Secrets of the French

Living here has opened me up to a lot of new cultural experiences many of which have personally enriched and educated me. However, a lot of them have been purely superficial and not educational in the least. Thus behold the list of

Why French People Intrigue Me To No End

1. The country is extremely formal, yet customer service is non existent. France is a place where not saying Hello and good-bye to store owners is an offense punishable by death, yet store owners bark at you for lingering too long in their boutique/bakery/grocery store and taking up space. Today I had a grocer yelled at me for being rude because I said "pardonez-moi?" when I didn't hear him over the bustle of the store. This coming from the country where they have two forms of the word "you"----"Vous" and "tu" Tu is considered to be widely informal and people must give you spoken consent for you to refer to them as "tu" and not "vous" even though they both mean "you"

2. I am in the fashion capital of the world yet French people DO NOT care about hair or makeup, or hygiene.  It's definitely a stereotype I had heard time and time again that French people and Europeans in general do not shower as often, I get that. However, I notice here that even the trendiest and most gorgeous of girls do not wear make up ever. And their hair? Forget it, it often looks so unkempt I wonder if there is a secret movement going on where everyone is aspiring for dreadlocks. Find the girl or guy with smooth hair that straightened, curled or simply brushed and you've found the tourist.  

3. The ingredients of what the French eat keep them thin not what they eat.  This conclusion comes from going into bakeries and grocery stores and seeing countless slender and thin people all going for the croissants, pastries, cookies and all of the foods labeled "FORBIDDEN" in the states if you're on a diet. I was perplexed by this and assumed maybe it was the first time that skinny girl had eaten in the week or maybe that guy was buying that pastry for someone else. Yet, I have found it really matters not only the portion size of what you eat but the ingredients that go into it. Here they use real sugar not high furctose corn syrup or anything made in a lab. Fresh food goes bad here in a couple of days because there are no preservatives. I am not pretending that you can eat anything in the world here but Ill take the pastry freshly made that day here with real ingredients than that hostess cupcake that has the ability to live on a self for God knows how long. 

4. Girls here love wearing very feminine clothing with one very bold, very masculine piece. When I have 6 minutes until the next train in the metro I have nothing better to do than people watch. As shallow as it sounds its mostly me drooling over what other girls are wearing. I see countless girls in a fitted dress with an amazingly feminine coat and then military combat boots. Or if they go with tights, heels and a skirt/top combo they have on a military jacket or an extremely masculine hat from the 20's era. I love seeing the different ways in which cultures define "beauty" 

5.  Dogs here do not bark. Ever. And everyone has them. The grocery store, boutiques, the bakery, and pretty much any indoor or outdoor establishment you can think of....there are dogs! Dogs of all shapes and sizes with one thing in common, the fact that they are so obedient you think France administers dog tranquilizers to everyone. I cannot get over how Ill be inside of the grocery store debating over cheese and a dog will be there looking up at me. They never bark and never run around. The people here don't ever uses leashes or tie them up outside. I don't get it!!!! Even the homeless people have them, I want to steal every last one of them  :)

Not a very long list but I tend to think of 20 different things when Im out and about and then I get home and forget them all. C'est la vie. More to come :)