Here are some photos from my trip to Nice!
I love the laundry!
So, I am a bit frustrated with Blogspot (this website, a Google company) because it is telling me that I have filled my allotted space for pictures. I can purchase more space than I will ever need for only $5 but the page for the purchase options won’t load on my account. If this continues, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I might just post the link to them when I upload them in Facebook albums. You wouldn’t have to have a Facebook account to view the pictures with any link I post; it should just take you directly to the photos. For now, I uploaded as many pictures from Nice as I could and I’ll see what I can do after this weekend.
This week, I thought one of the girls in my class was asking me if I like Omaha, then realized she was trying to ask me if I like Obama. A few French people have now asked me this. France’s entire political spectrum is a bit more leftist than the United States, so it wouldn’t have surprised me if a larger percentage of French people supported him, but I don’t think the girl’s question was political. The students are curious if I like him not because of his political basis, but because of who he is as a person. And from what I’ve seen, the French really seem to like and respect him.
We saw the same thing to an even greater extent in Ireland. The Irish love President Obama. His picture is everywhere, from t-shirts to postcards to restaurants – especially, unsurprisingly, the photo of him drinking a Guinness.
Regardless of President Obama’s politics, I think that anyone would have to acknowledge that he is generally well-respected as a person. I think this is incredibly important. I have heard stories about how difficult it was for Americans to travel during the end of the Bush administration. Many people of other nations disliked President Bush, and this opinion was reflected in the way they treated visiting Americans. I have come to realize how lucky I am to travel under a well-diplomatically regarded president because fair for the citizen or not, the international opinion of a leader truly does reflect on the treatment of his or her traveling citizens. It's actually not a horrible time for Americans to travel, at least in this part of the world. I have heard differently about Australia, and obviously I can only imagine what the Middle East would be like.
For our second two classes, since the students are preparing to take their exams soon, the teacher had certain specific exercises planned. Part of their exam will require them to explain in English a picture given to them. Maria and I each took half of the students and guided them through analyzing the picture. Here was this week's photo:
It was really frustrating. Above this photo read "What makes a good society?" As an English speaker, I wasn't even sure how to explain the possibilities? Was the photo trying to make a connection between the chemicals and a good society, i.e. a good society uses environmentally safe chemicals? Was the photo trying to say something about a good society being an American society, because of the words on the bottle? Was the photo saying a good society is a clean American society? None of the possible explanations even seemed logical to me. But above all, it's especially difficult because these students have an extremely limited vocabulary except, for two or three. How are they supposed to analyze a difficult photo when many of them can't introduce themselves?
More and more tourists are appearing with the nice weather. I’ve heard that April is a big month for tourism (though August is by far the biggest, and I’m not sorry I’m going to miss it). The more I experience large crowds of tourists, the more annoyed I am. I have nothing against a tourist as a tourist – I am a tourist; I only have a vice against obnoxious tourists.
After being in another country for almost three months, I feel like I can understand to a certain extent the sentiments of the locals. Paris is a beautiful city. Obnoxious tourists are annoying. Not because they are simply visiting, but because of what they do when they visit. They are loud, self-entitled, impatient, and physically pushy. I’m embarrassed for my fellow tourists every time I see this. I’m not only speaking of Americans, either. People across all cultures, I’ve come to find, can be obnoxious tourists. I absolutely love traveling. I hope that having the experience of watching other people traveling in Paris has made me a wiser traveler because it has certainly made me consider my own actions more.
I think I’ve mentioned that one of the only cultural differences in France that has been difficult for me is how little water they drink. Even when you go to a restaurant, they only give you a little bit of tap water and do not come back frequently to refill it. I found out why Parisians don’t carry water bottles or drink much water. At least for women, apparently, it is considered crude to use the restroom in public, so to avoid this situation, they refrain from drinking a lot.
This past weekend, after we got back from Nice, I went to meet one of my best friends from home near the Eiffel Tower for dinner. He was visiting with a bunch of his friends, who all go to WPI and have internships in London until the end of April. I was so happy to see him and it was great meeting his friends and spend time with some other Americans. It was especially great to see Jared because it was nice to be able to share a little bit of my experience here with someone from home.
I found out my host family has a cleaning lady this week when I scared the hell out of her. Normally, I have class all day until 18h30 on Monday, but my three hour class in the middle of the day was cancelled so I went home to have some lunch and take a nap (tough life, I know). My door is next to the bathroom door, and there was a vacuum blocking both of them when I walked down the hallway. The bathroom door was open and a lady was backing out of it, so I was able to see her but it wasn’t until she was right in front of me that she turned around and yelped. Nice to meet you, too, madame.
This weekend, we are in Brittany, Bretagne, on a trip with our program. Like Nice, Brittany is on the coast, but this time it’s the Atlantic Ocean instead of the Mediterranean Sea. I think we are close to Normandy, but I’m not sure if we are going there or not. The weather in France has been beautiful for the past few weeks, and unseasonably warm, and I am hoping that this holds true for our trip.
Time for dinner now, post tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment