Today I was orientated, yay orientation! Honestly, as far as orientations go it wasn't that bad. I've had some pretty bad orientations in my young life, but this one was free of ice breakers (which I detest) and had lots of actually useful information. First we had talks from the teachers of each school and one from our lovely president of the university who also went with us on the J Term. It was nice to have met everybody before this and feel comfortable at IAU. Plus I wasn't jet lagged, huge bonus. (Some other students keep posting on the Facebook group that they're going out to bars and such, I'm impressed that they have such energy, I don't know how they do it!) Our president mentioned something in his talk that normally would sound cheesy to me, but for once I actually took a speech seriously and decided to think about it. He asked us all why were studying abroad, what made us decide to be there: whether it was french fashion, food, culture, a chance to take a break from school, or learn about a foreign culture, or maybe because a teacher told us to. And all of those (except french fashion, I don't really care about Chanel or whatnot) are kind of true for me. My reason I've been giving people has always been, "I'm a French major, so... it's the logical step." Which is true. But why did I come? Honestly, I'm not too sure. I guess it was something to do, cause life at CMU was kind of stagnant in terms of studies. Maybe Aix will tell me the secrets to life.
That was far too serious. It's time for more Cultural Observations. First off, it's a well distributed fact that the French don't smile in the street. They walk with their head down and keep to themselves and their group of friends, which I have found to be very true. However, I think it's very interesting that when you walk in the store, it's almost the complete opposite! You smile very nicely, say "Bonjour madame/monsieur", be very polite, smiles are acceptable (at least as far as I've experienced...?), and it's all a very nice experience. But it seems like polar opposites. Cold in the streets, cheery in the stores. Secondly, today during orientation someone told us a quote by a famous anthropologist that goes something along the lines of 'Americans are like peaches, but the French are like coconuts'. My first thought was 'Americans are easily bruised?' That wasn't it though. It's that Americans are very easily accessible at first, but very hard to get to the core of (but let's be real, that's a silly analogy to a peach, because it's very easy to get to the center of peach: you get to the pit and then you're done... it's not like you eat the pit). And French are very hard to get to know, but on the inside they're soft and nice. That is almost exactly what the teacher said-- inside French people are soft. I found that kind of funny.
Thirdly is a sad comment to Americans. Dear Americans studying abroad, please, please stop being so obnoxious. There are select students who choose to travel in large groups and speak in english very loudly in stores, restaurants, and in the streets. First off in the streets you might as well be putting a large sign on your head that says "I'M AMERICAN AND EASY TO ROB/THIEVE/ETC". In stores and restaurants you look rude and silly. If you walk in and it's loud and everyone is talking, then sure, do your thing. If it's quiet when you walk in, please, keep the noise level consistent. I went to the phone store to get my SIM card today and there was a large group of students speaking in english and they kind of made me sad for the American reputation. So I left and found the other phone store that was very uncrowded--how sneaky of me! (And I'm so proud of myself for speaking in french and her understand me and me understanding her and getting a SIM card and crédits and not feeling like a silly student.) No, but really. Tais-toi.
Finally, today as I was walking home practicing being French, keeping to myself, not smiling, etc, I passed a man peeing on the side of the road. Legitimately. Well... okay. But since I was pretending to be French, I had to ignore him and not make a large deal out of it, I was afraid if I did, he'd turn around and pee on me. Even weirder, it was the side of the high school. Why would you pee right there at 17h? It was very weird.
Now a note on my host family. First off, they're still lovely. I had an avocado, then buckwheat crepes with cheese and tomato and an egg, then fruit salad for dessert today and I am quite a happy camper. I also had a crepe for lunch today with chevre and gruyere and it was delicious too. Oh the crepes! But continuing. At orientation they were telling us today to wait for the mom to eat first, to serve herself then you, to help with dinner, help with cleaning, eat together, and not take seconds. And I was momentarily frightened because I have broken all those rules. So tonight at dinner I took note. And I realized for sure that every family is different. The dad makes the food and he serves me first and they both tell me to eat while it is hot. Then the mom is served, she eats, and then the dad eats because he made it last. And he's told me before that he doesn't mind, he likes to cook for people. Anytime I wait, they encourage me to eat. They give me seconds and always ask if I'm hungry. I'm also not allowed in the kitchen to help and when I've offered to help they tell me to leave it there, they'll get it, not to worry... So I'm gonna keep on my toes just in case they decide that I'm no longer guest-like and can help clean up. But the mom nor the daughter clean up, so I'm thinking that it's just different. In addition, we were told not to touch the washing machines, that they should do it for us. But she told me that I could do it whenever I needed to. I asked her if she was sure, for sure, positive, and she said yes. Thus, all families are different. Voila.
AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL?
I GOT MY BAG!! CLEAN CLOTHES!! La vie est bonne maintenant.
That was far too serious. It's time for more Cultural Observations. First off, it's a well distributed fact that the French don't smile in the street. They walk with their head down and keep to themselves and their group of friends, which I have found to be very true. However, I think it's very interesting that when you walk in the store, it's almost the complete opposite! You smile very nicely, say "Bonjour madame/monsieur", be very polite, smiles are acceptable (at least as far as I've experienced...?), and it's all a very nice experience. But it seems like polar opposites. Cold in the streets, cheery in the stores. Secondly, today during orientation someone told us a quote by a famous anthropologist that goes something along the lines of 'Americans are like peaches, but the French are like coconuts'. My first thought was 'Americans are easily bruised?' That wasn't it though. It's that Americans are very easily accessible at first, but very hard to get to the core of (but let's be real, that's a silly analogy to a peach, because it's very easy to get to the center of peach: you get to the pit and then you're done... it's not like you eat the pit). And French are very hard to get to know, but on the inside they're soft and nice. That is almost exactly what the teacher said-- inside French people are soft. I found that kind of funny.
Thirdly is a sad comment to Americans. Dear Americans studying abroad, please, please stop being so obnoxious. There are select students who choose to travel in large groups and speak in english very loudly in stores, restaurants, and in the streets. First off in the streets you might as well be putting a large sign on your head that says "I'M AMERICAN AND EASY TO ROB/THIEVE/ETC". In stores and restaurants you look rude and silly. If you walk in and it's loud and everyone is talking, then sure, do your thing. If it's quiet when you walk in, please, keep the noise level consistent. I went to the phone store to get my SIM card today and there was a large group of students speaking in english and they kind of made me sad for the American reputation. So I left and found the other phone store that was very uncrowded--how sneaky of me! (And I'm so proud of myself for speaking in french and her understand me and me understanding her and getting a SIM card and crédits and not feeling like a silly student.) No, but really. Tais-toi.
Finally, today as I was walking home practicing being French, keeping to myself, not smiling, etc, I passed a man peeing on the side of the road. Legitimately. Well... okay. But since I was pretending to be French, I had to ignore him and not make a large deal out of it, I was afraid if I did, he'd turn around and pee on me. Even weirder, it was the side of the high school. Why would you pee right there at 17h? It was very weird.
Now a note on my host family. First off, they're still lovely. I had an avocado, then buckwheat crepes with cheese and tomato and an egg, then fruit salad for dessert today and I am quite a happy camper. I also had a crepe for lunch today with chevre and gruyere and it was delicious too. Oh the crepes! But continuing. At orientation they were telling us today to wait for the mom to eat first, to serve herself then you, to help with dinner, help with cleaning, eat together, and not take seconds. And I was momentarily frightened because I have broken all those rules. So tonight at dinner I took note. And I realized for sure that every family is different. The dad makes the food and he serves me first and they both tell me to eat while it is hot. Then the mom is served, she eats, and then the dad eats because he made it last. And he's told me before that he doesn't mind, he likes to cook for people. Anytime I wait, they encourage me to eat. They give me seconds and always ask if I'm hungry. I'm also not allowed in the kitchen to help and when I've offered to help they tell me to leave it there, they'll get it, not to worry... So I'm gonna keep on my toes just in case they decide that I'm no longer guest-like and can help clean up. But the mom nor the daughter clean up, so I'm thinking that it's just different. In addition, we were told not to touch the washing machines, that they should do it for us. But she told me that I could do it whenever I needed to. I asked her if she was sure, for sure, positive, and she said yes. Thus, all families are different. Voila.
AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL?
I GOT MY BAG!! CLEAN CLOTHES!! La vie est bonne maintenant.
Haha! Love the comments about other American students and your observations. It sounds like you're off to a GREAT start! Bon séjour!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm doing pretty good here so far and now it feels much more like a place I belong, rather than a vacation. :)
Delete