Post #15

Today I also got to visit the Reuters newsroom, since one of my teachers is the head European economics reporter. We got to listen in (I would say “sit in” but we had to stand crammed around some desks) on a staff meeting. The Bureau Chief talked to us about his career, the different levels/types of bureaus and how the work differs at each level, and what skills are important for a news agency (macro economics knowledge, blech) We also got to talk people from the video and photography departments. It was definitely the most interesting “field trip” I have gotten to take here. A lot of unorganized desks, a maze of offices, and newspapers/press release/magazines everywhere.

On Monday our class visited the Invest in France Agency. It is a government agency that tries to recruit foreign companies to invest monetarily or physically in France. They gave us the fanciest presentation (and the best reception.) But that visit wasn’t as “fun” since we are required to write a story of our choice about it, which meant a lot of note scribbling. I have one more class tomorrow, and then spring break!!!! I am looking forward to relaxing some. I also plan on knocking out as many stories/presentation/papers as I can. I also hope to take a few day trips (Lille, Reims, Versailles) if possible.

Today in my French class, we were discussing Easter traditions that people may have in their home country. I talked about how every year, my mom makes a cake in the shape of a bunny and how my sister and I decorate it with jelly beans (which coincidentally, there is no word for “jelly bean” in French because they don’t exist here-which lead to me trying to describe them. I don’t know how well I did “a small candy that is very colorful,” but when you think about it, they are hard to describe to someone who has never heard/seen of them) And then a girl from Singapore asked why we made the cake in the shape of a rabbit. And I said for the Easter Bunny, of course. This prompted more explanation and a lot of giggles/curiosity from my classmates (particularly the Asians.) On an unrelated note, I saw French marshmallows for the first time today—they are very square and are white and light pink for some reason.

The French have adapted many, many English words: hot dog, shopping, email, jogging, cool, rap/rock/jazz etc, hamburger, sandwich, brunch…the list goes on.
My favorite word frenchified is probably iPod (I can’t even type it—eeePahhhd) or hot dog (haute dooogh) “Brunch” was the funniest, as I was talking to a German girl in French (welcome to my daily confusing clash of cultures/languages) and she was telling me about her plans of brunch with some friends. She asked me if I knew “brunch;” if we had such a word in English. I think I looked at her for a good 10 seconds before I was like, well, YES since it’s a combination of “breakfast” and “lunch” in English. And then she apologized a bunch of times, but that story always makes me laugh.