How to Survive in France

I thought it would behoove each and every one of you to get a feel of the ins and outs of everyday French life. Consider this post my contribution to your education.

When you leave the house, of course you'll need to bring money. Things are expensive here, so you'll need a lot of money. In France, the currency is the euro (abbreviated €). Prices are usually written with the whole numbers before the € and the cents after (for instance, "5€40"). They switch around when they use commas and decimals here, so you may also see "5,40€" or something along those lines. You'll often see prices that are multiples of 20 (like 40 or 80) instead of multiples of 25 (like 50 or 75) because there is no 25 cent coin.

Problem is, everything 2€ and under is in coin form. It gets pretty darn heavy, plus you want to have pockets in which to keep all those coins! There are coins for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, & 50 cents. There are also coints for 1 and 2 euros.
The bills are all different colors and sizes. The bigger the bill, the more it's worth. (Dan loves his money clip.)

Don't forget your key when you leave! If you live in a place like ours, you have an ancient skeleton key to get into your apartment. To get into the building, you have to enter a "digicode" on a pad outside the main door. Hi tech meets low tech.

To get around you'll walk a lot. When you're going a little further, you'll take the Metro (short for "Metropolitain"). The metro is super easy. The stops are all very clearly marked. You just have to look for one of the signs, which come in a few different designs. Here's one:(I would avoid this one, though, because the actual stop is in Montmartre high on a hill WAY above where the trains travel. The stairs to get out are ENDLESS!!!!)

You can buy a single metro ticket, a "carnet" of 10 tickets, or a "carte orange." The carte orange comes in weekly or monthly varieties, and is the best deal if you'll be around for a while. Pictured here are a carte orange (the actual card), the ticket you use with your carte orange, and a single ride ticket (which is actually lavendar, but didn't turn out in the photo).Sidenote: they only use graph paper here. Notebooks are all filled with graph paper, not "notebook" paper. Dan loves it.

Unlike many places I've been in the US, only 1 train arrives per platform. You don't wait at the platform with everybody else searching for your particular train. Instead, you follow the signs for your specific train in your specific direction. The Metro tunnels are all tiled in white, so they have this odd "clean vs. dingy" thing going on.

If you get hungry, you can buy something from the vending machines in the metro (though I wouldn't recommend it). To back up my "portions are actually huge in France" theory, check out these 2-packs from the vending machine. They even sell Twix in 2-packs. That's like 4 Twix!!

In LOTS of buildings and public places, you have to watch your step. The stone staircases are so old, they've been worn down by years of people walking on them. They all kinda lean back and have dips in them.

When you go to the Eiffel Tower, you will be surprised at how broad the bottom of it is. Just saying.

After your extensive walking, you'll probably get hungry. You can get something to eat at a crepe or panini stand (cheapest), a cafe (not great selection, mostly for drinks and hanging out), a brasserie (think Dan's sausage and saurkraut), or a restaurant (ooh lah lah). They all have to post their menus outside, which really helps. They also offer either "formule" or "menu." Don't ask for a menu, because it's not a sheet of paper. It's a meal. Formule is your choice of either appetizer and main course or main course and dessert. Menu is appetizer, main course, and dessert. Only certain items are available on the formule or menu. Also, "entree" is an appetizer, not an entree like in the US.(notice the comma instead of a decimal point, and the use of "entree")

I don't have a picture of this, but everyone here drinks this thing called "Orangina." It's like sprite or squirt mixed with orange juice. There's actually pulp in there. I thought this was cool, until I discovered that all the pulp was settling in the bottom of the can, but I couldn't shake it because it's a caffeinated drink. What a pickle.

If you've made it this far, congratulations! You will survive in France! Dan and I are going to Nice this weekend. We're looking forward to our trip the beautiful Mediterranean coast! They only had first class train tickets left, so we'll let you know how that goes, too.