I really think that I am just a simple girl, with simple needs…I’ve been sick and I would really like some Kleenex, I love me a bagel in the mornings and I really just like to be organized for my classes. Sadly these simple needs were unable to be fulfilled today by the Cora, proclaimed to be bigger and better than a Super-Wal-Mart…
Today we have checked into our dorms at Georgia Tech Lorraine. My room is quaint, bare but quaint…not nearly as depressingly Spartan as Zach’s room whom he shares with an intimidating French student. Beige would be the best word to describe the room…beige walls, beige floor, beige curtains, beige furniture…and all the same color of beige, like a sterile ivory. In an attempt to make the room a little bit more livable, since it will have to be home for the next three months, I went to the Cora and bought pink sheets, a lime green bath mat and a pink, orange, yellow and green table cloth for my desk. It’s defiantly an improvement, but not quite my chocolate covered Strawberry shoebox that I had called home for the past year and a half…
The campus is small, two dormitories shared with a neighboring French University, a dining facility shared with a research institution, a single extremely high tech five story academic building boldly emblazoned with Georgia Tech. It all sounds quite convenient, however there is a large obstruction in the form of a pond between my resident hall and the academic building which requires quite a hike around.
After we moved in and had perused campus, we were off to the Cora which is the sight of my first and only (so far) break down of the trip…I had never really realized how different French and American cultures were until I crossed into their version of a Wal-Mart. Similarly laid out, you have electronics, Clothing, school supplies, Meat department, frozen foods, produce and non-perishables, a garden center, automotive center, optics center, beauty Salon and arcade. The Cora also houses a full-size Cafeteria, and a Wine section that would put even the best liquor store in America to shame. However, despite all these amenities, and having twice the product offerings of your average Super-Wal-Mart…There was nothing, I mean NOTHING I wanted to eat. Since Breakfast is not served at the school’s cafeteria I needed breakfast supplies. There were no pop-tarts, no bagels, no frozen waffles, and while they had cereal a plenty, there was no milk except powdered milk and Baby formula. Frustration Arises. So I finally decide I could do croissants with a little butter and Jam, but then I think, hey yah know what would be good on a croissant? Peanut Butter. So I begin my quest, Zach trailing behind for a jar of peanut butter. The obvious place for me to look was with the jelly; because everybody eats good ole peanut butter and jelly right? WRONG. Maybe with other sandwich toppings like Mayonnaise and Ketchup? Not there either. It wasn’t until Zach and I split up and crosshatched every aisle that the peanut butter was discovered. Where you ask…along side the Salsa, Taco shells, and bean dip in the Mexican Cuisine department. Really because they eat so much peanut butter in Mexico? Frustration Builds. Once I had my food situation on lock down it was time to concentrate on school. There are few things that I truly enjoy more than shopping for school supplies, and I had reserved this delight for the Cora. I mean I could have bought notebook paper and folders at the CVS back home, but why wag it over here and ruin the opportunity to buy something that they don’t have in the States. I got excited just approaching the school supply section in anticipation of all the new sorts of pens and highlighters. Oh they had pens and highlighters galore, but when it came to folders and notebook paper, nothing. Yah, in addition to hating breakfast and having some vendetta against peanut butter they also do not write on standard horizontal line notebook paper. Frenchies… Nope, all the Cora had, was a very large selection of Graph paper, like the paper with the little bitty boxes. I opened one of every notebook they had, hoping for some paper with just lines, and notebook after notebook only had graph paper. As I opened the last notebook, with a frolicking deer on the front, and saw graph paper yet again, I sunk to the floor and started to sob, and as the tears steamed down my face I began to laugh at the fact that I was crying over notebook paper, and that I had nothing to wipe my eyes with because they also do not sell Kleenex in France.
Other than my dilemma in the Cora, we have had a pretty good week in France so far. Our first few days we wandered around exploring Metz the city were our program is hosted, and then took day trips to both Luxembourg and Strasbourg, which were both beautiful. Check out my pictures at:
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