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Archive For October, 2011

Ten Things I Miss

October 28, 2011 · by Nikki

In an attempt to mix-up the Things I Learned lists that I bring you so often, I present you with this glorious attempt to recount the elements of my American lifestyle that I occasionally pine for.

But please don’t misinterpret this list as a secondary form of saying “I don’t like French food,” or some attempt to cling to American comforts when I should be enjoying everything that French life has to offer. Simply put, this is a list of things that I occasionally think about having or doing, and then am promptly slapped in the face by the reality that I cannot due to the lack of availability here in Paris. Here they are:

Peanut butter. YES there is peanut butter here in France (though scarcely). I have some in my kitchen at this very moment. Skippy, actually. But in the US you can find virtually any food item with peanut butter. This actually creates several sub-list items:

Peanut butter M&Ms
Peanut butter Dove squares
Reese’s peanut butter cups (what?!)
Okay, peanut butter and chocolate ANYTHING…

Smartfood Popcorn. Go ahead and judge me, but it’s the guilty pleasure that has been bringing me comfort since high school. And I miss it.
Refried beans. Ever had a breakfast burrito? No? Well let me tell you… it’s a kick-ass day-starting perfectly-portioned burrito filled with egg, salsa, a cream cheese/sour cream concoction, shredded cheese and yes–lots of refried beany-goodness. Also, I enjoy a good seven-layer dip any day of the week. Someone ship me some cans, STAT.
Annie’s Organic Mac and Cheese. You know what food grosses a lot of French people out? American-style mac and cheese. Especially the Kraft or Velveeta varieties. But I challenge ANYONE to be grossed out by Annie’s. That’s some good stuff, right there.
Clam chowder. I wouldn’t be a New England girl if I didn’t miss this Northeastern specialty. But please: don’t bother trying to ship me any. I prefer it fresh, and served in one of the six New England states (make that five – no thanks, Connecticut.)
No-bake cookies. Recently I’ve been cursing my mother (in my own mind) for making these delicious cookies when I was a child, and then sharing her recipe with me a few years back. These are now far and away my favorite cookies, and I have yet to find all the necessary ingredients here in Paris.
Netflix. Woohoo! A non-food item! (Maybe I’m not such a little piggie afterall.) Okay to be honest: in the US I didn’t have my own personal Netflix account, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy streaming TV shows and the occasional movie (thanks Adam!). But I didn’t realize how much I would miss having access to series I was getting into or movies that I miss but don’t own until coming to Europe. Come on, Netflix–come to France!
Tennis. People in France LOVE tennis. Half of the people I meet play themselves, and the other half know someone who does. The sport is wildly popular here, especially among Parisians. But I cannot for the life of me nail down a tennis partner, find a new racket, or locate what I’m told are numerous tennis courts around the city. Someone help me before I get lazy!
Friends and family. Duh.
All things Autumn. Apples and pumpkins and costumes, oh my! And brightly colored leaves, that crisp air, the smell of your neighbors lighting their first fire of the season, the opportunity to bring out your cute fall boots, FOOTBALL… Oh I could go on for days.

Friends living abroad… what are the things you miss most?!

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Let’s Be Frank About Français

October 19, 2011 · by Nikki

I read a blog recently that talked about how Facebook has caused a lot of us to edit our lives, only depicting the happy, exciting, entertaining moments we have, and another that echoed similar thoughts about how inauthentic we are when portraying our lives via social media. Though I’m certainly no expert (and definitely am not interested in sharing all of the intimate details of my life with 500 Facebook “friends”), I would guess this behavior is derived from a desire to be thought of as witty, fun, cultured, [insert your personal list of ego-boosting adjectives here], etc. This got me to thinking that I could probably stand to be more honest in my writing. After all, much to most of your surprise, I am not perfect (but see how witty I am??).

A lot of my posts thus far have focused on the cool things I’ve done or seen, the interesting places I’ve been, or the funny moments I’ve encountered. But not everything in Paris is peachy. I’ve been here nearly five months and my French is still extremely basic (like, “my French friends/co-workers are still ordering my lunch for me,” kind of basic). Fail.

