Extreme Thinness

Last Blog! Extreme Thinness

(picture from cnn.com)

Read the following: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/15/anorexia.france.ap/index.html?eref=edition_europe.

France is now making it illegal to incite extreme thinness. Do you agree or disagree? Do you think thinness / anorexia, etc. is prevalent in your country? What factors might contribute to it?

Relationships

(half in French, half in English)

-Describe a successful relationship that you have seen (friend, family). What makes this relationship successful? How does the successful couple deal with problems? Communication difficulties? Different interests?
-What’s the difference between a casual and serious relationship for you ?
-Pour une relation qui n’a pas de succès quels en sont les problèmes typiques?
-Qu’est-ce qui est le plus important pour toi dans une relation de couple ?
-Est-ce que la romance est importante pour toi ? Pourquoi ou pourquoi pas?

La Diversité

½ French, ½ English; 1 comment per topic (50 words each)

Dans une société multiculturelle, qui doit s'adapter? Les immigrés ou les habitants? et Pourquoi?

America... not a fan

So after a beleageringly long flight from Paris to Atlanta, we had a four hour layover before a connecting flight to Columbia. Needless to say we were all exhausted, but we did have fun in the Atlanta airport. When I got home I couldn't find my key, so I had to break in through the back door, much like someone broke into my car over break. I had to deal with that immediately, so I was understandably stressed. Add to that two tests and a project and you will understand why I look pretty rough right now.

I really miss France already; I am annoyed to be back in America. I have been to France several times since I started college and everytime I have trouble leaving. In the future I would like to work in finance in Paris, so knowing that I can not live there for a number of years is difficult. I remember last summer sitting in Charles de Gaulle Airport after a month of studying abroad and almost two weeks of touring Paris, thinking about how depressing American life would be. After a while a stopped being so melodramatic, but I still think about Paris all of the time. Luckily, I know that I will be back next year during my study abroad in Madrid, but that is such a long time to wait. Hopefully I will get to go sooner.

Daniel

I'll Be Back...

I must say, I'm glad to be back in the US.  I really missed my friends and being able to talk to my family on the phone.  I missed my bed and my shower and keeping my clothes in a closet rather than a suitcase.  However, France hasn't seen the last of me.  I'll definitely be back.  I already told my parents that I want to return to Paris to study.  My dad, the realist that he is, said to get a job.  My mom told me that somehow, she'd make sure I got back there someday soon.  

Next time I'm in France, I think I want to go with a much smaller amount of people.  Don't get me wrong, I love our French class, and I really became friends with a lot of the American and French students, but I just can't handle the whole one big group thing.  I walk too fast, I wander too far, I enjoy doing too many things alone to always be with a group.  Plus, I'm not the best at managing time, so planned group meeting spots rarely work out for me. 

Still, this trip has given me some great memories.  I haven't had many chances to travel in the past, but I can definitely tell that it will (or already has) become one of my favorite things to do.  I feel like I've made some true friends and that I've learned some things that really matter.   One thing is for sure.  France, all of Europe, any foreign land... You'll be seeing me.  Someday.

Cori

Oh I love America!

First off I would like to thank Tegan for sharing her cold with all of us, that was very considerate;) I enjoyed my time in France and I hope to go back some day, but I sure am glad to be home in my own bed, with a hot shower, and clean clothes! Like everyone else, I'm sure this first week back is just going to be spent trying to recover and some how force myself through the days. It's a bit strange to not be in France anymore though, I find myself still thinking in French, and everyone knows for me, that's a big deal.
I think everyone had a great time, and I'm very jealous of all the freshman and sophmores who got this experience so early in their college careers, so they'll have the chance to go back and maybe spend a whole semester or even a year there. I hope all of you do take the opportunity to study abroad, either in France or somewhere else, even if it's only for the summer, I definitely regret not doing that, although I don't know if you'll listen to me, since I didn't listen to everyone who told me the same thing when I was an underclassman. I just have one last thing to say...GOD BLESS AMERICA and thank you for bringing me home!

Kathryn

Back in America :(

I wanna go back so badly!! Like ASAP!! I have to be honest, it was a little different than I thought that it would be, but great all the same. The places were cool, of course, but I loved the people we met while over there. I will always remember the frenchies!! Also I love how our class got so much closer over the course of the trip. Like before, class felt kinda cold and impersonal, but now that we know each other better it should be a lot cooler. I will miss the food, too. Well, actually, I've had my fill of croque monsieurs for now. But the patisseries...oh my god, I haven't weighed myself yet but I'm pretty sure I gained a little weight :(.

