The Wasp :: La Guêpe

I wasn't in the habit of sitting down at a table for a family dinner.  Before France, I used to just grab some bread and make a sandwich, which I would eat mindlessly in front of the television.

Here?  Oh no, silly Americans, we EAT in France!  Legit, I read an article (since I now have the time to do that) about how French people are eating more unhealthily than Americans.  

The first one literally says we eat too much cheese

With my host family, I am required to sit down (and TALK) with other people and stuff myself with French food.  I don't know how much longer I can last.  My poor brain is over-whelmed by the fact that I have to eat properly, talk without my mouth full, and hold my knife and fork properly.  Oh, and the whole thing about everything being in another language and all.  No big deal.

just tried walking and talking and chewing gum at the same time

Seriously though, I eat more here than I did in the USA.  That's kind of a problem considering I just bought my first pair skinny jeans.  FRENCH skinny jeans.

This is where I shall rant about being vertically challenged.  In France, or at least the store I bought the leg suffocating contraptions, jean lengths are all LONG.  The jeans are to my legs like crumpled straw wrappers are to straws.

leg of a stick person putting on white skinny jeans

So now I walk around looking like I took the pants from a tall person.  Which I essentially did, because I'm sure some model-esque French fashionista would've bought the jeans if I hadn't, since, you know, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME §%*€ LENGTH.

Fret not, fellow Americans, the waist size changes.  If not, I'd have to have my parents ship me a bunch of jeans to prepare for the effect of all the baguettes.  Seriously, my host family bought four baguettes today.  You know where all that goes??

Spongebob knows

Anyways, just to reassure my parents, I don't just eat French bread.  I'm not sure if I'm healthier here or not, considering that while I'm not eating Pizza Hut every other week, my host family has no problem at all with butter.  

They use it every day.  Now, all the propaganda from health class (and my friend in high school who constantly bombards me with calorie numbers) has me meticulously slicing out a tiny portion of butter.  See?  I'm going to eat butter, but I'm going to do so responsibly.

I don't really notice the different mindset of my family until I sit down and eat with them.  A couple of days ago, we were eating outside (another thing that's different, we eat outside a lot) in the garden, and a wasp came buzzing around.

Now, none of us freaked out or anything (except maybe my host sister, but she's seven), so my HSHB quite systematically destroyed it.  Yes, the word was destroyed.  I can't even handle giving a descriptive play-by-play of the process, but I will tell you what was used.  A fork, some mayonnaise, a butter knife, then a paring knife. Okay, it's not long, but it's more than a rolled up magazine, which is all I need to get rid of a fly.

I was like, alright, okay, kill the wasp, fine, it's just a bug.  Then they told me about my HSHB and a mouse he met at lunch.

it'd be more merciful

I'm slightly afraid that everyone reading this will think that my HSHB is a psychopath now.  Actually, I think that everyone's going to think that my host family's totally out of whack since I don't really describe it when they're normal.

Today, my host family ate BREAKFAST!!! So exciting!! I've NEVER seen people do that before!!

Or if I tried to do it like this:

Oh, so people in France eat breakfast.  Yeah they're not that different from us.  Let the world all realize we're similar and hug each other.

What you were supposed to get from that was yes, my host family does eat breakfast.

Anyways, after seeing my reaction to the wasp, my host family joked about all the other nasty food I already braved through, such as "le camembert".
First night I got to this house (of delicious and terrifying dinners), they offered me this tiny bit of cheese.

the venus fly trap to us flies

Looks good, doesn't it?  Now see, it's hard to understand the horror of the camembert until you smell it.  My HSHB warned me, but I foolishly ignored him.  I probably should have caught on when everyone was wearing eager smiles of encouragement.

So when they offered to let me smell it, I accepted.  Ah well, since you've read this far, I'll warn you.  It smells like the crap of a garbage rat that's been rotting for ten years in a sewer.