And sure, maybe this is to be expected considering I haven’t had the chance to take any French lessons yet, and I do all of my work in English every day. But it doesn’t stop me from feeling like I am the biggest failure alive. Here’s why:

I know it was only high school, but back in the day I was one of the few language nerds at my school. Got awards, hung out translating all day, made up my own classes with a few other students when our level exceeded the school’s offering… You get the point. And yeah, one of the languages I studied was French.
I studied abroad in college and specifically chose the program I did because it had a required language component. I studied Xhosa. By the end of my three-and-a-half-month stay, I was easily having basic conversations with my home-stay family.
I can only half-read the signs around me.
I can’t do many important things (like finding out where my French social security card is) without help.
I can’t pronounce my boyfriend’s name properly.

All of these factors culminate into what I can only describe as extreme embarrassment. At this moment in time, I am largely illiterate, can’t do things that I need to by myself, and am constantly being corrected on the things I try to say. Sound familiar? Of course it does. You’re being reminded of when you started the first grade.

What’s worse is that, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the rumors about the French hating Americans or hating people who only speak English are false. “How can that be worse?” you must be asking yourself. Well, because they are SO nice to me here that even during my attempts to speak French at stores or restaurants, my Americanism is detected and people automatically start talking to me, pleasantly, in English. And nothing adds to the sting of the existing embarrassment like making an effort to speak the language and having it be completely rejected.

Or how about sitting in a room full of people, all of which are engaged with each other in conversation, while you sit there, alone, trying to understand any part of what’s being said (or in my case, making up songs in my head as I stare out the window)? It becomes even more embarrassing when a joke is made and the room erupts in laughter while you’re sitting there, stone-faced, unsure of what just happened. And of course you occasionally think to yourself, “maybe they’re laughing at me” because really… you wouldn’t know if they were.

Despite all of this, I must admit (not for the sake of seeking an ego-boosting adjective) that my frustration level remains surprisingly low most of the time. Perhaps it’s because I have hope that I’ll be starting lessons soon, or the fact that I’m living in Paris (!) so nothing really seems that bad, or maybe it’s pure ignorance on my part. But I just keep thinking that the more I try and the more I’m exposed to, one day something in my brain will just click and French verbs will conjugate flawlessly, pronunciations will flow out of my mouth correctly and with ease, and the girl at Subway will continue taking my order in French instead of switching to English half-way through. (And yes. I eat Subway while living in France. Don’t judge. I’m trying to be honest, here!).

Until that day, my face will continue to turn red when I try to speak French, I’ll still buy the wrong things at the store, and I’ll keep waiting for that French social security card to magically appear without me having to chase it down. Here’s hoping I don’t break a leg…

Ciao 🙂

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Dating, French Kissing and Finding a Frog Prince

October 14, 2011 · by Nikki

The saying goes “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince,” but in France you may only have to kiss one. Because as soon as you do you’re committed. Whether you know it or not… Read More →

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That’s So American

October 11, 2011 · by Nikki

Here it is, the moment all of you (Americans) have been waiting for: the follow up to my Fact & Fiction about the French post! Or in other words, a giant list of sometimes funny, sometimes surprising stereotypes that the French have about Americans.

Americans are friendly
Americans are fat
Americans always have a coffee or tea in their hand (and only drink Starbucks)
Americans eat the same foods over and over
Americans are loud
American girls are easy (putting it lightly)
Americans are good in business (see what I said about surprising? Clearly no one is paying attention to the economy in the US)
Americans eat all the time (some of them have developed this stereotype by being around me…)
Americans alone are great company, but in a group they are obnoxious
Americans eat a lot of hamburgers/cheeseburgers
Americans are ignorant (i.e. they don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the world)
Americans only drive big cars/SUVs
Americans cannot drive manual transmission vehicles
Americans are generally unhealthy, and take a pill for everything
American men always wear t-shirts under a button-up (very atypical of European style)
A lot of Americans have guns

Try to take these with a grain of salt, if you can. The thing I find interesting is not what the French think of Americans, but why. Maybe it’s from movies, television shows, or the news. Or maybe it’s what they’ve learned from personal encounters with Americans. In any case, not all of these are true, but some of them are – at least some of the time. And there’s a good chance I’ll continue to add to this list as I hear more “Americans are …” statements.

