French Class Questions

Hello there Classes of Mme Zicarri!!!

I wanted to answer your questions in the last blog but couldn't remember what they were, so figured that I can just answer them in a blog itself. In regards to the French 3 questions: I must say that I have been really surprised with how clean this city is!! One would imagine with all of the dogs and all of the people that it would be very dirty but it isn't!! Every morning when I leave early, there are people hired by the city that are hosing down and scrubbing the pedestrian areas and cleaning them off for a new day!! So the streets have rarely ANY garbage on them. There is the occasional pile of dog droppings but that is inevitable throughout the day. Otherwise, everything is very clean and you wouldn't even know that you were in a city. The air feels a lot more clean than in NYC or Boston as well and I have tried to figure out why since I got here. My guesses are a combination of things. First of all, not a lot of people drive here so there aren't as many gas fumes and smells in the city. Second of all, the tramways are above-ground and run on cables so there is never any gas or smell emitted from the public transportation. And finally, there aren't any big factories in or near the city. I am sure that there are factories around here somewhere, but I haven't seen a single one and thus the smoke and smells from those aren't sensed here in the city either. It is a beautiful place and you would NEVER guess that you were in a city!! In regards to the strangest thing that I have eaten, yesterday provided me with some things to share on THAT topic. We climbed a mountain and had a picnic partway up and the picnic was BIZARRE!! We each got half of a baguette and then we all tried bull sausage (which looked red and raw and disgusting and i couldnt bring it to my mouth), paté made from duck fat with shreds of duck meat, liver of SOMETHING (who knows what) with spinach--my favorite of it all because it tasted like a meatball if you shut your eyes--and then this other thing that I dont even know the name of but I had to spit out. Then we had different types of cheese and then fruit and chocolate. Those meats were CERTAINLY the strangest things I have ever eaten!!
For the French 1 Class: Surprisingly enough, not a lot of people smoke here. I think the high price of cigarettes has definitely taken a toll on the smoking population and it is RARE to find someone pull a cigarette from a pack in their purse. However, the people that I have found smoking here generally buy their own liners and "stuff" to put in them, which can be worse for those standing by. It is definitely more cost efficient and common to see someone rolling their own cigarette or such than to see anyone buying/smoking cigarettes from "un tabac". Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised by the LACK of smoking!! I will be sure to take some pics during dinner and of nearby "boulangeries" and "patisseries" for everyone!! Thanks for your questions!!