I'm not exaggerating.  The problem is, is that it looks so similar to other, perfectly nose-compatible cheeses, like Brie, that you could accidentally pick it up at the supermarket if you are one of those people that doesn't read cheese labels.

Don't be one of those people that doesn't read cheese labels.  AVOID LE CAMEMBERT (unless, of course, you intend to sic it on others.  Then go ahead and plug your nose and do that).

I kid, it's not so bad (if you don't breathe at all while eating it).  It's creamy and soft.  My host father often laughs that, if you can survive the camembert, you'll be able to eat anything.

Maybe my tastes buds won't be suicidal then when I leave all the French food.  I just have to eat camembert before I leave France.

The Calculator :: La Calculatrice

One day, after school, my HSHB whipped out a brand new calculator he bought, still in it's packaging.  I left the room for something (can't remember) and returned to him cutting the calculator out with a knife.  

Me: "Are there no scissors??"  For those of you that were about to gloat that France is so primitive to only use knives, I found some scissors in my host sister's play room later.

(not) France (today)

Lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) for me, he's been to Canada for several summers and can speak English very well, despite his French accent "it's great for the Canadian girls."  Whatever, I'm glad I don't have to play charades with him like everyone else.  

Besides, his accent is hilarious.  Though I recently found out that I have an American accent.  Of course, I wasn't expecting to have flawless pronunciation when I got here, but my HSHB can't even tell me how I'm saying words differently.  "You just sound American."

Anyways, I investigated the French packaging of the calculator, and then later, the calculator.

Me: "OH MY GOD THE CALCULATOR'S IN FRENCH!"

Him: "YEAH BECAUSE WE'RE IN FRANCE!"

Excuse me for being enchanted at the French calculator buttons.

He got a Texas Instrument TI-80-something-less-than-84 calculator.  I showed him how to use it, I guess it was his first graphing calculator, but after awhile I got bored and started looking for the games on his calculator.  I told him he'd figure out how to use it whenever he had nothing to do in math class.

The games weren't there (I mean, aren't there).  So I showed him my calculator,

my only American friend here

as well as the games.  Saved him during the second level of Block Dude.  No excuse for him, that game is not in English!

I was (mildly) disappointed that there wasn't some exotic French calculator that everyone used.  Actually, in my math class, I didn't really see that many calculators, though that might've been because I was trying to follow the French math words...and doodling in my notebook.  Just a little bit like what I would do in the States.

I don't understand the math educational system in France.  In America, math is taught in subjects, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus A, B, C, and Multivariable.  Here, I have no idea what is going on.  My HSHB is studying the trigonometric circle, but he's a grade below me and my class is currently studying factorization.

I don't think he's in a more or less advanced class than me.  The system in general confuses me.  Then again, everything confuses me here.  Like their pronunciation of math theorems I know by heart.  You know Pythagorean's theorem?

apologies for subjecting you to math on your computer sanctuary

Of course.  I do too.  For a moment, my family thought I didn't know what it was though because I didn't understand PEE-TAH-GOR (pythagore).  See, the writing (in parentheses) looks similar enough.  Then you hear pi as PEE and plus as PLOOS.  Imagine me in math class.

When my teacher ...
says :AH EX OHH CAR-AY PLOOS BAY EX PLOOS SAY
I am an idiot.
writes : ax^2 + bx + c
Waiting for the rest of the class to finish.

It's like that for each class.  Hearing the French, it's really hard.  It's only when you read the language when you see the similarities.

Except for symbolic languages.  You will see no similarities when you read Chinese words.

I can totally see how that is LOVE

The Alien :: L'Extra-Terrestre

I forgot to mention this, but my host sister made a little welcoming sign for me for my bedroom door with my name on it.  It's the sweetest thing ever, and I noticed that it was stuck on the door with a grey, play-doh like substance, called...well, I'm not sure what the American name for it would be, but it's called "patafix" here.  I think the name in English is "blu tack."

think sticky marshmallows

I wasn't too worried about my first day of high school.  I've done it before, going to a completely new school without knowing anyone at all, having moved in the States before.  I imagine any senior on their first day of college understands the feeling.

