Cultural Nuances of France - Shared by an exchange student like me.

I love this! It is a little something written by another exchange student who is currently residing in France. Enjoy!

The Wonderful World of Bread
I would like to show you all the wonderful uses bread has here in France, but seeing as I am a day away by plane, I'll just have to explain!
Bread, first and foremost, is something to eat. They put tons of butter, jam and cheese on it whenever they please. Hungry? Here, have some bread.
Second of all, bread is a sponge. Not just for the plate, mind you, but for drippings on the table, on your napkin, and on your face. In fact, bread IS a napkin! Whenever you need to get more of anything, (for your bread, of course) you first wipe off your knife on your bread. The infamous bread is also a serving utensil. Whoever gets the end of a baguette in fact also receives a spoon, a bowl, a cup for yogurt, cheese, soup, meat... whatever you put in your mouth goes in your bread. Finally, and in my humble opinion, most impressively, bread is a meteorologist. No, there were no typos; I meant what I wrote. A meteorologist. Instead of watching the weather channel, my host family will smash their bread down on the table. If it stays down, it is going to rain. However, if the bread pops up again in its original shape, the weather will be clear and sunny! Amazing. And we've been paying someone to tell us this the whole time! Isn't that marvelous? While we in the states are competing to find the best and cheapest cleaning tools, utensils, napkins, and weather channels, the French already have one thing that is all encompassing: their bread.

You can see entries and pictures from other exchange students who are traveling through my study-abroad program at http://www.intraxstudyabroad.com/life-abroad/student-stories, including a segment of an entry from my own humble blog! Check it out!