La pluie tombe fort

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when I left my apartment without an umbrella. The constant drizzle and flooding gutters didn’t really bother me, but the rain added weight to the grey streets and the lack of other senses seemed to point out the stench of the city.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was culture shock, but today I definitely felt very frustrated with being in France. The language barrier, once cute or endearing, is starting to feel like a huge burden, and when I can’t understand the people around me, everything in the world feels off limits.

To watch the presidential inauguration, I went to a pub in Vieux Lyon and the whole place was empty except for some other Americans. The pub was showing the English CNN coverage of the inauguration on a big flat screen tv, but the volume was on low and the bar continued to play loud pop songs that provided interesting background music to Obama's oath. After being there for about half an hour, the bartender came over and told the group I was with that "In France, people can't just come to bars and sit without ordering anything." She seemed very disinterested in what was happening on the tv, but I went to a different bar last night and every French person I met asked me if I had watched it. It became so annoying that by the end of the night I started saying I was Canadien if only to avoid questions.

Differences cont.
8. In The United States “oh la la” is usually said with a sexual undertone, but in France oh la la is equivalent to saying “oh geeze.” If you drop something, you might look at it and say oh la la.

9. In the United States you might say that something is “sick” implying that it is actually very good, and in France the same goes for saying something is terrible. If you like something, amongst your friends you might say c’est terrible.