Today is a national holiday for France (Monday May 20th) apparently known as Whit Monday/Pentecost Monday. Belonging to no religion whatsoever my host father, Bruno, was not even sure what the purpose of the day was except that some people take the day off and some shops are closed. It really depends as to how people will spend the day and who will close up shop ranging from big businesses, banks, & post offices being closed while excluding smaller businesses, some bakeries, and the more tourist focused shops and areas. I won't go further into the background since this essentially did not affect me in any way except that I did not have class today. This seemed a bit odd to me since, as interns, we are obligated to spend our first 2 wks in France taking an intensive French course given at a highly recognized school before starting our actual internships with the selected companies but GE conveniently set our arrival dates to fall on this week knowing fully that we will not be in class today. Then again, the extra day is useful for the jetlag so I guess it's a win-win up to a certain point.
On another note, before I get to putting up any pictures I thought I would mention a couple interesting things I noticed today, some of which are things that I knew but had forgotten and others that struck me as just strange:
1) This one is a bit of a tangent but I know my parents will be reading this and they might like to know this. I found out that it is quite possible to use my iPhone in France by purchasing a SIM card and cutting it down so that it is of equal size to the Nano chip that the iPhone uses since the only distinction lies in the size and not the setup or configuration. Ultimately this could save me around $50.
2) I would post a picture for this next one but there was no way of taking it without looking like a creep. This one has to do with pets and where they are and aren't allowed. Today I saw several inside a commercial mall not just in the loitering area but actually INSIDE the stores. Earlier on while I was trying to un-lose myself while zigzagging the smaller roads I saw a sign to a park where a picture specifically depicted the idea that pets were not allowed in the gated parks. Just to give your eyes a rest here is a picture.
3) I had forgotten that in certain parts of Europe the traditional way of greeting someone of the opposite sex is with 2 kisses as opposed to the most typical N. American way which varies between a nod and a handshake and the single kiss in parts of S. America to which I've grown accustomed. This is one sure way to spot a foreigner.
4) Doors on the subway do NOT open automatically and if you wait for this to occur you will end up missing your stop and looking quite silly. There are handles on the outside and inside that you must lift in order to open the doors.
5) It can be argued that stereotypes at one point did/do have an element or so of truth to them. That said, the one about where the French can be rude at times I have found to be true and not true on a couple occasions.
The positive moments include yesterday when I couldn't get into the apartment building with the code I was given and got into an interesting conversation with the lady who lived one the first floor who ended up letting me in and telling me exactly where to go to locate Bruno. Very sympathetic to my bashfulness after being somewhat ignored by the driver of my shuttle who paid more attention to her iPad and iPhone than she did the road while I tried to talk to her. This is scary and not recommended.
The second occurred today in the subway when I was given a free all-day ticket by a complete stranger valid only for yesterday and today and apparently I looked like I needed it since I was standing in line to buy myself a ticket. This came in very handle as it cut down my transportation costs while I hovered between being lost and knowing where I was which required me to take several trains today.
The not-so-great moment ended with me telling off an old Frenchmen in Spanish. Apparently he had somewhere to be which gave him justification to step on my heels and tell me to move faster in line when, in reality, everyone knows that a couple seconds rarely means anything in terms of being late or early to whatever affair.
After spending about 2 hours being lost and documenting where I was through pictures, I found my final destiny, Rue De Rennes.
You'll notice that the towers in the 2 latter pictures are the same. Not much else to say about today except to leave you all with a punch line. C&A (The store with the bleu and orange logo) was where I had intended to go the entire day. The reason, I had forgotten to pack socks and wanted a cheap pair. I ended up getting 7 pair for €7. Was it worth it? Yes it was. Why was it worth it? I am now pretty familiar with an area that will prove useful to me for my outside eat/shopping needs over the next 10 wks and the school where I will be taking classes is also in this area. I did not however find it. 4 hrs on your feet is very tiring. Thanks for reading!
Until next post!
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