out how to get those things to eat, then shame on you. You're in France - eat like the French (very well). The few majore things that I tried were Frogs, Snails, and Ham. I'll start with ham. When I was three, I tried out ham for my first time, and I didn't like it. But as I was swallowing a piece of ham when I was 5, I choked on it. I nearly suffocated - my dad couldn't get the ham out with the heimlech maneuver easily. After at least 10 times of the maneuver, I coughed up the ham. I didn't touch it for 8 years, until I went to France. I ordered something in a restaurant that said "Bruschette Parma Bolon." I thought it was an italien bruschette - toasted bread with olive oil and tomatoes - with parmasian and bolognaise sauce. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up with 2 types of ham and a salad. It cost a lot, too - 9 Euros! My dad said "I am not letting that go to waste, so you had at least try it." I tried a little, and it tasted like salt. So, I tried some more. And some more. And some more. Before I knew what I was doing, I had eaten all of the ham. How's THAT for getting over an old fear! :) Next - frog's legs. We went to a restaurant and my dad was adventurous. He said "How 'bout some frog's legs?" I agreed - when in France, eat as the French do! They arrived on a little plate - there were only 8 of them. We each took one and bit into it. It's hard to describe its taste, but it really tasted like Chicken soaked in garlic. It was really good, and we ordered another plate when we finished the first one. Last - snails. Snails are over-rated as a disgusting food. What's really disgusting about them, anyways? We got a plate and I tried one. It was really chewy and rubbery - like calamari... And now that I think about it, calamari seems to me to be a more disgusting food - it's been in salty water filled with fish poo for ages, and it got caught in a greasy, slimy net and hauled up onto a muddy, wooden boat, then got sent to a filthy factory to be dismembered by employers with gloves covered with who-knows-what. Blech.

I hope that some of you take the time to read this, as I'm not going to get a chance to go onto the computer again for at least 2 weeks. Wish me luck with the remainder of my travels!

Last edited: Friday, April 15, 2005 at 11:54:05 AM

^ Good post.

But, are you sure you were in France? Sounds more like Canada.....

I'm sure, unless our 7-hour flight to France was just faked. :P

GL spunky! I hope you make it back safely!

Last edited: Friday, April 15, 2005 at 12:40:59 PM

Thanks. I hope I make it back and get used to the time change again. :P

Now I want to go to France! Good post!

Thanks, Rabban. That does mean a lot to me. :)

Great post! You're a very good writer Spunky. I agree with Rabban. When's the next flight to France?

Thanks for the compliment. Again, it means a lot to me. :)

Did u get me that hat :P
Anyhoo Safe flights back spunk glad u had fun!

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, Ice. :P I don't think that was ever going to work, though... But thanks for wishing me luck!

Excellent read Spunky! Thanks for posting that.

I remember hearing once that the only really snobby French were in parts of Paris, and that even other French didn't like those Parisians. Like anything, I guess rumors get out of control. I've known people who've had the most wonderful time in France, and others who disliked. I suspect that it has a lot to do with the attitude you have going in to it, just like many things in life.

Anyway, good to hear about your adventures.

Oh, and frog's legs do taste like chicken, right? XD

Noice spunk...makes me want to go to France, and I don't travel very often.

One question - now that you've seen quite a bit about France, where would you rather live? USA or France? Just curious...naturally we are all a little biased based on where we grew up, but in many aspects France sounds more inviting than America. Except for that stinky part...

Great post !
I can really relate to you Spunk about spending some time abroad.
I grew up in Tanzania, East Africa from when I was 9 years old till I was 15.
An incredible experience that I would never trade for the world.
It really affected how I see the world, see my own country and relate to people, especially from different cultures.
Learning the language in another country really opens up doors and brings down barriers that otherwise exist.
For me learning Swahili (well a fairly rough, but adequate, "street Swahili") made my time in Africa much more interesting.
Fun too.
Most Tanzanians didn't expect some little blond haired boy to understand their language. So in the marketplace or on the bus or in the street, I could understand the comments, conversations about me (never negative mind you, just curious type talk).
Then when appropriate I could reply and knock their socks off! They never expected me to understand or speak their language.
Learning another persons language is the ultimate form of respect in a way.
It shows that one cares enough about a people that you want to communicate with them.
When travelling, even just learning a few words of a language, such as greetings, thank you, food items for the menu, will go a long way.

My oldest brother who spent many decades trekking/travelling in the Himalaya's would always jot down words, phrases, vocabulary of all the places he travelled to.
When he would travel back there years later, he would have it in his shirt pocket and be ready to go.
By dropping just a few words in the local language or dialect, he would then be invited into peoples houses, given dinner, treated like long lost relatives.
Alot of it is just showing respect.
It's an amazing world we live in.
Thanks for sharing some of your experiences Spunky!
Kinda lost my taste for calimari though:(

@OM
That's what the French people here say, too... It seems that only the Parisians are the grumpy ones, and that's mainly because the Americans make their day bad by not speaking in their language and being very rude to them. Would you be grumpy if a French person came up to you and started blabbering in French about who-knows-what, then expecting you to completely understand them?

As for the frogs legs: Yes, they really do taste like chicken... They're just really soaked in garlic. :P

@Professor
I would actually now consider living in France because of this entire trip. I know it must sound kind of weird, but that's what I think. I've had a better three months in France than the last three months that I had in America; even doing monotonous things like schoolwork, chores, and things like that were made at least a little better because of the happy atmosphere all around me.

@Baba
Great story! I wish I could do that with French people, but I still don't know the entire French language, so I can only understand every other word, especially when they're talking at full speed (500 words per minute). I agree with you; learning a language is the ultimate form of respect to any culture, and most Americans either don't care enough to learn these languages or they don't attempt to speak in their language. I made my most sincere effort to speak in French the entire time I was around the French, and I think that added to the affect.

You know... It would be great if you guys went to France. I swear, you'd enjoy it. You should go down in the south of France, too... The countryside is absolutely amazing if you get far enough into it. I'm even longing to go back there right now - my entire family, especially my dad, relaxed for the first time in about three years the entire time we were there, which made the experience that much more pleasant. It also helped that we had a helpful B&B couple who were probably the nicest people that we met in France... And they were experienced in running a hotel, because the husband had been the president the Holiday Inn for several years. We got lucky! :)

Thanks for your comments, guys. Maybe I'll try to make a book out of our travels. Would you guys buy it?

@Spunky

Sure, I'd buy it if it were as good as your initial post.

@Spunk
I had thought u might forget hehe :P

So....whats worst? Jet lag? Or Game lag? %)

Jet lag, definitely. :P

Our flight from Philly to home just got canceled! W00t! More waiting is great! XO

LOL

I hate waiting in airports...

Welcome home, anyway...

I'm not home yet, LGM, not even close. Still waiting in Paris for tomorrow, when I will fly.

Ack... I thought you were stuck in Philadelphia. Have a good flight, and thanks for the superb thread.

Last edited: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at 5:43:06 PM

I saved the whole thing... This whole thread just made me think more and be more humble.. Thanks.