French Oddities and Oysters

Chocolate Crêpe!!!!!

Now that I have lived in France for an entire week, I feel like I am prepared to make some generalized assumptions regarding the differences between the United States and the Land of Châteaus.  Before my departure, I imagined France as a tinier version of the United States, distinguishing itself only by a higher baguette density and free education system.  Those two facts are true… however, each day I continue to discover the itty-bitty cultural differences that make France so French.

Most of the differences are rather trivial.  For example, toilet flushing mechanisms involve pushing oddly shaped buttons.  Eating is not an event, it is a marathon – each meal sucks up at least one hour, with multiple courses and a dessert.  Baguettes are everywhere.  Cheese is everywhere.  The population is, overall, extremely well-dressed – even the old dames strut around in leather boots and trench coats.

I think the most bizzare aspect of France is that there is a superfluous number of “coiffures” (hair salons).  They are EVERYWHERE.  Within a five minute walk of the IES center, there are 15 hair salons (Don’t worry, I did a google map search in order to give an accurate statistic).  Why?  I have no idea.  And neither does my host mom.  As far as I can tell, French hair is pretty darn standard.

From the above paragraph, one might think that I just sit around and be judgmental all day.  I assure you this is not the case.  This past weekend my family and I traveled to their adorable beach house on the French coast, where I attempted to eat raw oysters.

A live-action shot of me eating oysters!

Apparently the French find these quite tasty, but I would describe them as a slimy slugs soaked in salt water.  On a slighty tastier note, I also consumed an entire jar of Nutella today (Granted, it was a French-sized jar).  Did I learn my lesson?  Probably not.  Nevertheless, it probably will stay out of my shopping cart for at least a couple of weeks.

Bord de la Mer

This next week is full to the brim with shopping of a different sort – class shopping!!  I have not quite fully grasped the French university system –  I have found it is quite common for students to sit in an empty classroom sans professor for fifteen minutes, after which they are informed that the professsor will show up in one or two weeks.  So, after a melange of raw oysters and invisible professors, I am ready to call it a week.