We interrupt our coverage of America’s rapidly disintegrating economy to bring you news of another problem unraveling overseas. Jessica Roy, the earnest youngster who decamped to Paris for a semester abroad after writing a piece for us about a harrowing encounter she had with New York’s young literary scene back in July, is thus far not so enamored with the City of Light, either. She wrote an essay about it for the Huffington Post today. Quelle est le probleme?
Upon landing in Paris I promptly realized that everything was different; even small things, like strange-tasting toothpaste and a startling lack of tofu. My French skills weren’t as good as I had thought: normal French people don’t speak painfully slowly and enunciate every syllable like your high school world languages teacher. As a vegetarian and someone allergic to most dairy, eating food other than carbs was almost certainly out of the question. So baguettes and Nutella and lettuce heads it was. A few days in I started crying in the dairy aisle of my local grocery store when I realized I didn’t know the words for “soy milk” and was too embarrassed to ask.
No tofu? Mon Dieu! Don’t fret, little one. And hang onto one of those baguettes. You might need it when you come back Stateside.
Jessica Roy, Welcome To Paris [HuffPo]