It's a bit different though, when the teacher introduces you before the entire class.  It makes you stick out more.  Standing in front of all my classmates might've been my only moment of "CRAP I'M OBVIOUSLY NOT FRENCH."  

It passed quickly.  Two girls immediately explained to me the introductory forms that we had to fill out for the school, and afterwards, gave me a tour of the buildings.

The high school here is completely different.  It's bigger, for one thing.  There's two buildings, each about four stories tall.  The cafeteria is on the side of one of the buildings, and the gymnasium is on the other side.  It's probably three times the size of my high school back in the States.  

Like this, but a bajillion times bigger

Each day I meet new people that are just as welcoming.  I stick out, you know, not speaking French and all.  I suppose though, that it's not too different from my first day at a new high school.  You meet new people, learn their names, walk through the school, eat the food.

The cafeteria's spectacular, certainly better than my cafeteria food in the States.  I was gloating to my friends about how I got chocolate covered cookies, but I neglected to mention the delicious coconut pie or the steak.  I actually eat all of my lunch here.

I mean, my host mother's cooking is > French cafeteria food which is (way way way)> American cafeteria food.  Eating my host mother's cooking is like eating at a five star restaurant everyday.  In comparison, my taste buds might deliberately kill themselves when I get back to my American cafeteria.

American cafeteria food = what the brown thing looks like

I was pretty lost my first day at the cafeteria, but thankfully, my friends introduced me to another American who explained everything way more clearly.  I felt like a dehydrated person being given water, I COULD SPEAK IN ENGLISH AGAIN!  It's kinda like writing with your left hand when you're right handed.  You're okay writing with your left hand, but after a while, it's such a relief to be able to write with your right hand again.

Speaking of, handwriting is so much more of a scrawl here.  My teachers make me want to run up to the board and plead that they write it in print.  Everyone writes in cursive here, except this American.

Just to help you understand the optical torture I go through every day, I've given (oh so helpfully) an example sentence here.  What I read: "Qetinse eL telluskution de lu lanque franc2aise."

I'm supposed to interpret that into: "Defense et illustration de la langue française."  My teachers in America also had messy handwriting, but at least it was in print and English!

I'm such a leech here.  Since I barely scrape the iceberg that is the (entire) lecture in French, I ask my friends for help.  Reading my friends' notes is also pretty difficult though.  It's not that they have messy handwriting or papers, far from it.  All their notes would look textbook, if it weren't on French paper (which is different, by the way) and in fancy, pretty curlicue writing.

ME:Cursive Rough Script FRIENDS:Calligraphic TEACHERS:Grunge Script

I bet it's because messy handwriting is cultivated during university when no one cares about organizing their notes meticulously.  Every adult I've met so far has terrible handwriting.  Well, my handwriting is utter chicken scratch already.  I dread reading my college notes 30 years from now!

The Key Hook :: La Porte-Clé

My high school has really strange hours here.  When I left the States, my high school had a pretty straight forward schedule.  Every day, go to school for seven hours for four classes.  Three more hours afterwards if one is on a sports team with the high school.  On A days, you have classes 1357, on B days, you have classes 2467.  Simple, easy to remember.

My schedule in France?  
MON: 8h - 12h 1234
TUE: 9h - 16h  354
WED: 8h - 12h 61
THU: 8h - 18h  3235
FRI: 8h - 15h   7251

French people are more active than the average American

I prefer the French/Military time way more than AM/PM.  While it saves just that little bit of space when writing (9h10 vs 9:10 AM), it also helps during those confusing times of noon and midnight.  I'm never sure and it's always hard to remember if noon is 12:00 AM or 12:00 PM.  

Anyways, you can see that my schedule in France ends isn't exactly consistent.  My host family's schedule is likewise random.  At the moment, I'm not sure who's home at what day to open the door for me when I return.

My host mother is prepared for everything, though I suppose she'd been through it all before with her two sons, even if they're both younger than me.  So, she gave me a key for the house.  

