impressions of la france

one of my favourite sights so far - parapluies everywhere in luxembourg!!

currently on leg four of my big european journey (first leg was munich, then salzburg, then luxembourg), currently in la petite ville, marmande dans le bordeaux. i'm staying with an older french woman and am already learning oh so much about french culture as a result. i'm taking things easy before a few auditions over the next few days (aka knitting and listening to lots of ted talk podcasts) and have made a few observations about cet beau pays...

1) french people make really funny noises ("pfffffffft" "coucou..." "ooooh la la...")
2) they love to gossip. i keep walking in on the lady i'm staying with full on discussing her "petite chanteuse" with her friends on the phone, or she legitimately remarked to every french person in the super-marché her shock that for lunch i would only want some salad and bread...
... which leads me to: 3) they eat huge lunches and small dinners... i'm adjusting my diet accordingly to avoid giving the lady i'm staying with "trop peur"
4) i don't know as much french as i thought i did.
5) the men here stare like deer in headlights when they see girls in their twenties, even when they're wearing glasses and no make-up like i've been for the past two days...
6) WATCH YOUR FEET. yuck.
7) the idea of peanut butter is absolument ridicule. and has too many calories for older french ladies ;) also, they don't say arachides here, like in canada, meaning my one request in the super-marché was hard to find...
8) people are nicer than i thought they'd be. that being said i'm in a little town, but all the same.
9) driving is scary.
10) it weirds me out that toilets are in different rooms than sinks. i always thought i was a canadian flower child type but turns out i've got some hygienic standards....
11) perfume really is a thing. the lady i'm staying with has bottles everywhere!!.
12) j'aime le pain (though this was never news).

anywho!! that's after only two days. tomorrow we investigate the young singer/opera scene... so much to observe... what they wear, how they sing, how the sopranos scope each other out... #researchproject

à toute à l'heure!