Some things I may have forgotten to mention yesterday...
In my excitement at finally getting internet access yesterday, I may have forgotten to mention a few of the more interesting things about France. (I will certainly will not have ennumerated them all in this post, however.)
One of the classes that we have to take is "Intercultural Communications", which is what it sounds like: how to communicate with cultural differences. We spoke of culture shock, as well as more "mundane" problems (like language barriers... which can be funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkZ3f8DnKs )
One of the goals of that class is to make sure that we students, coming as we do from all over the world, don't get too... culture shocked in France. For example, one of the first things that my teacher told us was about greetings. Like, he asked the Canadians, the Americans, the Dutch, the Mexicans... "how do you greet people?" Most of us said "verbally", or "with a handshake", "sometimes with a hug", or with "kisses" (in the case of the Mexicans). Kissing people on the cheek, by the way, ("la bise" in French) is a perfectly acceptable greeting among even men here. :) Anyway, then he asked "What do you do if you see them a second time in the day?" and most of us were like "a wave" or "a smile" or "'hi' again", right? You acknowledge them in some way, otherwise they'll feel slighted/ignored/think that you're mad at them. Then the teacher went on to tell us that that would be considered annoying or rude in France. If you say "hi" a second time, it's like you've forgotten that you already saw them that day. So you just don't say anything. I think the most you can do is just smile or nod. But then, just "ignoring" the person, although perfectly acceptable in French culture, would be considered a slight in others. Hence, one of the stereotypes of the French being "cold" and "rude".
...the things you learn every day. :3