The Ignorant Observor

Assembled here is a list of twenty-one humble, potentially culturally insensitive observations on Nantais culture. Let's start a dialogue, people.

1. French leaves are just as crisp as Ohio ones. However, they don’t smell nearly as wonderful.
2. Manpris.
3. Judging from conversations with my peers as well as my own host-mother’s tendencies, I’m led to the conclusion that the French don’t use fabric softeners. Drying machines are foregone almost entirely.
4. An overwhelming majority of the French hates peanut butter.
5. In a possibly related note, an overwhelming majority of the French has never actually tasted peanut butter.
6. Speculoos may be the most delicious thing ever devised by human capacity. This divine accident (I bought it believing it was PB) combines the taste of cinnamon Teddy Grahams with the stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth consistency of peanut butter. Exercise caution when pairing with Nutella.
7. French spoons are either too large or too small. Goldilocks would starve to death in France.
8. The dogs are remarkably, almost eerily well behaved. Off-leash dogs stroll right beside their masters, even past bucheries. However, one explanation behind this phenomenon accuses the French of using more corporal punishment during the training process. Further investigation necessary.
9. At least one stereotype is true: Baguettes out the ass.
10. It’s not uncommon for someone to wear the exact same outfit two days in a row. Madame Rouchet, la Directrice Administrative of the program and the one that scares the “Yankee shit” out of me, recycles her staples several times a week.
11. Everything is smaller, more efficient, and just a wee bit uncomfortable. Case in point…















I shower in a Dixie cup.

12. The glitz and glamour of public transportation begins to diminish slightly after the first week and takes a dive after the first month.
13. Only one man-purse spotted in over a month. Keep up the good work, France!
14. Drinking glasses at meals are very small, and water is rarely drunk in general. The only water fountains have naked people made of stone in them. I’ve been in a perpetual state of dehydration since my arrival.

15. Today was sunny and pleasant with a high of 23° C (about 74° F). It is, of course, mid-October. Get on the ball, France!
16. Forget the cleavage; here, it’s all about the legs.
17. French automobiles look like the toy cars you buy at gas stations when you forget about a birthday party and all the toy stores are closed.
18. A widespread initiative has been enacted to reduce the number of smokers, particularly among younger people. Instead of wordy warning labels, packs of smokes simply read FUMER TUE (“Smoking kills”).
19. The culture is, at least in my opinion, a remarkably homogenous one. A lack of diversity—and I’m implying almost every single connotation of the word—has left this collective more concentrated than Amy Winehouse’s morning pick-me-up.
20. Passers-by on the street rarely make eye contact, let alone offer up a friendly “Bonjour!” I’m trying to single-handedly change that.
21. Fucking manpris.