Why the French are always in a bad mood

Now that you've read my offensive and overgeneralized title, let me warn you that this entry will be a big, fat rant. 

I still don't have insurance for my room. My room is insured under my roommate's name; but when she left, they told me I needed to get it under my name too. What they don't tell you is that actually getting something important done in France is impossible to do without losing your sanity. Let me take you through the simple process of getting insurance here:

They send you to this one person's office. Ok, you can go there. You get there and they tell you to call another office. They don't give you the number. Ok, you somehow find it on an old document and call them. They don't answer the phone. Ever. Ok you'll go to the office. No one has the address. Go back to the first office for help. They tell you this is urgent. You can call them to get the address! Laugh at yourself for thinking something that ridiculous. Find the address in the phone book. There are two. Go to the one you know. Spend your afternoon walking up and down this street to its entirety to find a freaking number on the buildings. Realize that you're standing outside the address you wrote down. It's a clothing store. It starts to rain. You don't have an umbrella. Cry. Go back to your uninsured room and email your host coordinator for help. You receive an automated message saying he'll be out of his office until next Tuesday. Get a letter in the mail saying this is urgent. Seriously begin to think that you'd rather just pay the thousands of dollars if the whole thing goes up in flames than go through this any longer. Go to the place your roommate went. It's covered in newspapers and "For Rent" signs. Go to a tourism office, post office and random agencies to ask for information. They're all closed until 2 but really won't open until they decide to come back at 2:30. Go to your (still uninsured) dorm room and write an angry blog post about your struggles.

No wonder why the French are always in a bad mood! Again, this is a stereotype and a generalization, but if I had to go through this every time I needed to do something productive in my life I would be cranky too. And the story I gave above is just ONE scenario that I myself have experienced. For something as important as insurance, it's so unorganized and you are expected to do literally everything by yourself. That's probably because everyone is so consumed with all of their own ordeals of missed calls and unaccomplishable tasks they don't even want to bother with your petty problems. Every man is out for himself. 

It doesn't help that when you walk down the street absolutely no one moves out of your way. And then they all park like this:

Actual pictures I've taken of actual cars trying to actually park. I don't even drive here and this is frustrating.

Here's a tip: GO TO WORK. And when you're at work, DO YOUR JOB. One time at the first office mentioned above, the lady made me sit outside for almost forty minutes until she finished eating her salad. I wish I was exaggerating. Imagine living in a world where people actually did what they were supposed to do and therefore things could actually get done! "Mais non, c'est impossible! T'es folle toi!"

Don't get me wrong, I love France and am still having the time of my life here. I've had situations at home that can compare to this, too (yes, I'm talking to you, Clarion). And I don't actually think that the French are really even that rude. Most of the French I've encountered are more helpful and generous than many Americans I know. I am just so frustrated and this is a part of France that I don't want to forget but at the same time don't want to repeat a bunch of times. So there: now it's documented. 

If you made it this far into my post, thanks for reading and putting up with my first world problems. Rant over. 

Things I will miss about going back

As time goes on, I'm realizing that I'm closer and closer to my time in Europe coming to an end, which has me thinking a lot more about my return home. Earlier this semester, I posted about the things I can't wait to do when I'm back. And while I've thought of several things to add to that list since I've written it, there are even more things I will miss about France. So, au contraire of that list, here are the the things I will miss about leaving:

25. Catching a bus to Monaco, Cannes or some other beach whenever I feel like it
24. The fresh fish and produce markets (which I didn't take nearly enough advantage of)

23. Using the excuse, "I'm sorry, I'm not from here" when I do something dumb in public

22. Pretending I'm on my way to Hogwarts every time I take a train

21. Knowing that pretty much every man I meet will be absolutely beautiful

20. The beach 

19. The reaction from people when I tell them I'm American (unless I'm caught doing something dumb, then I'm from Canada)

18. Not even owning an umbrella

17. Eating pasta cooked by real Italians
16. The beach

15. Using conflicting time-zone differences and roaming charges to connect with people back home as excuses for why I'm on Facebook so much
14. Sending postcards
13. Hearing foreign accents speaking English
12. European style
11. Seeing little tiny adorable dogs everywhere
10. Planning my days around which European city I'm visiting that week
9. Chivalry
8. Posting pictures and statuses on Facebook that make my life look cool
7. Having pretty much every place I've ever wanted to visit so close to me
6. The beach
5. Being told I'm beautiful, magnificent and loved by random strangers almost every day
4. But also pretending I don't understand them if I want to
3. Being encouraged to correct people's grammar
2. My very motley crew of international friends 
1. BISOUS!!