I thought it merited a post because it looks different.  I got so excited, I thought it was a special type of key ring made only in France.  Nope, it's made by an ________(I think American since I had the time to do some research) company called Fred and Friends.

Japanese glowing fish look more American than that

I probably should've figured it out when my friends had "normal" key rings.  The one's I'm used to, a metal circle that you have to put your key on, maybe a cute little charm as well.  Here, some people put it onto their ID cards.

The ID cards here are so fancy.  You don't get your picture put on them (like at my high school in the States), but they give you access to the cafeteria.  There's a barrier that is only opened with the magnetic card.  They put the cards in a plastic case that has a hole near the side, perfect for key rings.

I feel like I'm opening my eyes.  I'm discovering American things in France (and French things in France, of course)!  I'm also discovering that things I thought were American are French.

Such as the saying, "Eat to live, not live to eat"...and variations.  I mentioned it to my host mother, describing it as a saying in America.  She described it as a saying from a French philosopher.  Well, I googled it (despite my decreasing faith in the Internet) and I have found four people that have said variations of the same quote.

"Eat to live, and not live to eat." - Benjamin Franklin
'Poor Richard's Almanac'

"We must eat to live and live to eat." - Henry Fielding

"According to the saying of an ancient philosopher, one should eat to live, and not live to eat." - Moliere, 'L'Avare'

"Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat." - Socrates

Who still has faith in the Internet?  I can see why all my teachers hate Wikipedia.  It's better than Google for explaining societal things...like la bise.

DON'T TRUST THAT PUPPY

Well, that quote was a terrible example seeing as how it comes from five different people from five different countries.  However, my family introduced me to the TV show, "Homeland", which is on television here.  I hadn't heard of the series before I came to France.

I thought it was a French series first, mainly because there's a sex scene and I thought those were not allowed in American TV shows.  I feel like such a prude here!  First night when I got here, my host family was watching a French movie, La Guerre est Declarée, and (I'm sure it's a good film if you can understand it) there was a naked scene in it.  "Is it over yet??"  You'd think I was watching the Black Swan or something.

Whereas my host family are all staring at the screen with blank looks on their face.  My host brothers were there too, and they're both younger than I am!  They're not old enough to watch gory movies like Ironclad because but sex scenes in movies, pffft totally fine.  

I'll take my hand off when the sex scene starts

The Ironic Hydra :: L'Hydre Ironique

A week ago, I sauntered into my history class, fully prepared to understand NOTHING, as usual, so eager was I to learn perhaps some obscure French history secrets that were forbidden to be shared outside the country.

And then I found out.  We weren't going to be learning about French kings, nor revolutions, nor about the Gauls nor Druids.  I wouldn't learn in the class about the veritable existence of Astérix and Obélix.

French cartoon characters might've been in my textbook

Nope, I get tune out the glorious description of the 18th and 19th century one more time, except this time, it's in French.  Didn't I already take this class?  Didn't I already pass the AP World History test??

It's slightly better in French though (only slightly) because I'm less of a burden on my friends since I can understand most of the paragraphs in the textbook.  English and French become more and more similar as the words get bigger.  Words like socialism or democracy are practically the same thing in both languages.  

Words like eye are totally different, and my science class is filled with smaller words like that.  I detest science here, only because I can't understand my favorite subject.  It's not like not understanding French or Literature class.  My incomprehension of those two classes is reasonable, French class here is like English class in the states, full of literature with archaic words. But science?  How is it different than History in terminology?  I'm shocked that I can't go through science as easily as...history.  After this year, I'm burning off all my history notes.

He's smiling because he didn't have to learn history

Funnily enough, my least favorite class isn't Science but English, but only because here, it's taught as a foreign language.  That's the problem for me, English isn't a foreign language.  It's like teaching a French lady how to say table in French.  She already knows.

