Study Abroad Day 6: My unpleasant encounters with French culture

Hi everyone! I woke up this morning with my leg muscles hurting like hell from yesterday. I was definitely not looking forward to get up for my first day of class at all! But I managed find the energy to get up, take a shower, have breakfast, and of course go to school (which is literally across the street). I arrived there about 15 mins before class started, just to make sure I was on time. My first class would be Introductory French, which I was pretty excited about. Unfortunately, class turned out to be everything but what I expected...

Although I have taken French classes in the past, it was such a long time ago I decided to start all over this summer with a clean slate by taking a French course. Unfortunately, Introductory French turned out to be way more advanced than I had anticipated! Apparently there was also a required placement test you had to take, if you did not complete the (real) basic French course. Just my luck... I had not taken the test, I was not in possession of the (extravagantly costing) textbook, and I was behind about 7 chapters. Needless to say I decided to (probably) drop out of this course, and enroll into another.

I was so bummed out that I decided to get some greasy Chinese takeout for lunch. Unfortunately the squid was not available. One of my classmates insisted I tried the poutine sold by the neighbouring foodtruck. I had been looking forward to try out a Quebec poutine for months before arrival, but when I finally got here I was feenin for healthy food instead. It is kind of strange, I am not sure how to explain it. There are way too many choices in unhealthy foods and snacks, and such low prices involved, it is overwhelming to me to such an extent that I do not even bother choosing between them and opt for something healthy instead.

But okay, my day started out kind of rough so I thought what the heck, let me get this task (eat poutine) on my to do list out of the way. For those that are not familiar with this Canadian dish, it is basically just a portion of fries covered with gravy and chunks of cheese. Kind of like a Dutch kapsalon, just with gravy instead of shoarma, and a different kind of cheese on top. Oh, and course the absence of a salad.

The poutine was good, but certainly not aaall that. I would choose a good shoarma kapsalon over it any day (or my homemade poutine). The cheese was not "cheesy" enough for my taste, I prefer cheese melted. Btw, what is up with the big portions here? I ordered a small, and I got all of this! I did not finish it tbh... Instead I ate some noodles and low fat crackers, lol.

In the evening me and my classmate went to a "bring your own food picnic" in the garden of her residence hall. We met a few cool people from around the world and educated them on things that Amsterdam has to offer tourists other than weed. Seriously though, (1) weed is NOT legal in the Netherlands (which is the biggest misconception I think)—we simply have a 'gedoogbeleid', and (2) no we do not smoke kush all day long! Plus, the only people I have heared of spazzing over a joint are people from abroad whose bodies cannot handle the amount of pot they smoke. Blame them for not knowing their limits, not the weed.

X

Sefanja Rubina