I still like the Beatles

GOOD NEWS

This morning has given me numerous bits of good information:

1. In France, a hot dog is two feet long, on a hot baguette, with spicy mustard, ketchup, mayo and parmesian cheese, costing about €2,40. this is not an exageration. The implications are obvious: I thought France would cause me to lose weight what with the walking and the not having enough money to eat... but I am gloriously wrong. Mmmmmmmm...

2. I now have a cell phone. I'm going to the post office to buy more minutes directly. This means I may be able to communicate with people sometime in the normal realm of communication (as it is only six in the morning in shreveport right now) I don't recommend any to-France drunk dialing as I will be asleep and the cost of the call will mean you don't get to go out for two weekends, nevertheless...

3. I now have a postal address. Glory be to God.

Essentially, France is going up in my esteem. After the hotdog (pronounced "oat dough-g") discovery I was so overjoyed I nearly cried. On the downside, paying for housing here has ripped me a figurative "new one" as I have to pay in cash. This means I have to find ATMs that allow me to take out more than 300€. As exciting as it is to walk around with forty bills that look like play money (European Union? tee hee!) it's a little scary thinking about how the ATMs are raping my bank account stateside.

You might find it interesting to note that the water here tastes like it was scraped of the surface of the street, because they put so many minerals in it. But unlike in England, it is possible to find a cold drink... though Carrie and I haven't attempted to go out for just drinks yet purely because we haven't met any other exchange students we like too much. Wisconsin. What can I say?

Walking to the main building on campus is supposed to take about 8 minutes (lies) but it's not too far and, like Louisiana it's too moist to snow here. Although there's still a good chance you'll freeze your couilles off.

Phrase du jour: Je ne me soucie pas si les toilettes sont unisexe. ("I don't care if the bathrooms are unisex!") Spoken (in English) by a German exchange student.