So now, I'm just trying to get through the rest of the week...it is pretty difficult considering the new cold I have and still am trying to catch up on sleep. And then the papers that are due...whatever, all the catching up is totally worth the experience I had in France. My keypal lives in Tours, so I'm thinking of going on the summer trip next year and maybe meeting up with him. And now I definiely know I'll be studying abroad there...hopefully for a whole year!! Okay, bedtime already...

Amy

France me manque!! (Caroline)

Basically, I really want to go back to France...when the exchange rate improves. I'm still trying to eat like french people, having cheese with my bread/baguette or crepes with nutella (perhaps even a waffle with nutella). And today, my clothing choice was a black shirt with tan pants - I'm even dressing like the French (no color). I regret the fact that I can't wear my new scarf due to the warm and lovely weather. It's amazing how just ten days can change your perspective so much!
And of course I miss the frenchies like crazy! I love them so much! Whoever said that French people were rude and inhospitable has never actually met a french person. We had so much fun together. I only regret that we didn't spend more time together due to the fact that they had classes. And I wish I could have spent more time with my actual keypal. But I did like my host, and her adorable though entirely too playful cat, Showie (not sure of spelling)!
The only thing that I could possibly complain about was the fact that the French have a bad habit of simply standing around. They just kind of loiter in one place talking until they are already ten minutes later and then decide to go. Don't get me wrong, the talking is nice but having lived in America all my life, I have a problem with being late. Plus, after having spent an entire day on my feet, I'd kind of like to sit down.
So I love France and can't wait to go back!

C'est la vie...

So... I'm back in the States. And right now, there's nothing that I'd like more than to go back to France. I'm such a wannabe Frenchy now - I'm eating Nutella and bread for breakfast, refusing to wear color, and ridiculously frustrated by the fact that it's warm and I can't wear cool jackets and scarves and such. Americans seem really loud and obnoxious to me, and I feel like our food is just disgusting. The fact that I can no longer order a glass of wine with my meal also seems strange. Alas, so goes the world.

On the plus side, having gone to France makes me think that maybe I actually was supposed to end up at USC. If I had chosen to transfer for this semester, I never would have met all the amazing people that I did, and I wouldn't have some really really good friends in France now that I know I can always go and visit if I want to. I would not have been able to experience any of the things that I did; from Passoa to Champagne to the Troyes Cathedral to clubbing in Paris to Montmartre and the Arc de Triomphe... So I'm glad that I ended up at USC after all.

And yet, I cannot wait to go back to France. I've decided that I definitely want to do the Tours program, and I'll probably end up spending an academic year somewhere in France for my study abroad. Heck, maybe I'll end up marrying a French man and raising my children there. I feel like, somehow, the US is really far behind France. Maybe it's just that all of Europe has had so much longer to get things figured out... but no matter what it is, French culture is just so much more appealing to me than whatever melange we have going on here.

But, we'll just have to see what happens. What will be, will be.

Ciao ciao! Bisous!
~Tegan

i really miss crepes. with nutella.

I've been back in the U.S. for only about twenty-four hours now (eighteen of which were spent furiously Facebooking...jeez we all take a lot of pictures!), and I am definitely ready to go back to France. On Monday, I was definitely ready to come home, stop living out of a suitcase, and chill out in a room that would be bigger than a walk-in closet. But I'm already over all of that, and ready to hop on another 8-hour-plus flight back across the Atlantic, to the land of delicious bread...and cheese...and pastries...

I think that the French way of life that we got to experience in Troyes was the best - Paris, while amazing, was kind of overwhelming (people-wise) in the way that big cities are. Troyes was definitely more of an up-close look at the way that regular French people (and not just the ballers that are Parisians) live their life. And, while everyone talks about French people being snobby, everyone that I encountered in stores and restaurants was awesomely helpful (especially in restaurants, where Cori and I both got really nervous trying to talk to the waiter). I always practiced the questions I had to ask people before I asked them, because I wanted to make sure that I didn't accidentally ask the way to the nearest chicken farm instead of what time the next bus comes, or something like that.

There are some things about French culture that I prefer our version of; for example, TIME. They are never on it. We always are. Also, I am puzzled over how to interpret the bells of their cathedral in Troyes (take the first set, multiply by three, divide by the chimes of the third set, add the number of minutes between the third and fourth set...).

It was definitely an amazing trip full of crazy adventures, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

-Lydia

Listening to Renan Luce...

My host gave me lots of good variété française artist suggestions and listening to the French music helps me deal with my separation from France. I'm feeling sluggish and too warm. However, now I have a vast bank of memories that I can revisit any time of the day and smile and relive the moment. Like when I fell in the mud at UTT and subsequently spent 30 minutes in the bathroom cleaning myself off (I learned the word for mud that day-la boue). I laugh when I think about how even though we were practically half-conscious during the daytime due to lack of sufficient sleep, Lara and Malia cracked jokes nonetheless while Amy perfected her "Sous le pont Mirabeau" rap.

