"'Ay, America!! smooch!"

The Rite of Passage that Everyone Complains About (But Everyone Secretly Likes)

Today was a special day. As I was waiting for friends outside on the street, I had my first experience with some overt French flirting. As I said before, a sweatshirt is a dead give-away that you're from the U.S. As I tried to look nonchalant in my sweats on the street corner, a car of guys drove by, saying, "-Ay, America!!" & making kissing noises. And so I experienced my first France right-of-passage. We girls have been strongly discouraged from smiling at strangers...lest we be chased by these sophisticated, well-dressed men, forced to give them our phone numbers, left with no choice but to let them take us out to dinner & profess their love for us, eventually leading to adorable Francophone children & family life in a French vinyard. You can see how terrible with would be, n'est-ce pas? 

Dinner with a Retired Swim Judge

Vanderbilt hooks us up with older couples that we have dinner with 4 times a week. Tonight was our first dinner & what an experience! Monsieur & Madame Bach make an adorable couple. He's retired but is still a judge for swim meets (convenient for my conversation).

America has a weird & impersonal way of doing dinner. Most of the time, people take their food into their bedrooms, in front of the TV, etc. Even the extraordinary families that do eat together every night, usually sit down only long enough to insert their food, & then return to whatever solitary activity they were doing before dinner (homework, etc). 

Not so in France. Discussion around the dinner table is arguably the most important part of the day; as they themselves say, debate is the national sport of France. Monsieur Bach says that it's imperative to have a good, long dinner discussion, because it's the only time during the day you take to truly relax & connect with the people you care about. Dinner typically lasts an hour or 2 (or 3). 

In America, all the food is put on the table at the beginning of the meal, & it's more or less a free-for-all. But in France, each course of dinner gets its own time to shine. First there's the entree...you wait till everyone's finished, & then cheese and salad are brought out...Wait till everyone's done, & then dessert comes out. It's not uncommon to serve multiple types of dessert, too, & sometimes each dessert gets its own course.

After dessert, the French don't run away from the table. They digest, they get personal, they discuss politics & religions & sexism & racism & fine wine, they wax poetic...they marinate with each other. And no matter what controversial position you take on an issue, nobody holds it against you the next day. It is a closeness that is both uncomfortable & beautiful.