Bon soir, mes cheries!
Can I tell you how much I love 3-day weekends? I've been so busy, firstly with homework, secondly, as USHMM is hosting Parisian high school students for the weekend, with tour guiding as well as practicing my french. They seem as if they understand what I'm saying...but they may be laughing at my poor accent. C'est la vie.
I spent the majority of Saturday in DC, in the morning, facilitating classes and the evening welcoming the french students who had just flown in (imagine the jetlag!). Today, I finished my homework (but is in no shape prepared for calculus free response questions on Tuesday). I think tomorrow should be much fun as we're showing the French kids around Monticello then heading to Busboys & Poets.
The students all have the stereotypical french names...Gauvain, Pierre, Etienne, etc, and they definitely do not look like Les Americains. It's refreshing to not witness the sight of baggy sweatpants. Les mecs wore sharp glasses and looked as if they had a penchant for tight jeans and thick scarves.
Some of the girls were about one ring away from being over-accessorized, but none crossed the line. All seemed ebullient, had terrific American accents, and thought cheerleaders (initially deemed "pom-pom girls") wore their uniforms to school everyday.
Overall, they aren't different from us. Except for the fact that they love drinking limoncello, etc and occasionally inhale a cigarette, but that's probably what American teenagers do anyway, just not in public. But they still consider the shops at Champs-Elysees expensive and enjoy home food such as mashed potatoes and chicken (and escargots, and frog legs).
Unfortunately, there were no berets in sight. And Edith Piaf is so overrated.