Her students majored in math for 15 years

I can't complain too much, it's my one chance to help my friends with their English.  I'm so glad my friends are so much more patient and understanding than I am.  They've had to explain words to me with roundabout ways, and everyday in all my classes.  I only do it for three hours a week.

Thing is, they' re learning all the grammar rules that very few people in America care about.  <--such as ending sentences with prepositions.  There was an idiom in class: "On the one hand ... on the other hand."  I've always thought there was no "the" in the first part.  I googled it, both seem acceptable, but I guess the "the" version is more proper.  I'll come back to the USA with better French English.  

English isn't my only class in English though, I've got a Foreign Lit class.  It's easier for me, but my Foreign Lit class is in English.  If we did have a Foreign Lit class in the States, I'd still want the books to be translated pieces and for the class to be in my language.

Class, today we're going to read the original. *groans*

The French Stereotypes :: Les Stéréotypes Français

I'm sure you already know about French stereotypes. They all wear berets, eat baguettes and snails, drink wine, have mustaches, smoke, and wear striped shirts.

even the snail is appalled at the missing fashion swag

The stereotype about the baguettes is true.  Bread is very important here.  Enough to start a revolution when Marie Antoinette told everyone to eat cake instead.

By the way, my host mother says that the French are proud of that story.  She says that the short version is a much simpler version of what actually happened, but the French like it because it represents the grand history of their country.  They're not so fond of Marie Antoinette though.

L'Austrichienne, with emphasis on the chienne

Bread is eaten with every meal, as far as I can tell.  Breakfast?  I tore off a piece of a baguette and slathered some jam on it this morning.  Lunch?  They serve us mini-baguettes with our meal.  Dinner?  Tear off more of the baguette and eat it with the salad, entrée, and cheese (another true stereotype, I miscounted).

They have so many bakeries!  Well, in France, they have a lot of specialized stores.  Walking down a street in France is like walking through a mall in America, except outdoors.  Bakeries are really common, and there's almost always someone in one buying some bread.  

Maybe it's just me, but I was surprised to find out that, unless it's a sandwich, people here don't just bite down on their bread.  They tear a piece off in their hands and then eat it.  Thinking back on it, I understand why it's impolite, it's slightly primitive.  You wouldn't get banished from society if you did it, but it seems slightly less clean.  I guess it didn't really hit me before because I didn't eat a lot of bread in America.  Here?  The carb diet would never become a fad.  

As for the berets.  I haven't seen anyone wear them.  I think they're more common in America, especially during winter.  And by berets in America, I mean the chunky knit caps. 

America = hipster seen here.  France = girl seen here

I don't smoke cigarettes, but I might come back with lung cancer anyways due to all the secondhand smoke here.  My host family doesn't smoke, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they did after seeing all the people that do smoke.  

At school in America, at least in my county, I wouldn't know anyone that smokes.  Maybe there are teenagers who smoke, but they're discrete about it, or only their friends know.  In France?  Every break, before school, after school, during lunch, the smokers go out front (since it's forbidden in the high school) to light up a cigarette.  It's a huge crowd, still the minority, but probably big enough to fill the gymnasium here.  

Everyone's friends with someone who smokes.  It's not a secret.  Sure it's illegal, but pfffft.  I guess it's like an accessory or perfume in that it's fashionable.  Cute cigarette lighters are everywhere.  Here, the smokers aren't the shady group behind the school.  I know already some girls who smoke and they're really sweet and help me during the day.

Yellow teeth, the latest trend

You wouldn't stop being friends with someone if they started to smoke or smoked here.  I die a tiny bit inside whenever I find out one of my new friends smokes (literally and figuratively), but I'm not about to shun someone because of it.

So, the wine stereotype?  When I got here, I was like, oh there's no wine bottles anywhere.  Then yesterday happened and BAM 200 WINE BOTTLES.

They have this like secret cave beneath their house instead of a basement and in it are just shelves filled with wine bottles.  My host dad nonchalantly said, "Oh, actually, it might be closer to 300 bottles."  Pfft, yeah, another hundred bottles, no big deal, SAID NO ONE EVER.

