"It's our problem free philosophy: Hakuna Matata!"

Culture shock time!  There have been a few moments where the slight culture differences have been enough to make me relatively uncomfortable and miss the American way.  The biggest thing for me that was a shock is the communal bathroom and shower.  It’s co-ed.  In America, it’s not a breach of privacy to share a room with someone, even in college, but it is a breach of privacy to share a bathroom with guys (at least, guys who are strangers despite being your neighbors).  I’ve learned that here, sharing rooms at this age is considered encroaching on a person’s privacy, but sharing a bathroom with people of both genders who you don’t necessarily know is just fine.  I guess nudity isn’t as big of a deal here as it is in the states.  That said, I definitely stalk the bathroom and shower to wait until no one’s there before running down the hall and crossing my fingers that no one comes out of their rooms while I’m making my mad dash in my robe.  Because I’m definitely not French, so I definitely don’t want strange French guys (or girls, for that matter) seeing ALL of America =)

Another new and slightly difficult thing: I have to actually plan for my midnight cravings.  Which is difficult, seeing how I have no clue at 5:00 in the afternoon what I will be craving in 7 hours.  And my cravings are weirder and more random than a pregnant woman’s!!  But with me, it’s always safe to have chocolate on hand, and I can definitely make sure my cravings are always centered around chocolate or baked goods =)  I just can’t run to Walmart at midnight like I could at home, because the “Walmart” here isn’t open 24 hours.  And, shout out to my brother, you definitely can’t play freeze tag in the “Walmart” or malls here.  You would be kicked out faster than you could say “Freeze!”  There may or may not be slightly more severe punishment…but I’m not about to find out =)

The French aren’t attached to their televisions like Americans are.  There is one television for everyone who lives here to use.  And it’s only on when there’s a football game on (by football, I mean soccer) =)   There aren’t TVs in all of the restaurants – in fact, there isn’t a single TV in any restaurant.  You can actually spend time with people without receiving only half of their attention because they’re glued to their favorite TV show.  I’m definitely going to be a better student here, because Netflix doesn’t work outside the 50 states so I can’t waste countless hours watching reruns like I did all last semester =)

 

The most shocking thing to me is the lack of structure.  I don’t even know when this semester starts!  I have no clue what classes I’m taking, and school either starts Tuesday, some other day this week, or next Monday.  But no one really knows.  Hence the title of today’s entry: I’ve decided to just adopt the attitude of Hakuna Matata, since I have no clue what’s going on and life here is different enough to make things weird.  But weird can be good; it’s slimy, yet satisfying =)