un peu.

des petites reflections on paris, part one:

1. the cost of living is exorbitant. though my mom says (don't worry, i bbm her all day every day) that it is because they consume less - and definitely less conspiculously, absolutely everything i buy is much more expensive here. including lotion, which has to be disposable because sometimes you run out.

2. previous statement excludes cheese, bread, and wine - all of which are available for less than 3 euro.

3. the only person who has been rude to me was we were walking down the street, our first 24 hours in paris, totally lost, and laughing about it, an american (or at least perfect, unaccented english) said "girls [which boils my grits to begin with.], if you want to fit in, you better talk quieter." which leads to...

4. people are very nice and impressed (for the most part) if you try to speak french. this includes: waiters at restaurants, homestay families, people that sell you french cell phones, and people on the street. does not include professors in our program, who think we speak too much english.