I felt like Batman for a moment, next to all the 50-year old wines.  Then they told me that my HSHB's grandpa has three thousand bottles.  Just for kicks.

I haven't eaten any snails here, but I might in the future.  My host mother doesn't like snails, but she says I will probably try them later this year.  I ain't even gonna lie, guess what my host mother put out for her last dinner party.

it wasn't for eating

Apparently snails are traditional around Christmas time, same as oysters and foie gras.  My host parents told me foie gras is banned in several countries because it's so cruel to the animals.  I don't have the stomach to describe the process or to search for pictures on the internet because I know PETA will have put up really graphic ones.  Basically, ducks and geese are force fed fatty corn to get fatty livers.  So, "Foie gras is terrible.  But it's good."

The Shower :: La Douche

I know, my classmates giggled at the name for the shower too. There's an elegant name for bath of course, baignoire, but not for a shower.

My mother was really worried about my trip to France.  She'd tell me crime rates, or send me e-mails  horror stories about France.  One of her concerns? "What if they aren't any showers in France??"

To which I'd always reply that France was a modern country and that of course there were showers.  I think she envisioned France as an abandoned island with cannibals and monsters.  

Might've been looking at this map

I told her that it was just like America, except everyone spoke a different language.  Of course, France and America are not the same country.  They're not such drastic polar opposites, though, that I have to change everything.  The sun always comes up anywhere in the world.

French people

Actually, the shower here is pretty nice.  I was so relieved, because I think what my mom said started stewing in my head subconsciously.  Nope, the showers here are just like the ones in the States.  The water gets warm really quickly, which is a super big benefit.  I'm talking like instantaneously, as opposed to my shower back at home that takes like (oh no) half a minute to get warm <-- the horror!

My HSHB (high school host brother) got so indignant when I told him what my mom said.  "What?? Americans think we don't have showers?  Letsee, we've got one... two.... three... four showers!  Oh, no, one shower, and three bathtubs."

Oh, that's right.  They count differently here.  In America, when we count, we start with our index finger and end with our thumb.  I suppose that's a bit weird, if you think about it too much, because you do the four fingers, and then the thumb.

France's counting system is so much more logical.  Start with thumb, end with pinky.  Go down the hand.  Now in theory, that works.  I tried it; when trying to count four, five (the pinky) kinda starts to rise.  So you've got your thumb, index, and middle straight, ring at a 45° angle, and pinky at a 90° angle.

Actually, the most logical system I can think of would be to start with the pinky.  It's the most comfortable and still progresses logically.  When I was younger, someone told me that raising just the pinky was offensive to Chinese people?  I didn't think it was true, but I wouldn't want to accidentally offend anyone = that one foreigner that doesn't know any of the customs.

I know that I'm that foreigner here, but I attempt to hide it.  I haven't had my tourist day yet.  I need just one day week where I can go nuts with a camera to get it out of my system.  Also because I can't find any pictures of what I want to describe on Google.

Guy = Me  Girl = Condescending Paris

I should mark it on the calendar so I can warn my host family.  THIS IS THE ONE WEEK WHEN I'M GOING TO TAKE PICTURES OF YOU EATING AND USING THE MINUTERIE.  

The Textbooks :: Les Manuels

The first thing I noticed when I went to school on the first day was that I was one of the only girls to have a backpack.  Very few people have backpacks, most girls, 99.9% of the girls, have leather bags the size of a tote bag...or a large purse.

I was so confused.  How can they carry everything?  Textbooks, binders, folders, notebooks?  Usually my textbooks end up being over a foot tall if I stack them on top of each other, and that's not including SAT prep books or Barron's AP books or random pieces of literature for English.

Add another foot

Well, here in France, or at least my school, all but one of the text books are half an inch thick.  The one exception is one inch thick.  Oh, by the way, none of them are hardback either.  They're that awkward, in between type of book where the outer covers are just a little bigger and laminated.  If I stack my books up? Slightly above half a foot, and that's by my estimation since THERE ARE NO RULERS HERE.

