![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studyingabroad\/files\/2011\/10\/DSC_3303edsm-300x199.jpg\")
<\/a>"Toxic" marching band<\/p><\/div>\n
the attitude. I know a lot of outsiders see you as snobby and rude, which isn\u2019t fair and especially not true for you, the Lillois. But, come on, there\u2019s no need to over-do it and stare at anyone speaking another language as though we were some kind of rare alien that will immediately be attracted to you, using the little English you know to say: \u201cyou girls, very sexy.\u201d But then just when I\u2019m fed up with you, walking away, I turn a corner and find you\u2019ve produced a group of musicians (marching-band style) playing a wonderfully nerdy version of Britney Spear\u2019s \u201cToxic,\u201d the scene enhanced by a three-year old boy clapping delightedly.<\/p>\n
Then there are those nights like tonight, walking home, I\u2019m passed by groups of friends on their way to bars, or a couple kissing each on either side of an open window, and I begin to sense the cold, damp feeling of isolation and loneliness. This is only enhanced by the fact that autumn is now upon us, and the leaves falling in the gutters no longer resemble a warm patchwork quilt, but rather the soggy remains of breakfast cereal left, forgotten, to soak up the pool of milk at the bottom of the bowl. But then, just as I reach to button my coat up higher, I see the reflection of the lights from bars and late-night brasseries on the recently drenched cobblestones, and I am content with the relationship I have chosen.<\/p>\n
That, anyways, is what I will think of tomorrow morning as I side-step the \u201ccrottes de chien\u201d on my way to the social security office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve now been in France for almost three weeks, and I feel that our relationship is moving on to a new level, one that cannot yet be explained otherwise. Though I\u2019ve lived in France before, this experience is completely different, … Continue reading