On Sunday, we met at the same café that we had Happy Hour, and an American woman named Carol spent the majority of the day with us to tour Aix with us and show us more about French culture and etiquette. The French are huge on etiquette! In fact, manners are so important that the highest compliment you can receive from someone is to say that you are well-mannered/well-raised, or "bon élevé." It reflects on you and your family, so if you're well-raised, it means your family did a good job. So if you are badly behaved, dishonor on you. Dishonor on your family. Dishonor on your cow!
As part of our tour, we stopped by a café (whose name I forgot and also I forgot where it was in Aix because... yeah) and enjoyed our three-course brunch. I'm not kidding--it was probably the biggest lunch I've ever eaten. From what I've experienced and heard, the French do not take their meals lightly, in all senses of the word. It is eaten very slowly, and they eat a lot of food, but it's a lot of different food and smaller portions (but it's still huge when all is said and done). Their lunches are sacred. It's like a 2 hour marathon of eating small bites and talking.
Meals (especially lunch) are a great time for socializing!
After the first course (which interestingly was a sweet, dessert-like option), we were all pretty full, and then the second course came, and finally we had a small slice of dessert. I told Marie-Claude (my host mom) that I was going to get super fat from all this food, but she laughed and said that I'll walk it all off. I really hope that's true because I feel the need to try everything I see (why else would you travel? Like, really), and also apparently it's really rude to leave food on your plate, but more on that later.
The "Sweet Choice" for brunch - yogurt with a raspberry, fruit, pancake, baguette and butter, brownie, and we also had our choices of Nutella and several jams
The "Savory/Salty Choice" for brunch - I got a Club Sandwich, which had a triple breaded sandwich with avocado, chicken, melted cheddar, lettuce, and tomato, bacon, salad, and scrambled eggs. Also turns out the French word for "avocado" is the same as "lawyer," so sometimes in menu translations it looks like you're going to be having "lawyer" for lunch.
So like I mentioned before, there are a lot of French culture differences when it comes to food. It's really rude to leave food on your plate-- the French are very conservative when it comes to waste, and it's really wasteful to take something and then not eat it. Also, you're supposed to keep your hands and forearms on the table at all times (because in the old days, if you slipped your hands under the table, you could totally pull out a dagger, which is both extremely rude and extremely life-threatening to your company). You're not allowed to leave the table while eating. When you eat, you use a fork in your left hand and cut with your right, and you're only supposed to eat small bites at a time, then put your utensils down to chew and talk. So none of that American inhaling food! The fork, when you're not eating but may eat more later, should be put face-down on the edge of the plate, and the knife should be put on the right edge of the plate. When you're finished eating completely, you put the fork and knife together and place them in a 10 o'clock/4 o'clock position on the plate.
We had some free time after we finished our tour of Aix, so I went to the other girls' apartments, and we all hung out for a bit! We decided that we really want to travel while we're here because we have some weekends to ourselves, so we're still trying to decide where we want to go! Also I should mention that the boy to girl ratio in the IAU College is like, 1:4. I think there are around 38 boys and like 168 girls enrolled for the summer, and apparently that ratio has not changed since the beginning of time. In our program alone, there are 10 girls and 3 boys.
I should mention that on Sundays and Mondays, it's generally pretty quiet on the streets. These days, most things are closed (except some stores open Monday afternoons). Also, the stores close at like 7 PM every day and during lunchtime, so it's not as convenient as some of the 24-hour shops in the US. Marie-Claude and I talk a lot about the unemployment in the country, and the store-closing policy is really controversial right now. She said that a lot of working single mothers and their kids need jobs to pay for everything, but it's hard to find jobs when the stores aren't open. So maybe if the stores were open for more hours, they could hire more people and help the unemployment rate go down.
However, every day, there's a farmer's market in the morning with fresh fruit, fish, and vegetables! Lavender flowers are also huge here as well, and the regional honey, which they believe helps with sickness and minimizing allergies. Marie-Claude said that a lot of students will stop by the farmer's market on their way to class (because I only get breakfasts and some dinners provided for me). The French LOVE exact change, especially at the Farmer's market. If you don't have exact change, you're supposed to preface giving your money with an apology. They love exact change so much that if you can give it, they'll compliment you with words like "Formidable!" Aix-en-Provence, or Southern France in general, is well-known for their fish and olives, and each region of France has their special cheese (there are over 400 types of cheese in France). In Aix, goat and sheep cheese is the specialty.
On Monday (today), we had our IAU College orientation! It turns out that a lot of students enrolled just through IAU College itself, and not with a study abroad program (like CEA). However, we are all considered IAU students, so we get to go on the same excursions that the other students do, as well as all the CEA excursions! So really, I get the best of both worlds.