So, dear friends back home, be prepared to hear about each and every one of these things (and then some) in full detail. You must give me at least two months to ramble on about Europe until you can start slapping me. Deal? Good. 

Viva Italia (again)

As most of you know, I went back to Italy this past weekend. Here's a little secret I'll let you in on: Before coming to Europe, I was more excited to see Italy than France. I can't really tell you why. France has Paris and the Riviera which is nice and all, but Italy has pizza and Rome and pasta and Italians and Verona and Gondolas and paintings and leaning towers and gelato and the Italian hospitality. 


Here is a hilarious clip of one of my favorite comedians, John Pinette, explaining his experiences in France and Italy: 

So yet again, I found myself off to Italy. And only after my flight took off did I realize I forgot my camera. Me: the picture-obsessed. I ended up buying a disposable camera when we arrived in Venice. When I was younger, before the digital-camera age, a camera with just 20 something pictures would suffice for months. I used up all of the film in one day, and that was while practicing restraint from taking pictures of every little thing I saw. I won't develop those pictures until I'm back in the States, so it will be a fun surprise for all!


We arrived in Venice on Thursday morning. We had to access our sleeping arrangements by boat, so we carried all of our stuff around with us for the whole day. We actually spent three whole days carrying literally everything we had on our backs, and I finally understood why they call it backpacking through Europe. I chose the words "sleeping arrangements" earlier because we didn't stay in a hostel in Venice. We instead chose camping, and I use this term loosely. The campsite was actually rather elegant - with its own restaurant, bar, shopping mart, and better showers and bathrooms than I've experienced at some hostels. By "camping," they really just mean we didn't have internet. The weather wasn't the best in Venice, but it was still beautiful. Venice is really a place like no other. Everything is by boat or bike and there are bridges and water just absolutely everywhere. There are all these beautiful purple flowers everywhere too, but it's still early and they weren't quite in bloom yet. And a Gondola ride was too expensive. So in conclusion, Venice in two cloudy days was worth it, but just not enough. 


The original plan was to hit up Venice, Florence and Verona, but there weren't cheap enough rooms in the latter two so we swapped them out for Milan. Again, the weather didn't shake off its slump and it was rather cloudy. It actually started to rain on us the first day so we had to go to our hostel in the early evening. But I will say I was impressed with Milan. It wasn't our first choice in Italy, and I honestly had no desire to even visit it at all, but it's worth spending a day or two. The giant cathedral there, Duomo, was enormous and, in my opinion, more magnificent than all of the churches in Rome. And right next door there is a big awesome shopping center featuring stores like Prada and Louis Vuitton and McDonalds. Guess which is the only one I would feel comfortable even walking in to?

Il Duomo, Milan, Italy (totally not my photo)

We also spent pretty much a whole day in the parks in Milan. We must have been there at just the right time because it was windy enough that when the wind would blow, all of these flower pedals from nearby trees would get carried in the wind and fly around everywhere. It was so romantic and playful at the same time. It rained water on day one, but on day two it rained flowers. 

In the end, I'd still like to visit Italy at least one more time to see Verona and Bologna, because I hear that they are both beautiful and less tourist-y. Doubt I'll make it back on my own, but that's why I now have Italian friends to visit ;)

I came home yesterday evening to study for a final I have tomorrow. And as we all can see, I'm doing a good job at procrastinating at that very thing. You can take the girl out of America and put her in a magical place on the other side of the world, but you can't the the procrastinator out of the girl. Or something like that.

Now I'm off to be a student. Thanks for reading about my adventures! 

[insert fun and reoccurring farewell line here]