An American in Paris

Last week, my friend Tiphanie and I went to Paris for the day. We woke up at 5 A.M. in order to catch the TGV (high-speed train) at 6:22 A.M. The TGV is really fast--we arrived in Paris a little after 9 A.M.! Tiphanie's friend from Truman, Maricruz, was visiting La Ville-Lumière (The City of Light) for a couple of days with her friend and cousin, so Tiphanie and I went to meet up with them. Our group was very multicultural--we represented France, Mexico, and the United States!

We spent the day visiting the sights of Paris: Le Louvre, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe,

Tour Eiffel, Montmarte, Sacre Coeur, and Notre Dame. It was fun! As you can tell from the pictures, the weather wasn't great. We spent the majority of the day fighting to keep our umbrellas from turning inside out.

By far, the most exciting event of the day occurred when we were near the Arc de Triomphe. We were standing around trying to find a metro station when we noticed a camera crew filming with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. Maricruz, Jorge, and July started freaking out--the camera crew was from Azteca TV, the biggest television network in Mexico (and equivalent to CNN in the United States). The correspondent was reporting a segment about France, as the France-Mexico game of the World Cup was that evening. In fact, Maricruz, Jorge, and July had all worn Mexican jerseys

while sightseeing around Paris that day. The reporter interviewed them about the game and who they expected to win (Mexico, of course). He then interviewed Tiphanie about who she thought would win (tough, because she is French but she was with her Mexican friends. Oh and also because the Mexican team is really good). Finally he asked me what I thought. "I don't really care, I'm American. We don't like soccer. I want France to win." I replied. Ooops. Only afterwards did I realize how dumb I sounded! Oh well, hopefully the reporter edited my thirty second segment out before the broadcast aired all over Mexico...

First Observations

Bonjour,

It is my fourth day in France and I have decided to create a blog for a number of reasons. Doing so will help me remember things I do and observe and will also allow friends and family from home to see photos and hear about my experiences abroad.

I've made several observations over the past few days. The first: the French are culinary geniuses! The food is delicious and made from very little artificial ingredients. Fresh produce at every meal is standard. From an American viewpoint, the French eat slowly and savor what

they are eating. Lively discussion often ensues. Oh, and the television is not a component of dinnertime rituals. Us Americans, on the other hand, scarf our food in order to go on and do the next thing. Ingrained in us is a sense of "Go, go, go! We need to be fast!" I'll admit that eating so slowly does make me a bit uncomfortable. I feel as if we need to hurry so that we can go on to the next activity. But what exactly is the next activity? Nothing! Lately after dinner we have been going on walks or riding bikes. I will have to work on keeping my American tendencies for

speed in check.

Observation #2: With the amount of coffee and alcohol the French consume, it is amazing that anyone stays hydrated!

Observation #3: Everyone thinks Americans are fat and rich.

Observation #4: When purchasing something at a store, the interaction between the buyer and the cashier is interesting. The cashier is always incredibly polite, saying, for instance "Your total is $4.56 please." When you hand them your cash they say "Thank you," and then again when they hand you your bag of merchandise. It is all very civil.

Observation #5: Little French kids wear the cutest clothes!

Well, those are my first observations. I have to go eat lunch, which will definitely take an hour.