Differences.

Hey everyone !

I'm following a few blogs that belong to other Exchange students, and one of them, a guy called Jarryd, made one post about the differences he's noticed so far between la vie Française and Australian life, the people etc. So I thought it might be a good idea to do my own to show you all the things I've noticed in France.

So, here goes !

1. Incredible public transport systems.
2. Very formal conduct with teachers at school.
3. They set the table with forks on the left, knives on the right, but then switch them around once they start eating.
4. They use bread to hold/push things on a fork much more than they use a knife.
5. Lunches that are a full meal. (My host mum is still shocked when I just eat a sandwich like back home.)
6. There are pharmacies on every second street corner.
7. And defibrillators. Even at school.
8. Things actually can cost 98 cents/centimes, and the cashiers get really angry when they have to give you 2 cents change, and make it that bit more inconvenient by giving you two 1 centime pieces.
9. You have to pay for plastic bags most places. Not that I'm complaining, I guess it's a good thing.
10. They hardly drink at all. I think this is why their glasses are so damn small.
11. French become madmen when they get behind the wheel. They drive incredibly fast, over the 130 km/h limit, park on pedestrian paths and are very, very abusive. (I've learnt every swear word in the book now!)
12. It's not a hassle to go to Switzerland for 3 hours. (This applies to the east of the country)
13. Smokers areas at school.
14. La bise.
15. There are no rules on which cheek to kiss first when you faire la bise, they just know, so things can get awkward if you're not French.
16. Some regions do 2 bises, some 3 and some 4. The Genevois (People who come from Geneva) give 3.
17. Dubbed TV and movies. I CAN UNDERSTAND THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE SOUNDTRACK. PLEASE DO NOT ANNOY ME WITH FRENCH I CAN BARELY UNDERSTAND.
18. It's not weird to have two boulangeries in one little street.
19. There are banks absolutely EVERYWHERE. 
20. The are, on the contrary, barely any public toilets, and you usually have to pay to use them anyway.
21. Not many "shopping malls," as such.
22. The teachers here swear even more than Mrs O'Connell. Yes, you read right.
23. The French hate it if you don't speak in French to them, but if you do and they detect an accent, they change to their SHOCKING English.
24. Bon appétit is ALWAYS said before a meal.
25. You sit at the table until everyone has finished. 
26. They formalise the after-school snack by calling it a "goûter" and preparing it the day before/morning of.
27. Bread. Partout.
28. Horrible, horrible French music.
29. French people not knowing the lyrics to the English songs they play, so they "sing" the instruments.
30. Street-side dining at cafés.
31. Everyone writes in really nice cursive writing, so much so that it's illegible. (If that makes sense?)
32. Families only go out to dinner for special occasions. 
33. Cheese. Partout.
34. Everybody hates the Parisian tourists. 
35. People judge others by the département that they come from/live in. (Found as a two digit number on number plates.)
36. The French are never on time.
37. I've counted 6 obese people since I've been here. SIX. That's easily done in a lunchtime at school in Australia.
38. Unisex toilets.
39. Swearing is less offensive if it's in English, apparently.
40. Things actually aren't overly expensive. Junk food is cheaper than in Australia. Not good.
41. If you ask for a coffee, you'll get a short black. It's hard to find a coffee that isn't half the size of a normal coffee in Australia.
42. It's weird to drink coffee with milk after breakfast time.
43. Sport sport sport and more sport.
44. They don't actually all dress really well.
45. Teenagers can't write a sentence without abbreviating a word to something you can't understand.
46. You can leave school whenever you don't have class.
47. "Bonjour" and "Au revoir" are always said when entering and exiting a shop.
48. There are too many ways to say goodbye.
49. They use words from different languages to say goodbye. Like "ciao" and "tschüss"
50. "If you drive for more than 3 hours to get there, you have to stay for the weekend" is a rule of thumb for the Frenchies.
51. They don't keep their word a lot of the time.
52. Family is extremely important.
53. It's weird to do homework after dinner.
54. Ice cream stores have the most insane array of flavours. 
55. Nivea products are branded "Lobello."
56. Most subjects that kids do at school are obligatory, they get very little choice.
57. Salt is eaten with everything.
58. "It's 18 degrees, let's all wear shorts and t-shirts and act like we're melting !"
59. French singing/talent shows have really bad talent.
60. They eat so much and so quickly! 

And yeah, I'm not going to go overboard. 

I'll write a proper post soon. I hope.

Salut !

Catching up!

Hellooooo!

I kind of forgot I had a blog, so I haven't posted in almost three weeks... Sorry about that..

I haven't really done much since my last post anyway, so I would have had nothing to write..

