Cultural Observations

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day!

I've been here for almost a month now and I've noticed a few interesting things that are worth sharing. First, I'll give a quick update on what I've been doing the past few days and then I'll tell you what has been on my mind recently as I immerse myself in this culture.

Valentine's Day

I was surprised to see that Valentine's Day isn't as over-the-top here (considering it is known as the city of love). Chocolate shops took the holiday as an opportunity to sell heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and there were definitely couples out and about on Saturday, however stores were not decorated with red and pink and I didn't see any cards specific for the occasion. My plans were to make dinner with Brittany and then hang out with a few friends that night. Everything turned out to be so much fun! It all began when Brittany and I went grocery shopping to buy things for dinner. We were walking around and all the sudden were asked if we would like to try some champagne. We realized that we had walked past a sample stand (like the sample stands in grocery stores in the U.S.) but instead of offering small bites of food they were offering small glasses of expensive champagne. Of course we said yes and the people were happy to give us a few glasses of different kinds of champagne (all three types were over 50 euros). It was so funny because that would never happen in a regular American grocery store. It wouldn't happen because a)we're not 21 and b)because they usually offer crackers with some sort of cheese dip or something instead of expensive champagne. We felt very Parisian. After dinner a few of our friends from IES came over and we had a great time hanging out together.

Expanding our Horizons

On Sunday my friends and I went to the Musee D'Orsay in the center of the city. It is right next to the river and right across from the Louvre. In the distance you can see the Eiffel Tour, Sacred Heart, and Notre Dame. Talk about the French experience! IES gave us free passes to the museum so we decided to walk around the Jardins de Touleries (a really nice park/garden area) and then stop by the museum. The museum used to be a train station, so the building itself is really cool and the inside is absolutely gorgeous. It was a great feeling to stand in front of world-famous works of art and see rooms full of paintings by famous artists. We wound up walking around for two hours until the museum closed. I was truly in awe of everything and can't wait to go back!

After the museum we booked tickets to go to Madrid! Katy found really cheap tickets (43 euros round-trip) to go to Spain at the end of March and we jumped at the chance to travel inexpensively. She also found a hostel we can stay at for under 20 euros a night and we can all stay together in one private room. My friend Marilyn will be in town during that time, so she is coming with us too. We're staying for four days, which should give us enough time to tour the city and see the sites. I have a few friends who were just studied abroad in Madrid during fall quarter, so they will be able to give us suggestions for fun things to do in the city. Also, the French and Spanish languages are pretty similar. Hopefully with a mix of English and French we'll be able to get around just fine.

A few things about Paris

The French university system:

Higher education in France is practically free for students. Government funding supports most universities and they are extremely inexpensive or free for people in the institutions. This is both good and bad. The good thing is that most people can afford to go to college, which definitely isn't the case in the U.S. Students are not drowning in debt when they graduate and families do not have to put all of their money into their children's education. However, there are a few downfalls to this situation. The first is that universities do not have the same services, programs, or feel as they do in the U.S. For example, university libraries are not as big, are not as common, and are not places to stay and study for hours. In general, they are only open 9am to 5pm which means that students who also have jobs have a hard time getting to the library to access resources. Also, the idea of a "campus" does not really exist here. Schools don't really have sports teams or extracurricular activities to do outside of class. Another problem that I have encountered with my exterior course at Institut Catholique [the French university that I attend for one class] as well as with my classes at IES is that there isn't a centralized location to find books for class. Instead, there are several bookstores throughout the city and you have to search for the books that you need for your courses. Many stores run out of books quickly and you have to continue going back to check if a new shipment has come. This is becoming very frustrating.

Things I have seen on the metro or in the metro station:

- a harpist

- a man playing jazz clarinet

- a twelve man string band

- an opera singer

- a puppet show

- several accordion players

Some of these things were for money, some of them were just because the person felt like preforming, and all of them were different from what I see/hear on the "L" in Chicago. Even when people want money they do it in a classy way here (a harp player in the metro?!?!)

The little things:

*Grass only exists in parks. Seriously. You won't see grass on the sidewalks or in front of people's houses. You must go to a park or the jardins to walk on something other than cement.

*Everything is closed on Sundays. Everything.

*Everyone looks like a supermodel. You never see people dressed in sweatpants in public and people of all ages looked "pulled together" and classy all the time.

* Most of the television shows that French people watch originated in the U.S. My host mom likes to watch France's version of Wheel of Fortune. Its pretty funny.

* Dryers for clothes are rare. Everyone hangs clothes to dry on large drying racks. Sometimes they put them outside on the balcony to dry.

* Just like in the movies/pictures French people carry baguettes all the time. They are a staple at every meal and are made fresh each day at the boulangerie