Guest Post by @candicewalsh
My work days are filled with tedious documentation and loads of research. Sometimes I’m so absorbed in my work, an entire day passes before I realize I haven’t spoken a word to anyone. But then some days my boss announces the company is sending me to France for two weeks.
Those days feel pretty great.
Unfortunately, when I started out on my first ever solo travel journey in May 2009, I was not at all connected to the online travel world like I am today. Not only was I visiting a country where I couldn’t speak the language, but I had to find my way to Brittany and into one of the most remote little towns I have ever visited.
And since I routinely find myself in ridiculous situations regardless of country or language, this trip had all the ingredients for humiliation. Lucky you. Here are some surprises I should have known before-hand.
1. The cheek kiss.
Imagine this: It’s the first day on the job in your company’s overseas office. You’re being introduced to everyone, colleagues you’ve only ever associated with through email. You’re discovering that most of the men are incredibly attractive. A pretty blonde boy with big brown eyes leans in extremely close to your face. You leap back like a scalded cat.
The cheek kiss. Dear god how did I not expect the cheek kiss? It caught me entirely by surprise, yet I had known about it for years. The invasion of space was so surreal, I didn’t know how to react.
But after a few days, I absolutely loved it. The personal relationships shared between my colleagues was the exact opposite of those shared in Canada. Every morning they came into work and greeted one another with the kiss. I found myself looking forward to it once I got over my “space” issues.
2. Deceptive food labels.
I know “milk” en francais is “lait”, seriously. I do. But for some reason I hauled a carton off the shelf automatically assuming it was milk because it resembled the cartons in Canada. A day or two later, I cracked open the seal, poured a glass, and took a huge gulp.
Sour cream. Thick-ass, sour, sour cream. I can still taste it.
Read food label. Carefully.
3. Local advice is not always the best (or any advice, really).
The town I was staying in, Lorient, was practically impossible to research in English. The only information I could find basically warned me to stay away. Even my coworkers shrugged their shoulders and said, “Meh, there’s really not much to do here. Small town.”
Then one day, the office ladies took me for ice-cream in the center city. The whole town opened up into a freaking shopper’s paradise, huge plazas and sidewalk shops and clothing lines unheard of in my part of the world. Cafes on the sidewalks and gelato booths everywhere.
What appears to be dull to some people is fresh and exciting to others.
4. Language ignorance.
I studied French for over 10 years in school, but not in an immersion school. While I have a good solid grasp of conversational basics, I was completely unprepared for the difficulty of applying my knowledge to everyday life. Basically, I got lost in the train station immediately upon arrival in Lorient, wandered around for an hour crying, and began mentally seeking the best bench to sleep on.
The whole experience discouraged me so much, I actively avoided trying to speak French for the remainder of the trip. Most of my time was spent in my little apartment being bored and lonely.
Do not do this. Throw yourself into conversation even if you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Pamplemousse, s’il vous plait. Oui oui.
Did I learn anything from all this? Perhaps. I’ll be heading back to France this year for a few weeks, we’ll see how I fare in round two.
About Candice
Candice Walsh, of Candice Does The World, is a technical writer for a deep sea technology company and an associate editor at Matador Network. When she isn’t writing about sonar equipment, she’s shooting whiskey and hitting on men, or eating nachos and dreaming about travel. She’s currently stationed in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1b822512-28ff-4141-86cf-22cb8ae82df7)
I guess the only way is to keep on erasing them. But hey that’s too much of a work. He needs to...
How weird is it that this sounds like heaven to me?! As much as I've fallen in love with other countries now (MEXICO!!) I still have such a strong desire to go to France and never return.
Hahahaha no Trisha, honest, underneath all this red hair there's actually a blonde! And that same man actually swept me off my feet for two weeks. Sigh. But that's a different story.
Chris, I really wish I knew when I'll be in France so I could meet up with you and Gerard.
Christine, you're 100% right, but I really did love Paris too.
Candice I'm stunned that even with 'space issues' (which we all have to some degree) you'd pull back from an attractive blond boy with big brown eyes – sounds like a treat to me! And I'm still trying to picture you pouring sour cream into a glass and not thinking “hmmm….something's wrong with this picture”….c'mon, admit it – you drink straight from the carton, don'cha? Yep, that's what I'm guessing!
LOL
I've got no problems with a cheek kiss from a gal but the guys are going to take a bit of getting used too. Lucky I'm only passing through France and not stopping for awhile, so it won't be awkward for too long.
The cheek kiss definitely takes some getting used to–in the South, it's two for strangers and three for people you know well and maybe even four if you haven't seen someone in a long time! I never know when to stop. Plus, the small towns in France are when you really experience FRANCE. Paris=amazing, but not really French. What a great experience!
Thanks for your comments folks! I'd do things a lot differently now if I were there. I mean come on, I was given a furnished BEACH APARTMENT in the middle of a seaside town. Ridiculous.
And SIX cheek kisses?! Dear god. That sounds painful.
6?! I think I might lose count and just keep going and going and going. Haha!
Lol I think someone needs to make a video tutorial on “How To Kiss In Europe.”
I get very self-conscious about my pronunciations when I'm trying to speak another language and the only I think I drank out of a carton or can is whipped cream.
Haha – that must have been so awkward. Did you ever accidentally kiss someone on the lip because you went the wrong way?
I was lucky. I lived with a family in France for 5 weeks after high school graduation. I love it. TOTAL immersion. I was not shy about speaking French. I debated issues such as teen pregnancy and why the united states is really a confederation and not a true republic. I used my dictionary and faked my way the rest of the way.
BTW, the bissou, the kiss, is still one of the best things…unless it's from a creepy old man trying to get fresh with you!
Great post.
PS the number of kisses depends on the region you are in. Traditionally it is two or three. But in some places it can be up to SIX!
Haha I never get the kiss on cheek thing right! Either I begin on the wrong side or I kiss too many or too few times… whatever it is, I always feel clumsy…
I STILL get shy having conversations in other languages. I need to get over it already, but it's my one sticking point!! I make a mess with the whole sour cream in a pouch thing here, but at least I didn't drink it. I'll never complain again! Great anecdotes, Candice!
The cheek kiss still is an issue for me, I can never remember which side first and I always go the wrong way.