We've been in France for 11 days now and there are many things that I have noticed are different in the cultures. Some are better, some I am not so sure about. This post is dedicated to the differences I have noticed.
Everyone in France is fashionable. It doesn't matter if you are 5 or 105. You are fashionable. You don't do your hair, and you don't wear make up. But you are fashionable. You can make 80's style glasses fashionable. I've seen it.
Everyone is always in a hurry. In the morning. At lunch. At night. You run in the metro stations, and walk on escalators and on moving sidewalks. You are always in a hurry.
You are not in a hurry when you are eating. You take two hour lunches, hour long dinners, and long breakfasts. This is the one time you are not in a hurry.
University here is free.
Everyone here lives a somewhat Americanized life. Although Germany is more Americanized, the French watch American TV shows, watch movies in French, speak English, and eat (sometimes) American food. I didn't think as many people would speak English, and I didn't except movies in theaters to be American movies.
Most people here are very polite and friendly. They will point you in the right direction when looking for a metro, and are not afraid to correct your French. Although it is a necessity to make a fool of yourself trying to explain something in French first. If they know you are American, they are not afraid to ask you for help with something. Jessie and I were sitting in the computer lab at school and someone needed an Americans opionon on the Great Depression. Little did we know by helping we were committing to reading her 80 page paper. HA, I haven't gotten to it yet.
The metro system here, yeah we need something like it in Iowa. It is fast, reliable and clean. You
can get anywhere in the city in under an hour (let me tell you, it is 40 minutes anywhere from my house, but never more than an hour!). You never wait more than 8 minutes for a train and usually its 2 minutes maximum. I've only waited 8 minutes twice and both were on Sunday afternoons. They are safe as well. You can ride them alone at night and not worry about your safety, as long as you are smart. People are always willing to help you find the nearest metro stop as well if you can't find it yourself (they are pretty easy to find though because they are all over.)
They have completely different views on sanitation here. They keep their streets and gutters really clean, flushing them with water every day. But then at the little crepe shops or other shops in restaurant row, they take money and then fold your crepe without washing they're hands. This would NEVER fly in the US, but it is fine here. Who knows what else they have touched. I noticed this in Germany too. We would ride bikes someplace, lock them up, touch door handles, and then cook food without washing hands. Well I washed mine, but never saw anyone else. Maybe Americans are just germ-a-phobs.
Germans are not in a hurry. They take their time and they bike everywhere. The students all have bikes and use them to get around town. There are special parts of the sidewalk for bikers and special roads just for bikers. I got my butt kicked on the bike rides around town.
Everyone in Europe drives like a mad man. It is ridiculous how they drive. I'm kind of surprised we haven't seen more accidents. But i suppose they know how to get around and if you don't drive like that you don't get anywhere. Darn polite Iowans.
And just some random annoyances:
There is no ice here. None. I want some ice in my drink or for my ankle.
The light switches. They're strange and always outside the bathroom. I can never find them.
There is always noise. I hear sirens all day. All night. Or you hear the people below you partying, or talking. Or the kids playing. Something is always making noise. Especially when you want to sleep. They like to shoot off fireworks when I want to sleep.
Razor Scooters. Parents: Buy your child a razor scooter. Its the cool thing to do. And then buy one for yourself. And then buy them roller blades as well.
Everyone smokes. It doesn't help my coughing problem. And its rather annoying. And bad for you.
Things that surprised me:
They have these machines that for .50 Euro you can get a cup of coffee or hot cocoa. I'm a fan. Probably waste a lot of money there.. woops.
There are A LOT of catholic churches. They are all very pretty and I like to take pictures of all of them.
And lastly, there are WAY more people who speak English than I expected.
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