Little thoughts

1) French dogs are the happiest dogs in the world, plain and simple. They always look so happy (and are rarely on leashes) and are definitely loving life. No barking... no whining... just pure happiness. They will sit politely outside of a store, looking at the people passing by... but never making a noise! There is one man in Aix who has two sharpeis. These sharpeis are puppies and wrinkly and adorable. Not only are the dogs always happy and smiling but the cute older man is too! So happy dogs in France, make happy people in France.

2) French men smell. Apparently they do not sell deodorant in France... it is gross. Thankfully, some wear it... but there are many who do not...

3) Blondes in France are like diamonds. No joke, we are rare and everyone feels the need to stare. In the south of France, there are not that many blondes and the men here think it is okay to tell me that I have beautiful hair and that we should date... no random man I do not want to date you! It is a silly thought, but my cousin, Alissa, who is also blonde and studied in Aix will agree.

4)French food is amazing. My host mom should be a five star chef.

5) Everyone smokes in France. But they all claim that they are just casual smokers or social smokers. This is not true.



So before I write a page or two about my vacation to Barcelona and Maastricht, The Netherlands, I wanted to discuss something. It has been raining a bit recently here (and by raining, I mean it rains for an hour and then is sunny and beautiful) and my apartment building is really old. So today, I was leaving to get to walk to class and I attempted to open my front door ( from the inside...) and it would not open. I tried again... and again... and again. I attempted to open my front door for 15 minutes. I then called my housemate who said she would come let me out. So I awkwardly stood in the hallway, hoping for someone to open the door from the outside. My hostmother then struggled opening the door but was successful. She then laughed with me at the fact that I was not able to open the door. Turns out my housemate had the same problem earlier in the morning. We showed up a little late to class and my friends had told our professor that we would be late. As we walked in, he said, "Ohhhh so YOU are the one who was locked in her own apartment building... okay." Hahaha, our hostmom described why it was sticking (the wood expands in the rain) and told us how to open it (with force... and lots of it). What a day! How many people can say that they were locked inside of their own apartment?! Not many!