We talked some more about etiquette today, and the cultural differences between France and America. For example. it is imperative that you say, "Bonjour," when entering ANYWHERE and, "Au revoir," when leaving. Like if you walk into a shop, or you begin a conversation with a waitress or policeman, or you wake up in the morning and see your family, or you return home, you absolutely must say Bonjour, even if you think there's no one there or if they don't respond right away. It is "the golden key" to being treated well in France. It's considered super duper rude if you don't say it, so a lot of people mistake the French for being really rude and unfriendly when they forget to say Bonjour to them, and sometimes the French will remind you by interrupting you in the middle of your sentence to say, BONJOUR. It's kinda like their way of saying, "HELLO I can't believe you didn't say Bonjour." So if you ever go to France, start every conversation with Bonjour just to be safe! You only have to say it once though, so once you've said it, you don't have to say it again to the same person repeatedly.
Also, smiling is very different in France and the US. Americans are always smiling--we are definitely known around the world as being very friendly! In France, you do not smile. People only smile at you when they know you, or when they want something from you. You don't even really make eye contact with people on the street if you don't want them to bother you. Girls who smile at bars often get flocked by creepy men. Americans are a lot more casual when it comes to dating and hooking up. There is no "hanging out" in France. If a girl invites a guy to her room, the guy will pretty much assume they're going to get married and have lots of kids, and French boys are VERY persistent, so they won't stop bothering you. French girls are known to be quite harsh and cold because that's the only way to keep the creeps away from them. Marie-Claude said that if I ever get lost, I should never ask a young, attractive man for directions in case he leads me away--I should look for nice old ladies to help me. Hahaha! Both Lucie (whom I met today!) and I thought that was hilarious, but it definitely has a ring of truth to it.
So during our lunch break, a girl in my program Natalie and I were super hungry, and we spotted this street vendor-ish kinda person who sold really cheap crêpes. Of course I wanted to try an authentic French crêpe (I had to see if Crêpe Parisienne compared), so I ordered a savory crêpe with salmon, cream (more of a cheese), and lemon. It was really interesting! I've decided that I want to try something I've never had before every time I eat out, and something new every day!
My savory crêpe!
Also, before I talk about trying new things some more, I met Lucie today finally, and she is so sweet and nice! I feel like I say that about everyone. I've been told that the French are like coconuts--hard on the outside, but sweet and soft and warm on the inside. That's probably why I thought they weren't very friendly when I first got to Paris. Apparently, if you've made a French friend, you've made a friend for life. It takes a lot to break down the barriers between friendship, but once you're in, you're in. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a kind and warm host family. Today at dinner, Marie-Claude said that she and Lucie were speaking very fast, but she can tell that I understand what they're saying and have a lot going on in my head, but I just haven't found the means to say what I want to yet. I felt really happy! I'm totally fine with listening at first though, considering the first step to learning a new language is to listen to it a lot! We kind of struggled because I was trying to talk about gall-bladder removal, but clearly I don't have the vocabulary for medicine (hahaha) so we spent some time looking it up in the dictionary.
Anyway, new things-- at dinner today, I had my first sip of rosé. It's a kind of wine that's special to Provence. It's supposed to be kind of fruity. It was sorta spicy, but it was cold so it didn't taste super strong (even though it was like 30% or something, which Marie-Claude said was really strong). I only had a very small bit, like maybe 3 sips. It was okay but I probably won't be drinking full glasses of it any time soon haha.
I honestly always forget that the French eat in multiple courses. Like today, we had some salad at the table, so I was like, Oh ok, I guess we're eating salad for dinner! And I thought we were just going to have salad, which I was fine with because the crêpe was super filling at lunch. So as I was slowly eating my salad, Lucie and Marie-Claude finished, so they brought out meat and tortellini and I was like What. I'm already kinda full on this salad. I'm so lucky that I'm super well-fed in a homestay, and apparently I'm going to be saving a lot on food because I don't have to eat out so often!
I guess something that I've noticed is the difference between Americans and the way they tell us that the French behave. Like, it's actually very easy to identify Americans because they are honestly so loud. The French speak super quietly--like today, when Lucie and Marie-Claude were in the kitchen and I was literally 30 feet away in a different room with the door wide open, I couldn't make out what they were saying at all. They are just in general more reserved. Meanwhile, as Natalie and I and some other students were sitting at a table eating our lunch, we could hear American students from like a mile away. It's just interesting to see the differences between the two cultures. Marie-Claude said that I'm very French because I like the same kinds of food that they do, so it's been pretty easy to adapt to life for the past 3 days, as long as I know the societal rules.
It's really cool because I can already feel my French improving in just a couple of days! I can't say how, or even why I feel this way, but it's making me pretty happy that I can understand a lot of what other people say. Tomorrow we start classes, so tata for now! À bientôt :)
-Cindy
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