The textbooks look so modern too.  They're very pretty, bright colors, smooth pages, decently sized font that doesn't require magnifying lenses.  My only problem with them is that they're in French (and therefore, incomprehensible to me), but even that problem is diminishing...slowly.

They don't have book covers here like the ones I had in the States.  I haven't seen anyone use the stretchy, colored fabric book covers.  Instead, they take sheets of clear plastic and tape them to the books to coat the front and back.  Pretty much what we do with paper bags.

The French are too classy to re-use paper bags

Right, so my backpack?  Super practical in AMERICA since I can shove everything in there.  Here?  All I brought to school today (well today I had gym, so that's probably not a good example) was a pair of sneakers and a change of clothes.  They don't have lockers for gym here.  They have multiple changing rooms, as in empty rooms half the size of a typical classroom, with benches lining the walls and nothing else.  

Anyways, sneakers, t-shirt, and shorts in my mammoth of a backpack isn't practical.  Most days, I bring my pocket-sized-but-wouldn't-actually-fit-in-a-pocket English-French dictionary (which is surprisingly useful, I suggest getting one if ever going abroad), a pencil case, a notebook, and my textbooks for the day, which, remember, are tiny.  I look like I have a turtle shell for something that only takes up half of a pocket.

packed my home in that for the airplane

I thought that I may as well get a nice, leather bag then, since it'd be more practical.  So I mentioned it to my friends and we went to the city to look at some bags in the store.

First bag I saw: €34,59! You're not tricking me, I know you're actually €35!  I thought that was expensive, until I remembered that I got my backpack for way more.  Still though, if you google tote bag you can find one online for like €6,00 (oh, that's right.  They use commas for decimal points here.  Just another way the American system screws us over).  

Well, I ditched the leather bag idea and instead bought (my first!) macaroon.  I understand the fad behind them, they're delicious!  From what I understand, it's a rich, delicious cream/ganache sandwiched by two soft, chewy cookies with a slightly hard shell.  I got one that wasn't glacée (chilled, from what I gathered), but I imagine that the glacée macaroons would be similar to an ice cream sandwich.

Originated from Italy->source: my comprehension of Wikipedia in French 

I asked my friends why they're so famous, being similar (but better) to the cupcake popularity in the States.  Apparently, it takes a lot of technique and a special oven to make good macaroons...challenge accepted.

The Gifts :: Les Cadeux

This is for all the other students that want to go abroad.  It's never a bad idea to give someone a good gift.  I got my host family gifts from America, to show them a little bit of the U.S.A and also because one should always show his or her appreciation to their host family.  

I spent a really long time thinking over my gifts, a ridiculously long amount of time.  Now that I think about it, there are two types of gifts you can get for your host family.

The first type?  NATIONALISTIC PRIDE.  

Good luck getting fireworks past security

Got something from my country, my state, my city!    I found some saltwater taffy from my state and gave it to the whole family.  I got my host father a tape measure with inches (silly America and it's screwed up measurement system.  I can't make cookies here since there are no cups!) and he loved it!  I gave it to him at an opportune moment; he was building a staircase for the garden out back and was using a ruler, so I went and grabbed my gift from my suitcase for him.  I made sure that the tape measure I got him also had centimeters on it, so he could still use the metric system.

After all, they chose (or at least my host family chose me) you, so they're curious about your country and culture.  I've mentioned so many differences here, to my host family and friends, and they always want to know more.

Second gift idea: TYPICAL GIFT.  Straightforward, simple, easy.  Got a host brother?  I pretended I was getting a gift for a guy friend.  The host brother's two years younger?  I pretended I was getting a gift for a younger friend.  I didn't have a guy friend that age?  Ask someone who does. 

