Lectures, Grievances, and Missing Hunks of Plastic

So the country is starting to show me its true colors (not that it hasn't already, but these are a few of the instances where I'm the one experiencing them). First up: my host lady, Louise. (I'm going to call her host lady and not host mom because quite frankly, she's like a cool aunt or something similar- not really 'motherly') Louise is a very nice little French lady who loves to talk about her past marriages and travels and how hard life in Paris/France can be when compared with other cities/nations. She has been nothing but kind, caring, and welcoming. At the end of the day, though, she is French. And the French have no problem expressing their opinions, as she did with Nicolas Sarkozy a few days ago. Anyway, the other night, I let Louise know that I wouldn't be here this weekend, that I would be going to London with a friend. She thought this was great- she has studied in London and thinks its the best city on the planet. She started telling me everything I should/needed to do, and as usual I listened politely and nodded along. When she said I needed to get to the train station early, I said "No, we're not taking the train, we're flying there." Then, she looked at me funny, and basically started lecturing me (which I absolutely hate- ask my parents) about how far the airport is from the city center, and I'll need to get a taxi, and taxis are expensive, how the train would have been much better, etc. OK 1. I'm not one to just book travel and not know anything beforehand about where I'm going. I know the airport is far, but there is a decently priced coach bus that takes you into the city center. 2. Said bus runs continuously 24 hours/day, making it easy to return to the airport to catch our early flight on Monday morning (and by early, I'm talking 6am). 3. Yes, the train may have been easier, but the idea of the Chunnel kinda freaks me out, no lie. 4. We're college students- we were looking for the cheapest mode of transportation. EasyJet, the Southwest Airlines of European aviation, was the least expensive option, even with the bus transfers to and from the city center. After she was finished telling me how ridiculous I was (not in so many words, but you get the picture), we went on with the rest of our dinner as if nothing happened- which nothing did happen, in her mind, since conversing in such a way is normal here. Flash forward to tonight, when she gave me a pretty detailed map of the city (complete with Underground map) and a little booklet on London of all the up-an-coming places and events that I could check out when I'm there. Like I said, she really is a very nice lady.

UPDATE: I apologize for the rant- bad days happen. Louise was even nice enough to buy me a bag of cookies to take with me. She really cares about the girls that stay with her, and I know she was just showing her concern over my plans. My bad.

Next up in my indoctrination process was losing a personal effect on the Metro. Today, my phone went missing as I was making my way to the ISA office. I'm not quite sure if I was picked off or it fell out of my coat pocket, but I'm pretty sure it fell out of my pocket since there wasn't really anyone around me with the exception of one of my friends and my pocket isn't too deep on my jacket. And naturally, I lose my phone just before I leave for London on Friday and I really have no way of contacting people with the exception of pay phones. WONDERFUL. Granted, there are worse things that could have happened than losing the phone that I really don't use that much anyway, but its definitely an annoyance at the moment.

And I'm getting tired of not being able to think for myself in my classes. My French language class is pretty cut-and-dry, as is my French history class- all names and dates. My two art history classes work pretty much the same way- there's no room for interpretation or personal opinions, as the professors will basically tell you that you're wrong. I usually hate it when a professor from back home asks me what I think of a certain subject or topic, but I think I'm starting to miss it- classes are starting to feel a bit robotic here.