A=Q, W=Z, and M is a Semicolon

As I become more familiar with the French way of life, I can't help but compare what I observe to how I am used to things running in the U.S.  This is not to say that I am distraught that they don't do things "our way" or wish they did things differently.  I guess it's just human nature to note what is different and compare it to what is quotidienne for us.  I have been doing a lot of this human nature observing these past two weeks, therefore I present to you my "List of Things that are Different in France From in the U.S." also known as "A=Q, W=Z, and M is a Semicolon."


1. The French love coffee.  They drink it in the morning, at lunch, in the afternoon, and at night.  They even have Starbucks, the staple of every American street corner.  However, you will never never ever see anyone on the streets of Paris with a cup of Starbucks, or a travel mug in hand.  Never.  Ne-ver.  You do not take your coffee to go.  Tack-y.  (Good think I don't drink coffee...)


2. Waiters do not work for tips, therefore the service is much slower and the wait staff much grumpier than in America.  This makes for very long meals, so one must either be very patient or place a tracking device on your waiter so that you can track them down when you're ready for the bill.  They absolutely will not bring you the check unless you ask for it.  I consider this a nice alternative to the experience I had at a CPK one time, when I got my pizza and my check at. the. same. time. proving that there is a point when trying communicate that you're on top of your shit becomes rude.


3.  Bag boys do not exist.  Sometimes, as a fund raiser (like ASB-style), young people will bag your groceries for a tip, but otherwise you are on your own.  I must admit, the first time I went to the Franprix and realized after I payed that I still had to put my things in a bag myself, I was pretty taken aback.  I like the independence of it though...makes you stay on your toes at the check out too, because you end up racing the cashier while they ring you up.  Better hope you finish bagging by the time you have to pay, because if not, you'll be bagging while someone else's groceries are being thrown in your direction.


4.  Their keyboards are made by Satan himself, no joke.  At our school, we have some American keyboards that are calibrated to type like a French keyboard (at least I think that's the situation...).  This means that, like the title of this post, A=Q, W=Z, and M is a semicolon.  Also, the period is the comma key, to get a comma you press the M key, and activating caps lock opens up a whole world of symbols that are otherwise inaccessible.  The first time I sent my dad an email from one of those computers I couldn't find the period, so I had to type the entire email without proper punctuation!  You try typing complete thoughts without a period.  Not easy.  Today my friend, Chrissy, and I were forced to use one of these devil keyboards to write an email because the internet wasn't working on any of the computers that had regularly calibrated keyboards.  It was hilarious.  We did a lot of sleuthing, and discovered the period which I had not found in any previous attempts.  We did not, however, locate the @ symbol.  We ended up copying and pasting an @ from another email.  So clever.


5.  Final observation for this post: Parisians will touch you.  I've always heard that Americans are friendlier, they smile at everyone, they will start a conversation on the metro, etc.  The French are known for their steely expressions and rude demeanor, but what people do not know about them is that they have almost zero concept of personal space.  They do not wait in lines, but in clumps.  They do not "move to the center of the car," but crowd towards the door of the metro.  They do not simply say, "Pardon," when they want to get by you, they physically displace you from their path.  I didn't realize how little Americans touched until I was touched by a Parisian.  It's rather shocking when you're not used to it.  At the same time, they are not as rude as their reputation might lead you to believe.  If you ask for directions, they will gladly help.  If you speak French with them (and you do it at least moderately well) they will compliment you.  They do smile, though not to strangers.  Also, everyone does not have a poodle.  Rather, they all have dogs that they can fit in their purses à la Paris Hilton.  Stereotypes are being broken every day.


I'm sure I will notice more things and perhaps add them to this list.  Quickly, a little about what I've been doing: I went to the Louvre on Monday with friends and say La Joconde (Mona Lisa) and it was bigger than I expected! Today I went to l'Opéra for a tour with IES.  It was beautiful!  And now I'm going out to dinner.
Until next time!