An introduction

Ok, so I've been here in Nice for a month now and there's a post-it on my desk that says "write first blog entry". I left it there around 20 days ago. So maybe it's about time, huh?

  I'll try to stick to writing in English as opposed to French, my first language. Ahah big laughs, I can hardly speak any French.

Good.

Here's a few words about the title. A few weeks ago I went to Subway. I know, I'm in France and all that, but at 10pm you can only have a 5-euro kebab, a crappy burger at McDonalds or a French pizza. We all know where this is going.  I never particularly liked Subway back in the States, but whatever, I thought I'd give it a go. So I went in, saw how freaking expensive it was, but I didn't care this time. I happily noticed how the only other people inside were a few Americans, maybe getting away from the baguette-and-camembert world. Anyhow, I ordered my usual Italian sub (yeah, don't even comment on this) and after a while the French girl at the counter - she looked more or less my age, said to me: "Vous avez un accent, monsieur. Vous etes d'ou, par hasard?".  If we forget for a moment that she was addressing me using "vous" and "monsieur", something that I'll never get used to, I know that she didn't mean to be disrespectful or anything by making a remark on my accent. Well aware that my French isn't that good, I could have easily felt a little bit insulted or at least annoyed, but I found it funny that she used the language as an excuse to ask where I come from, when it was pretty clear that I wasn't French. 

Last year my flat mate from Colombia once said that her friends who live in Paris, no matter how perfect their French is, always get told that they still don't sound like native speakers. (Well, no big deal, I'll never pass for French!)

I remember getting lost several times in Nice and asking passers-by for directions, and getting ignored pretty much 50% of the time. Now, the only other time that happened to me was in the Bronx two years ago, and back then I thought I wouldn't try again, you know. But here it's like, you can either run into the kindest people, who will occasionally switch to English even though you used the right intonation and phrasing, or you can find people who will look at you for a nanosecond and then shamelessly turn away, or even tell you they have no clue as to where the main square is.

By the way, it's not true that everybody here refuses to speak English to you. There was a time a few weeks ago when every single person would reply to me in English. I wasn't too happy about that, but whatever! Same thing happened in Paris.  This doesn't mean that there aren't people who won't even bother trying to communicate in English with you, even after realising you're French doesn't allow you to fully express yourself. Banks, insurance companies and government offices will gladly make you sign tens of papers where you have no idea what is going on.

ANYWHO, I think it's enough for now. I believe I was going to make a point, but now I don't remember. Great. Also, if next time I add a picture or two, it'll all look nicer, huh?

Well, à la prochaine!