I got my seven year old host sister a teddy bear.  Lucky for me, she loves teddy bears, has a bunch of them lining her bed.  The teddy bear I gave her is ...microwavable?  Apparently you can pop a little pad from it's tummy into the microwave to heat it up for the cold winter. I suppose it's similar to a warm water bottle for a puppy.  I got it for my friend and (I think) she liked it.  I was running around stores the day I got gifts and I saw the teddy bear again and it was like BINGO!  Seemed like an American brand, "these are the special teddy bears we have in America, we take the stuffing out and heat it for warmth."  Except, my host sister tore off the tag with the microwave instructions, so I'm iffy about putting the pad into the French microwave.  

Admittedly, I had no idea what to get my host mother.  I searched online "gift ideas for mothers'  day" and I read on many websites, "get your mom a dish cloth" "get her a nice bar of soap" "give your mother cake mix, not from a supermarket but from a specialized bakery."  Now, those are all pretty good ideas.  I thought though, that I didn't want to get her a dish cloth since I didn't know whether or not she would like the design on it.  For example, what if I got her a blue dish cloth and she hates blue??

Now see, I stressed about little things like the color.  At that point, my dad stepped in and I took the easy way out by accepting the Chinese silk scarves he told me to give to her.  That's another thing I forgot to mention.  I "cheated," but it still counts.  I went back to my heritage = good conversation starter.  I suppose that if I lived in a German influenced city, I could've gotten my host family something German.

My gifts for my host brothers, on the other, third hand, were a mix of the two categories.  I found them some hats.  OOOOH HOW EXCITING!  I know, right?  Shush you, they loved it.  These were my gag gifts since my host brothers are teenagers, but they're not too bad.  I got my high school host brother, well, this:

Made it look fashionable with his French swag

I thought that I'd give that to my guy friend, as a joke.  I rationalized that if I found out that my host brother really hated Superman, I'd keep it.  I gave it to him after watching Batman with him (since I figured that clearly he does not hate superheroes).

I got my younger host brother an Angry Birds hat, since my host family mentioned vaguely in an e-mail that they had an iPod base.  See? Noting tiny details helps.  My host family has a surprisingly large amount of Apple products.  Two iPads, a Mac Pro, several iTouches...Apple products would be a good idea, if you can afford it.

oh, but what color???

I also got my host family peanut butter.  "What???" Shush you, I read on multiple pages on the internet that they don't have any peanut butter in France.  

Ha! That's not true.  They must have been using each of the other pages as a source.  I sheepishly offered my host family the jar of peanut butter after I spotted the peanut butter in their pantry, "this represents American ignorance" (and it was then I realized that the internet was not infallible).

Well, actually, they liked my peanut butter more than the peanut butter they already had.  Lucky for me.  My host brother offered it to his friends for them to try whenever they come over to the house.  Or maybe they're mocking it in French by using tiny words I don't understand.

I suppose I'll throw a lifejacket.  I'll put up a list of all the things they don't have in France (ohoho good gift ideas, n'est-ce pas? <--I bet that isn't the right French phrase) and I'll add to it whenever someone points out to me that it doesn't exist in France...like pretzel M&Ms.

However, note that my experience is based on my host city.  Maybe there are pretzel M&Ms in Paris, or bigger cities.  

GIFT IDEAS FOR USA->FRANCE STUDENTS ABROAD

• a nice football, or a little stress squishy football you can toss around with your family
• I <3 NY shirts, or parodies
• pretzel M&Ms, or regular M&Ms.  They have practically the same thing here, except it's called Smarties.  My friends only know about peanut M&Ms, though I later found out that my HSHB knows about the regular M&Ms and the pretzel M&Ms
• American measurement systems
• pounds
• measuring cups - can make them cookies (I can't)
• rulers with the metric system and inches
• Fahrenheit and Celsius thermometers
• Abercrombie and Fitch things - apparently there's only one, really expensive A&F store in Paris
• Things with Marvel Comics

Actually, I guess these things wouldn't suffice for gifts, at least not on their own, maybe in combinations.  If anything, I guess it's a list of things that you could show your French host family.  If you think of any gift ideas, do tell!