My last post was the last day of holidays, and the next day was the LONGEST day in my life. I only had 3 hours of class in the morning, but man, it was such an effort.. 2 hours of French on a Monday morning after a big weekend is not ideal. In the afternoon I just slept and skyped. Tranquille. On wednesday I did an Economics test at school... Complete failure. I think I got a 5/20, while the others in the class got 12s and 15s/20... Thursday afternoon I caught up with my friend Marion, we just sat and talked in the park then went to a café. Friday afternoon was really warm, so I went for a walk by myself because I was alone at home, and I ran into Ana, Lorena, Tristan, Paolo and Elise so they whisked me off with them and we spent a nice afternoon together talking. Then Saturday. Carnaval. Wow. It was so much fun. Annecy's carnaval has a Venetian theme..

Last week was, again, pretty quiet. I had an English test. Got 16/20. Trop fort... On Wednesday after school (I finish at midday) I went to Chambéry for a French lesson for us Rotary Youth Exchange students at a woman's house. I met up with Amy and Monica at the station in Chambéry and then we went to get some lunch at a cool little café in the centre of the city. After a little walk we headed to the teacher's house and had a one and a half hour lesson. It was pretty easy, things that I had already done at school, so I'm not sure if I'll keep going... I hung out with Marion on Thursday afternoon again, and on Friday afternoon Magdalena and I went out for THAI for lunch! I have missed thai so so much. The only real asian food they have here is sushi, which I'm not a massive fan of, so I have missed Thai and Indian food a lot! We were supposed to wait for Elise (American) but she caught the wrong bus and had to be back at school early anyway, so Magda and I just went by ourselves. Aaaaaand it was rather disappointing.. A tiny little bowl, with a tiny basket of sticky rice cost me 13 euro. In Australia you could get a lifetime supply of sticky rice plus enough of your dish to have the leftovers for lunch the next day for that price. And it wasn't spicy at all, but rather really garlic-y, cause you know, the french love their garlic... Weak. Then on Saturday I went to the park with Marion again and we played cards, and we laughed for almost two hours straight. I could feel some abs coming through afterwards. But it was such a nice day. The sun was out, people were everywhere, everyone was happy. Perfect. Last Sunday I met with Thérèse, the mum of Noémie, the French girl in my district in Australia, and Geny (Mexican) and Emilia (Ecuadorian), two other exchange students from Pontcharra. We went to a little restaurant for lunch and had Tartiflette. Like scallop potatoes, but 10 times better. Really. Afterwards we got some ice cream from the best Glacier in Annecy (they have Nutella ice cream - the best based solely on this) although the French tend not to give you very big scoops at all, so I downed that rather quickly. After walking around Annecy for a bit, by the lake, in the old town etc. we went for Coffee in a bar/café just below my house, but the rugby was about to start, so it was absolutely packed full of crazy French supporters, thus we left quite quickly...

This week has been very uneventful so far. On Wednesday afternoon I went and sat by the lake in the sun with Lorena, Ana and Tristan for a little bit, then I went to the post office to collect a parcel from home! I was like a little kid on Christmas day on my way home. A massive grin from ear to ear, knowing that I had Milo inside the box! Needless to say, as soon as I got home I cracked open the tin of Milo and attacked its contents with a very large spoon. Heaven. Yesterday was also a very good day; I had two hours of class and then went for a picnic in the park (yes, I spend a lot of time there, okay?). I bought a baguette, 1.5 litres of iced tea, a packet of ham and some cheese and it only cost me 5 dollars. I was a very happy boy. PLUS I brought some vegemite to give to Daniel, Elise and Jessica. And they actually don't mind it! Even though Daniel said it tastes like garlic bread (?)... We then went for a walk to get a drink, then to Monoprix to get Ben and Jerry's and Tim Tams and just sat in the Jardin d'Europe for an hour while we ate it all.. Gooooood afternoon, I say! And then last night I went to a Rotary meeting, which was long, like usual, but still really enjoyable. I sat next to a man who used to work for the United Nations, doing exactly what I want to do in the future, so it was really cool to talk to him all about his time at the UN. He also helped design the bobsled run for the Albertville Winter Olympic Games. It made me feel really good that I could have an intelligent conversation in French, too! To my right was a man who was recently in Sydney, so we had a chat about Australia, and one seat further to my right was a man whose little company here in Annecy were commissioned to design and build the canoeing facility for the Sydney Olympics Games. So the conversations around the dinner table were very interesting! All this for a rotary club of 30 members..

Today, I just had one hour of school (compared to the usual two) so I got a sleep in, then my host brother made us lunch and then I Skyped with a friend. Tomorrow I'm off to Lyon with Amy and Ellie, then on Sunday I'm going to an Auto Show in Geneva with my host family. Fully booked weekend for the first time in a long time! Hopefully I'll be able to write again soon.. Sorry for no pictures either, I just want to get this post done and out of the way!

A la prochaine !