And maybe the next time you hear someone say “All French people all smoke cigarettes,” you can be reminded of the time you heard that the French think Americans always eat the same foods, and you can laugh and know that it’s probably not quite like that… 🙂

Ciao!

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4 Nights, 20 Hours of Sleep: Amsterdam in a Nutshell

October 7, 2011 · by Nikki

Who needs sleep when you have Amsterdam?

This year’s annual ESOMAR Congress took hundreds of market research professionals to Amsterdam in the middle of September. If this doesn’t sound like a recipe for mayhem, you clearly don’t know the market research industry (or you don’t know Amsterdam).

Of course, as I was traveling to Amsterdam for business and was accompanied by some colleagues, I wasn’t able to take a lot of time to explore, but I certainly did my best to make the most out of my time–like not sleeping much so I could be sure to get some play time in after work time was done. To give a better understanding of how I got to know this city during my short stay, here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:

Bicycles... everywhere!

The scenery inside an Indonesian restaurant

A little mustache party to keep things interesting

A quick snapshot of dinner at Segugio, an amazing Italian place near the city Center

Like London, I’ll need to re-visit Amsterdam in order to have a more complete understanding of the city, but my initial reactions are mixed. On the whole, Amsterdam feels disjointed, with exuberant positive energy trying to mesh with a dismal gloom that hangs over the city. There are parts of Amsterdam that were so friendly and vibrant, while other parts that seemed so very dismal – even when it wasn’t raining (which was rarely). Undoubtedly there’s a lot I didn’t get to see or do, but my run-in with one red-light alley (not the entire district), numerous canals, coffeeshops (as a spectator ONLY), and bicycles EVERYWHERE leaves me without a solid opinion.

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Five Tips for Packing Like A Pro

October 4, 2011 · by Nikki

For most people, packing is probably one of the most unpleasant parts of traveling. But since becoming a Perpetual Passenger, I’ve got this annoying “art” down to a science. Here are some simple tips I try to stick to when loading my luggage that are pretty universal:

Pack light! Bring only what you need and you won’t find yourself lugging your weight in clothing or sitting on your suitcase to get it closed.
Go with what you know! One way to make sure you pack light is to bring outfits you’ve warn before that you know fit well and that you feel comfortable in. Why bring “options” when you’re probably only going to end up wearing your tried-and-true favorites anyway?
Think with your feet! Men are already doing this – and it’s time us ladies caught on. Find one (or two at the most) pair of shoes that jibe well with a lot of your wardrobe and that are comfortable. Nothing takes up more useless space than several pairs of shoes, and when half of those shoes hurt your feet and only match with one outfit, you’ll be wishing you brought those practical pumps you usually wear.
Keep your toiletries together! Since security regulations now require all liquids that will be brought on board an airplane in your carry-on luggage be 3.1 oz or less and kept in a clear plastic bag (no larger than 1 quart), why not go out and get travel sized toothpaste, deodorant, perfume and hand lotion and keep everything in a clear bag as required? Better yet, get it all together now and leave it in your suitcase, never taking it out except to use when traveling and when going through security. That way, you never have to worry about packing those things or making sure you’ve got what you need. (I actually go one step further and keep an extra toothbrush in with my toiletries. I hate arriving somewhere and realizing I didn’t bring a toothbrush!)
Plan your carry-on wisely!
1. Think about what you’ll be bringing on the plane with you, and what you’ll want to have access to. Will you be using a laptop? A book? Are you bringing toiletries? Be sure to pack anything that you will want to access while on the plane or in security in an easy-to-reach location. I personally put my toiletries in the front most pocket of my carry-on suitcase with nothing else on top of it so I can easily reach in and grab it, and have my laptop unburied in my tote.
2. Also – If you are checking luggage (which I don’t recommend and almost never do unless I have to), make sure to keep the essentials in your carry-on! Have those toiletries, a clean set of clothes and any important documents on hand in case your luggage goes AWOL. Those lost-luggage horror stories aren’t just the stuff of legend…

When I follow these steps, packing goes from being a pain to easy peasy. So try it out, and maybe you can get on to enjoying your destination instead of brooding over how to organize your bags. 🙂

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