Bonjour France!

Have you ever had an experience that you will remember for a life time? Have you ever gone somewhere that affected you greatly and had the best time of you life? Well I have. I went on a trip last summer with my French class and a terrific time that I will never forget. I traveled all around France.

            My stereotype of France was that there were a lot of painters, croissants, and coffee. While this was all true, there was so much more to the country then I ever imagined. The first area I visited was Paris. This was a very big city where I got to see much of the French culture. I got to sip on hot chocolate at a café, see the gothic style buildings, and admire how the people of France went on about their daily lives. I visited the Louvre Museum. This impacted me greatly. I got to see all the artwork by famous artists like Picasso. I’m not much of an art person, but I really appreciated the detail and how beautiful the paintings were.

            Another beautiful experience was going up the Eiffel Tower on night. When I got to the top, I could see the whole city. It was spectacular. I can’t describe it with words. I saw the amazing buildings in the distance, all the shops, all the plants, and all the ant-sized people walking around. Being on one of the greatest monuments in the world gave me a feeling that I was invincible. I was on top of the world.

            There was only one thing I discovered about France that I didn’t like: spiders still live in this country. Spiders are my worst fear. I despise their creepiness. One of the days I was walking on a French sidewalk, and I walked right into a large spider web. I screamed and freaked out. Luckily, I found the spider crawling on the ground, not me. So I was relieved. Spiders are the one bad thing about France, but everything else was really fun.

            One of my favorite experiences from my France trip was just getting to see the French culture. I enjoyed watching people having conversations in French. I’ve taken French in school for a few years, so I could understand some of the things they were saying. I tried many times to talk to someone in French. Sometimes I did fine. While other times, I got weird looks. But, I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved seeing another culture and how it was so different from my life in America. Everything was different; the cars they drove, the clothes they wore, the building, and the food.

            One of the best things I loved about France was the food. It was so delicious. There weren’t very many greasy burgers of pizza like in America. France’s popular foods are pastries, sandwiches, and red meat. The croissants are the best. They taste nothing like they do in America. They are more flakey and buttery and they just melt in your mouth. This showed me how the stereotype of French food is wrong. Its even better then I had imagined.

            I learned many things from this trip of a life time. There are so many memories I have that I will never forget. I learned how there are other ways of living then just what I know at my home. This experience allowed me to realize just how much I enjoyed experiencing new cultures, and I hope to experience many more in my future.