A few things I observed while in France:
1. Stop signs are in English (even in Spain, Italy and Switzerland)
2. When at a meal, the left hand is always on the table
3. Drinking glasses are shorter (I had to keep refilling my water several times each meal)
4. The French don't drink much water
5. One of the first questions when someone is meeting you is usually, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
6. They wear a LOT of black
7. Milk comes in a box and is only refrigerated after openning
8. They don't refrigerate jellies/jams/spreads
9. People may wear the same clothing on consecutive days...even a whole outfit (not all the time, but I saw it enough)
10. Square or cylindrical pillows (I was always popping my neck)
11. Bread and cheese at every meal
12. They normally don't use a shower head hanging high, but at mid-level
13. Bathrooms here may be referred to as "WC" (in English?)
14. The toilets are usually not in the same room as the sinks
15. You can send a text-message to a landline (GENIUS!)
16. Boy/Girl scouts are religious organizations
17. Greet with a kiss on each cheek (no set order, some start with right, some left...THAT'S confusing!)
18. Meals are eaten in courses
19. Don't leave the lights on!
20. Post offices aren't open on mornings
That's all for now. There are many more things that stood out to me...a whole semester's worth.
Re-entry is going better than I expected. It's great and strange being on vacation for so long. I'm not used to not having to work or study. I think I could get used to this!
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3 comments:
loved this post! Found some common things with how we do things in Ukraine: 2,3,4,8,9,10,11 (bread is a must),12,14,16,17,18,19 (is a BIG one) :)
YES! I pretty much identified with each one of these...especially number 17...awkward. And did your host family refridgerate eggs, because mine didn't.
Thought I'd read all your blogs and have a few comments on this one. Of course stop signs are in English, everyone know the French, Spanish, Italian, and Swiss want to be just like us English peeps. Or it could be that English is the prevailing second language in all these countries as we have the worst weather and therefore go on holiday a lot :0) and whats wrong with wearing Black? its very slimming lol. Isnt the scouts religious over in the americas? very weird that one, i thought they were all over the world. Post offices are open here in the morning in the UK, why would you refrigerate Jam? thats just weird and nope dont leave the lights on, its wastefull and really annoying.
but thats just an Englishmans perceptions
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