DIFFERENCES

8/12

SO, I thought I'd write a little blog about the differences between Australia and France:

1. SCHOOL HOURS

So, we go to school on average from 8.30 - 4.30. So don't go complaining to me about your 9.00-3.00! The upside is that we get an hour for lunch, so me and Eva go home and watch 'Friends' - in French of course! :D

But today, I honestly fell asleep during class! I was even dreaming!

Good thing it was only the biology teacher.

Him: (In French) You follow Eva in all of her classes?

Me: Huh? I mean... oui. ^_^

Him: It is boring for you?

Me: Yesssss, a lot of the time.

I'd like to give you all a description of my teachers:

~ Physics/Chem: A woman who speaks with a horrible accent according to everyone, likes to shout at the class, and you can never get a smile out of her! I got a tiny one yesterday, though I think it was just the way her mouth was moving as she said "merci".

~ History/Geography: One of those men whom you can't tell if he is gay or not... He has the potential though haha. We get to have breaks when he's had enough of the class or needs to have a smoke. Don't like him much - I can't read during his class. -_-

~ Philosophy: A very agreeable woman, she told me how much she loves Jane Austen, so she gets brownie points for that. The only thing is, she REALLY needs to wash her hair...And shave her armpits! D:

~ Biology: A relitavely nice man, who doesn't mind if I text/fall asleep in his class. Today he was teaching us using plastic trees and giraffes, I don't know why! *giggles*

~ Maths: This lady is quite nice, but if she gets annoyed you'll hear about it. She likes to tell Eva off a lot, just because she talks to me! :S

~ Italian: This woman is really cute - She speaks beautiful Italian, and beautiful French. Unfortunately, she doesn't speak a word of English.

~ English: Well, this is OBVIOUSLY my favourite class! The teacher makes me pronounce things all the time so I feel kinda pro. Everyone loves me in that class haha. :)

But no, I do not like French school very much. All the kids are really nice though, and I'm starting to understand more of their conversations. :D

The School Hall :)

2. FOOD AND EATING HABITS

I think for this one we'll do a small comparison:

Australia:
- 7.30am: The occasional breakfast, if I have time
- 10.30am: Recess
- 12.50pm: Lunch
- 4.00pm: Afternoon tea
- 6.30pm: Dinner

France:
- 8.00am: Breakfast
- 12.30pm: Lunch
- 4.30pm: Afternoon tea
- 8.30pm: Dinner (The time is on average, sometimes we eat even later)

So as you can see,
I AM ALWAYS HUNGRY ! ! !

Also, the food in France is sometimes very different !
I LOVE the cheese, yoghurt and croissants ;D
But I'm a bit hesitant about the paté...You don't know what that is? Here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2t%C3%A9

The paté I'm going to try at Christmas is the most famous one: Frois Gras.
Basically what they do is stuff food down the throat of a geese until it dies, and then they cut out the liver and you eat it! Sounds delicious right? Well the french love it....

Frois gras; in english "fat liver"

3. THE LANGUAGE

Yeah yeah, I know, you're thinking "well obviously". But I have NEVER heard speaking THIS fast! I mean, you think I talk at the speed of light? Nope, the french do! And then it's even faster when they're excited, drunk or angry. ^_^

I like how everyone tries to talk in English to me, it's nice and much of a relief, but I really would like to speak some French! Hopefully I will soon - I've been doing a lot of listening just no speaking, except when a person speaks no English at all! The French use a lot of English words as I said before; One I picked up was that a geek is called a "no life" in France! :D

4. CHRISTMAS
I tell you what, the french go all out for Christmas! There is:

- Christmas Markets: Each year there is a theme of a different country! This year the chosen country was Canada, so there's all of the Canadian flag everywhere!

- Ice skating: IT'S THE CUTEST THING EVERRRRRR! There's one outside the town hall that everyone goes to, I really want to try it!

- Christmas Mass: Even if you're not Catholic, EVERYONE goes to Christmas Mass. It's in any church of Rouen (so you have a wide choice), and it happens late at night so you go with your family. Very pretty and intruiging, even if you don't understand. ^_^

5. THE KEYBOARDS

A regular keyboard

AZERTY Keyboard

I honestly doubt you can tell the difference, but the AZERTY keyboard allows you to use accents for French words, but some of the letters are in completely different spots! It's like, WHERE THE HELL IS THE FULL STOP? D:

I'm pretty much used to it now though, it was difficult at first!

Anyway, that's the things I've noticed that are different in Rouen. Week 2 update coming soon!

à bientot!

Dani. xoxo