Holidays in France

I thought that Christmas was pretty much the same all over the world. You buy a christmas tree, you give some presents, you put up with your family for a couple of days and then you pack all the tinsel away and call it a year. However, the French have a way of adding a new spin to even the most commonplace of customs.

Take Halloween for instance. First of all, Halloween is really an american thing. The French dont really care about it. In fact, it’s on its way of being phased out. I did get a chance though to go to a bar that had a Halloween themed night. It was hilarious. I think almost every French person came to the bar wearing a cowboy costume. I felt really out of place in my scandalous devil costume. So, note to those who plan on going to France during Halloween: pack boots, a flannel shirt, and a cowboy hat if you want to fit in.

Then of course there’s Christmas. Given how secular France has become, it goes without saying that here, as in the US, it’s more about the presents than the whole religious aspect. It was nice though. We drank wine, we ate, we drank some more wine, and then some more. I also ate macarons for the first time. If you’ve never tried this form of patisserie, you have to, because they’re great. Like a little piece of heaven.

Also, during the x-mas season, they have a great market in the center of the town. All the big cities have them. The most famous one is in Strasbourg (not Paris, as I expected). They’re magnificent. They sell  tons of handmade objects that you could never get anywhere else. Needless to say, that’s where I did all my christmas shopping.

As far as New Year’s go, the French really do it up. In fact, I learned that New Year’s is more important than christmas (this ties back to the whole secular thingy). It’s great though, because the French get gifts at Christmas AND at New Year’s. That means that all these years, I’ve been jipped! Something that’s really interesting is that the french say Happy New Years (Bonne année) the whole month of january. I don’t think I’ve ever said it so many times in my life, and I’m not even halfway through the month of january. They also have this kind of cake that’s called King Cake. Inside is a little doll (called une fève). Whoever has the piece that contains the fève is the King (or Queen.) But don’t get excited. It’s not really a good thing. The person who is the King, has to buy another King Cake…so you don’t really want to find the fève. They eat King Cake throughout the month of january. Interesting, huh?

So that’s what it’s like to spend the holidays in a foreign country, something I recommend everyone do at least once. I’ve definitely experienced some traditions that I’d like to start doing with my family in the states.

That being said, happy holidays everyone!

Hello from France!

My mother and me in front of the Seine River.

This time last year, I had made up my mind that I was NOT going to go to France. The price, the distance, the whole different language thing…there was a lot of factors discouraging me. But as the year went on, I kept feeling antsy. I needed to get out of my hometown, Louisville, Ky. I wanted to be independent. I wanted to be tested. I wanted to go to France. So I surfed the net and found a program, World Endeavors, that worked both economically and logistically.

September 24, 2008, my plane landed in Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris. After over nine hours of traveling, I couldn’t believe that I was finally in France. This was my second time being in France (I had gone the summer before for a month). My parents came with me this time. We had six BIG bags between the three of us. You know how they say that european cars are smaller than american cars? Yeah, european cars are A MILLION TIMES smaller than american cars. It took us forever to find a cab that could hold all three of us and our mountain of baggages.

I stayed in Paris with my parents for three days. During those three days, we took being tourists to the max. My dad, god love him, had the entire trip planned out, hour by hour. We saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tour, ate sorbet and crêpes on the Champs Elysée, and took pictures in front of the Seine.

At night, we went to jazz clubs in the Latin Quarter. In the morning we bought pain au chocolat from the boulangerie on the corner. La belle vie!

Then, it was time to go to Angers, the city where I’m currently studying. Angers is about two and a half hours from Paris, so my dad decided to rent a car so we could enjoy the french countryside. BAD IDEA. Even though he had a reservation, it took him over three hours to get the car from the car rental place. (and there was only ten people in line in front of him!!) Then, the GPS didn’t work. So, as one could imagine, we had a good ol’ time trying to get out of Paris.

But it was back to good times when we finally got to Angers. There, I met the woman with who I live, Maryse Dujardin. Maryse, my family, and I went out to dinner that night. It was really funny because my parents don’t speak a word of french and Maryse didn’t speak a word of english. So I was the translator It was really great for my french. (Hats off to those who do that for a living!)

So, I’ve been here for about two months now and I’ve already had some interesting adventures… to be posted bientôt (soon)

Finally in Angers!