A Little Eccentric

Il est beau

Bonjour!
How is life in the States? The weather here has been beautiful. Three straight days with sun! You never realize how much to take sunlight for granted until you live in a cloudy place.
I have been keeping myself busy. Friday night, we went out and watched the Olympic opening ceremonies in a bar and met up with some other exchange students. It is so bizarre to just walk into bars but quite fun all the same. You have to be careful though, because social standards as far as men and women are very different. Mostly, guys and girls seem to operate in separate groups, but the guys go to bars and cat-call girls on the streets. It comes across as sleazy as it sounds. Everywhere you go, there are guys trying to bug you and you just have to completely ignore them. I have no idea how the French start relationships. It seems like they are either harassing or completely ignoring each other.

Tchykita and I are very safe though. We never go anywhere alone and we created an action plan if someone won’t leave us alone. Between us, we have a can of pepper spray and a pocketknife. We decided I would mace them and she would use her knife to cut their Achilles tendons and then we’d run away and they couldn’t chase us. Then, no one would ever mess with us again because word spreads if there are chicks that will mace you and cut your tendons.

I met a girl from London who thinks I am the coolest person ever because I live in Wyoming and own horses. My American-ness is being shoved in my face 24/7, and I am really starting to embrace it. That doesn’t mean I get ugly towards the French or anyone else, I just like my classification of an American. When you spend all your time describing your home (to the awe of others) and defending your country and its policies, it is hard not to realize what it means to be American. Plus, there are ignorant people in every culture. At an outdoor market, I met a nasty Iraqi man who literally got all up in my face and was spitting and saying how much he hated us Americans when I was actually trying to buy something from him. Not too fun to deal with. I just walked away.

Yesterday, Tchykita and I walked all over Tours and explored some more. There is a cathedral, an ancient castle, the tomb of a saint (St. Martin), a really old tree and a dead elephant here. It was pretty cool to get to spend your sweet time in places like that. Once my art supplies get here, I plan to spend a lot of time drawing and painting places like that.
I am getting good at cooking, believe it or not. I have cooked burgers, spaghetti and some other stuff with no prior experience. I am the supreme hamburger chef. Food is such a huge thing here. The bears in the picture are made out of bread. Pretty cool.

posted by Molly Jo @ 6:26 AM