Things I like about France (part duex)

1. Irish pubs with cute bartenders. Some girls and I went to O, Carolan's last night. The bartenders speak English (and hence, speak French slowly enough for me to understand) and are more than a little attractive.

2. Saturdays. No joke, everyone goes out on Saturdays. I'm not one for big crowds but here it's cool to see everyone outside shopping, eating paninis, and drinking beer with their lunch ( I haven't tried this one yet, maybe soon).

3. Sundays. At first I thought I was going to hate Sundays. Absolutely everything is closed on Sunday, and doesn't open up again until sometime after noon on Monday. The French really like their leisure time. It gives me a good excuse to put off my homework until Sunday though.

4. Cafes. They all double as bars at night. Who knew? Not me, until last night.

5. Random celebrations on the Place. Yesterday there was a Chinese New Year celebration, then a few hundred meters away, a Jamaican celebration. wahoo for festivities.

6. Baguettes and Compte. I need to stop eating this. Seriously, Andrea and I go through a block of Compte a day, it's ridiculous.

7. Markets on the esplanade. 6 euro sunglasses, fresh pasteries, cheap fresh fruit, veggies, and flowers...all outside, in February. Take that Midwest, I hear you have over a foot and a half of snow.

8. Les Bises, the three kisses on the cheek, they actually do that here (quite a bit actually)! I feel so European.

9. Orangina, 'nuff said.

10. Le disothéque... on ice. We went ice skating in America town (aka the Odysseum, I swear it feels like Orlando, not France) and the skating rink had strobe lights, disco balls, and some pretty sweet techno music.

11. Travel! I'm going to Switzerland next weekend and my train ticket was less than $120 round trip. hahahaa. And it might be cheaper, we think the people at the Gare (train station) screwed us, so we're going back tomorrow.

Which leads me too:
things that make me question the French:

1. Stupid people at the Gare, not helpful, at least with me. My friends have all had better experiences than I have.

2. way too much PDA. On the tram, the esplanade, in stores, at cafes. Seriously these French people can't keep their hands off each other! Although, I have to admit most of them are pretty attractive so I can't really blame them.

3. America is everywhere! I think I've heard about 5 French songs on the radio since I've gotten here, and they play bad American music too, a lot of Enrique and Avril, and really bad 80s music everywhere. There are four McDo's in Montpellier, at least two Sylvan learning centers, 3 Subway Sub shops, and a Cafe Route 66. Plus they sell about 6 different kinds of frozen fries and hamburgers at every grocery store. Why in the world would you eat frozen fries and burgers when French food is about three trillion times better?