Well as good as our intentions were today to get things done, things did not go exactly as planned? We slept in some, and I felt way better when I woke up, yay!
Had some good Jesus time, then we headed to town to get lunch and go get our monthly Twisto pass(the tram and bus system here). Turns out you need a picture of yourself, so we left to return on monday sometime, with a picture..fail #1.
SO then we headed to the bank because they needed to see our student cards when we got them, but it turns out we were an hour late and they close early on Saturdays. Fail #2.
So we went to Carrefour and got some vegetables for dinner and a few breakfast bars because we have been lacking in breakfasts, and as many of you know, I am a strong advocate for eating breakfast! So now I shall have breakfasts! Win #1.
SO we headed back to our rooms to go sign up for laundry times, and the front desk is closed on saturdays. Fail #3. NO laundry done this weekend. Ew?
So we head to town to find some Ugg boots for Genesis. We go in like 5 different stores, no Ugg boots. Fail #4.
After about an hour of window shopping and such we head back to make dinner of bow tie pasta, broccoli, onions, garlic, and potatoes. And our burner starts beeping at us randomly in the middle of our cooking and refuses to work. Fail #5.
So we go to the level below us and use their kitchen! Yay the broccoli finished cooking. Win #2.
So we eat and listen to music and it was delicious because we added some herbs/spices this time to our pasta. Heh we are becoming more adventurous with our cooking hah. I showed them some of my favorite bands, like Adele, City and Colour, etc. And both Genesis and Noelle sing and love musicals/Broadway, so they were showing me their favorite songs in that genre haha. fail/win # 1. So different.
After, The Cousin of the family that Genesis is staying with invited us over to hang out at her place for a while. She is only 21 and has been hanging out with Genesis for the past week a lot. So we walked over to her apartment that she shares with her friend. It was only like a 5 minute walk! WIn #3.
How much fun! They were having a drink or so and eating pizza when we got there so we all just sat on the couches they had and just talked for hours. Mostly in French, but all of them understood some English and the 2 guys that were there could speak English if it was at a slow pace (The same for me in French) so conversation flowed very smoothly. They told us a lot about the culture in France and the ideologies and such. Like for example. No one goes to church. They said the only people who do are old people in their 60's who are very religious, but virtually none of their generation do and that is the norm for france.
Also most couples have kids and let them grow up some before getting married! So backwards from our culture. I had already recognised that some just by seeing a lack of wedding bands on the families on the tram and such, but they said that that is routine for familes in France. Also the divorce rate is at 50%. Also most kids start drinking around 16, and the statistic is girls there have sex when they are 13 years old. Guys when they are 11 I think? That is not a guy but a young boy :(. And when Genesis mentioned she had been with her boyfriend for 5 years and they hadn't had sex yet they were floored. Completely shocked. They could not believe that you could go 5 years. They said in France many people have sex the first night they meet and most people have a lot of 'experience' I guess you would say. How crazy. Basically, they were saying that it is just very liberal and free and their generation likes it that way. In the large cities, nothing is a shock to anyone, but in the smaller towns, just like in America, there are still things like homosexuality and stuff that is a shock to people. It relates some to America, but France is much more liberal, and much less diversified in their beliefs. Like in the States, although there is all the Sex, Drinking, and Athiesm, there is also the people who abstain and are practicing Christians. Not in France. There is no other side, virtually everyone is the same.
THey were saying this in a very nice educating way. Not preachy or trying to convince us their way was better or whatever, it was so interesting to just hear from local French people how the way of life is for them, how they see it. And they got to hear how we are in America some (we mostly focused on France). They even commented how people in the States are more religious/practicing. "Puritan" they said hahaha, but that did not translate like they liked.
Anyway, we did not get back to the dorm until around 1:45 am becasuse we just talked for hours at their apartment, but I hope we do it again! They like to practice their English, and vice versa for us hah. Definitely hard to wrap my mind around some of the norms for the people here though. Wow.
super interesting
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