I miss a lot of things about being in France, such as long lunches (which didn’t happen every day). One time, my friends and I stayed at a restaurant for four hours! I also miss the food, especially the bread and pastries. There was a bakery close to the Institut that some of my classmates and I would go to on our morning break, and my favorite thing was a coffee eclair. I also liked the milk chocolate (because it’s a lot richer); the strawberries, raspberries, and tomatoes; and these ice creams that were white-chocolate ice cream on a stick dipped in raspberry sauce (?). I also miss having three-course dinners, even at home (which was probably because it was so late). Finally, for a non-food thing, it was nice to dress up without it being weird.
I don’t miss the lack of air conditioning even though it wasn’t a problem until the last few days of the trip (when the temperatures hit the 90s). I also don’t really miss walking everywhere (but it was nice while it wasn’t hot). Other than that, there’s not much that I don’t miss.
I now have to (re)adjust to eating dinner at 6:00 instead of 8:00 and some signs (and other things) being in English and Spanish (or just English), as opposed to French and English, French plus some other language (German or Italian usually), or just French. The sun sets two hours earlier at home (which is more geography than culture, but still). Also, everything, especially grocery stores and roads, is bigger here.
Overall, I think this trip was awesome. I liked getting to experience daily life in France and seeing all kinds of cool (and old!) buildings. I can’t wait to go back!
