Since a lot of people in France speak English, the language difference hasn’t been too much of a barrier. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice if last night when it was raining I felt comfortable enough with my French to ask for a plastic bag for my baguette (which ended up on the ground when it broke through the rain-soaked paper bag...whomp, whomp, whomp). But for the most part, in the words of my friend John, "infant-level speaking ability + mad charade skil...

Since Independence Day is an American holiday (no kidding?), the French office was open and I spent the Fourth of July working. But, it was actually a good thing because I have a ton to do before I go on vacation next week and it gave me the chance to catch up a bit. I wanted to do something “American” to celebrate the Fourth, but google didn’t provide me any information other than that the Obamas would be celebrating in Paris—Barry and I aren’t that t...

Some more fun facts for you: People don’t jog on Paris streets. I noticed my first week here that I saw no runners. I wondered, “do people just eat cheese, smoke cigarettes and drink wine and never work out?” I finally did see a runner, but as I passed by, I heard her explain (in an American accent, no less) to a Parisian man that “I do it because it feels good.” My coworker told me that the French only run in parks, and sure enough, when I went to a p...

Some of the best times I’ve had while in Paris were when we met random English speakers. When you’re in a foreign country, you automatically become long lost friends with anyone else who speaks English. If I were sitting next to the same people at a restaurant in Chicago, we wouldn’t acknowledge each other, but here we crave connection and are linked by our common language. Tuesday night, in a very small restaurant off the beaten path, we realized that 4 o...

Today at lunch I went with my coworker Manoela to her gym. Gyms aren’t advertised here as much and have small store fronts, so I would’ve missed the gym if Manoela hadn’t pointed it out. It’s much larger than you would expect (although still not that big) and reminded me of the older gym I went to in New York. I decided to take the “Abdos-Fessiers” class (abs and glutes). The room and class was rather small; maybe about a dozen people, half of which ...