Sales and Shoes

I feel like the only thing I've done since coming to France is shop. The January sales in Aix are amazing, and dangerous. Virtually everything is at least half off, and I've already exchanged a few euros for some new boots, a jacket, a purse, and some other essentials. Now maybe if I don't open my mouth, I can blend in a little bit more.

It snowed this weekend and half of the stores closed down. The Aixois seem to have some strange fear of snow. It's been fun explaining to them that I come from a much colder place where we like snow. (I get weird looks when I say that.) Talking about snow usually leads to a conversation about where I come from, where I explain that I'm not from New York or California, and although I live in Detroit, I don't live anywhere near Detroit when I'm not at school. The other night, when talking to some French guys for about five hours, I actually whipped out the "Michigan hands" and pointed out where I live and go to school. And it took a lot of broken English, French, and a cell phone distance converter to explain that the two hands/peninsulas are not connected, the Mackinac Bridge is really long, and the upper hand/UP is NOT Canada.

Today I was supposed to have class, and I walked all the way there, sat in an empty classroom for twenty minutes with a few other students, and realized that class had been canceled. I guess the predictable thing about the French is that they are unpredictable.