I'm pretty glad I chose to come to USC because if I hadn't then I never would have met all the people I did in France nor would I have visited Troyes at all. The city radiates the true France that is not as apparent in Paris, and it makes me happy that the French still preserve and adore their culture despite the changing world. It seems like they live in a dream. Well, the grass is always greener on the other side. What a fantastic trip!!!!!! peace out

----Katherine Lott

i went to france and all i got was a coxsachievirus infection...

So today was a pretty rough first day back- between being jet-lagged, realizing how far behind I am in classes, spending a few hours in the health center trying to get a medical explanation for my blisters/fatigue/fever, and trying to get things organized before driving home for Easter...
Even though all of us have a lot we could complain about, whether it's about how we'd rather not be in Columbia, or how annoying school is, or that all of us want to sleep all day, everyday for the rest of our lives, I am still in awe of how absolutely amazing France was and how lucky I was to have spent ten days there.
Given the chance, minus missing my friends, family, and my own bed, I would be in France right now, hands down even after having gotten some really outrageously random virus that only little kids are supposed to get (go figure eh?). I would give a lot of be walking through the Louvre right now, taking in the beauty and talent of each artist's pieces, sipping champagne with a group of friends in the country, trying to make sense of the cathedral's bell chimes in Troyes, sitting in a warm little café drinking chocolat viennois, or even being packed into the Paris metro that we all agree smells God AWFUL.
Sitting at my desk in Columbia, SC right now instead of all of those places just seems less special. Given I love the US and South Carolina for certain things (AMERRRICAAAAAA..... yeahhhh, here to save the daaaaayyyy) but the French have something going on. It's not exactly a coincidence that everyone loves France, though maybe not the French, but I have to say, on the whole, the French were pretty amazing too.
It's weird to think about missing France already, since we've been gone less then a day, but I do and I can't wait to go back there soon.

-Lara

Paris je t'aime!

So... I'm a little bit slow in sriting about this one, but I've been running all over Paris trying not to think about the fact that it could be years before I see my friends again.

Friday night we went to Club Duplex with Lip, Julien, Elodie, Maelle, and a couple of Maelle's friends from Paris. We got there at about 1 in the morning, so we all had to pay the cover charge - a hefty 20 euros per person. We then spent another 4 euros per person on coat checks. Oi VAY. That's almost 50 USD.

But, in all honesty, it was totally worth it. And no, that's not because I just went and got drunk for the whole night... we got one free drink with that cover charge, and that was DEFINITELY the end of my drinking - There's no way I'm paying 15 or 20 euros for drinks. The club itself was really really nice - three different dance floors - one with hip hop (none of the french people know the dance that goes along with Crank Dat... what?!?!?), one with techno, and one that just played a bunch of random stuff (and I'm talking truly random... I'm gettin' chills, they're multiplying, and I'm losing control, for the power you're supplying, it's electrifying!!!)

Anywho. Good music, awesome company, and a night that ended with the best Coke of my life at the only resto open 24/7 on the Champs Elysées... Quick.

~Tegan

La fin est proche...

I am not sure if that is correct grammar or not. I am too tired to look it up. Wow, Paris really takes it out of you; at the same time, once you go out you never want to stop and you force yourself to keep going so you can see as much as possible!! I got to go to the Musée D`Orsay today which was smaller than the Louvre but filled with Rodin sculptures as well as beautiful impressionist paintings by Degas, Monet, Manet, Cézanne, Van Gogh, and one of my favorites, Renoir. The paintings are so moving when you see them with your own eyes. Well, my trip to Paris is finished! I wish I could sum it up with some wise quote or something. Love ya France!

--Katherine Lott

last day...

So it is our last day in France...tear tear. The last two days in Paris have been so much fun; I really don't want to leave. Well, I do and I don't. I wont lie, I'm pretty exhausted. Especially after that walk home this morning in the rain sans umbrella. You see, the metro station at the Champs-Elysees was supposed to run until like 2 or 3, but we went at like 115 and it was closed. So we took the night bus (literally like 3 blocks away, where Sly decided it would be good to get off). And then the walk, during which we got a little lost, etc., but then finally made it back.

It has been a lot of fun in Paris, and I think three days was a pretty good amount of time to spend here. I freaking spent forever yesterday "shopping," which wore me out. I still have to get stupid souvenirs for people...hope they're not disappointed with an Eiffel Tower keychain!! 'Cuz those are about as cheap as it gets. I just hope I have time to do this last shopping. Oh yeah, and the postcards? I'll send them out when I get home, I'm not gonna worry about that.

Amy