As the weeks pass by, I'm starting to really appreciate France and Europe. Little things catch me off guard every so often that make me remember that I am somewhere other than home. Because for the most part, my life here is quite normal, or at least quite similar to my life in Canada and I sometimes forget that I'm on another continent.

My experience at Mirail has been very suitably described as "The Perfect Storm" by my Canadian advisor that I found here after weeks of confusion. But slowly, I have been recovering documents, settling into courses and fitting into a culture that truly finds the beauty in their ridiculous bureaucratic nightmare. The french love to suffer. At first it was funny, but now it's getting a bit annoying, but most of the french think that all Canadians are from Quebec, and we only speak French and that we all live in igloos because it's so cold in our country. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "isn't it cold there? you must find the weather beautiful here!". Not so much, it's freezing, I bought a winter's jacket weeks ago.

On the upside, there are amazing things to recognize about the french culture. Love is definitely in France. The way they greet people is so incredibly touching. Kissing you on both cheeks- its such a caring gesture. I also love that the French really look you in the eyes when they speak to you because they genuinely care, or at least most of them do, that you understand. The "bisous" expression when saying goodbye is also one of my favourites. You would be the cutest human on the planet if you said "kisses" to everyone- men and women- when saying goodbye in Canada. Brilliant. I'm totally obsessed with the old french ladies, who refuse to take a seat on the metro because their pride couldn't take it. And the wine with lunch and dinner, great tradition. And probably the sweetest thing I've seen yet, is an old couple sitting on a little bench looking at the amazing St. Sernin cathedral with his arm around her and her head on his shoulder, and just when I thought it couldn't get anymore picture perfect, he kissed her on the top of the head. The way people love one and other here and so outwardly is so different than in North America. It's sweet, and respectful and always there. Sometimes, I think we get so wrapped up in our own madness we forget what's important to us.

But sappiness aside, there are some absolutely ridiculous things about France. Men with long hair wear plastic headbands. No one picks up the dog poop in the street, so everyone just walks in it and breaths it in and tracks it into their homes. Every single person at the university takes lunch at the same time, so literally there are lineups of hundreds of people waiting to eat every single day. I thought the SUB lineups at UBC were bad, I will never complain again if I have to wait in a Starbucks lineup. No one eats dinner until 9pm. I am constantly mocked for eating like normal people who are hungry at 6pm. And although I find the kisses thing really sweet, it gets a bit ridiculous and quite honestly a huge waste of time to kiss each person on both cheeks in a room full of people..

On Tuesdays, I'm taking a jazz class which I love. I have no idea what she's saying half the time, but I can copy what she does and she usually will just show me if I'm doing something wrong. I tried sushi, not very good and super expensive so I think I'll wait until I'm home. I'm learning that I really love the countryside and the small towns over the big European cities. I just think they are really interesting, and I love the people watching.

I'm getting pretty good at French. My day doesn't really include much english anymore unless I'm talking on Skype or writing emails. I learnt the hard way that "excited" does not have the same sense here as it does in Canada and for weeks I was saying I was really "horny" about everything. I also didn't really like the way the french say "Katy", because they pronounce it "Cat-y" so unless they knew how to say it properly, I introduced myself as Kathryn. Weird being called Kathryn after so many years of never being called my real name, but I think I like it better.

Bisous tout le monde. Vous me manquez.

A bientot!

Katy