How was France? Which one?

Add another to the "Zak is catching up" series.  I kept a personal blog this semester, and it seems that entries only ever made it to that one!  Anyway, this is a synthesis of a few of those other blogs.

I know everyone will ask me "How was France?" very soon upon my arrival back home.  The problem is, I have no idea how to respond to that question.  My initial response would be "Which one?" because there are so many differnet sides of France.  I feel like it will take an hour for me to answer anyone's questions, and by then they will all have lost interst!

It was such a cool experience going so many places in France, because they were so different yet so similar.  In Saint-Malo, Nice, Lyon, Paris, and here in Strasbourg they all speak French.  There are differences in accents of course, but it is all French.  In Saint-Malo and Paris, they seemed to understand my French better than in Strasbourg or Nice.  Perhaps this is because both have close proximity to another language, German here in Strasbourg and Italian in Nice.  The people were by far the warmest in Nice and Saint-Malo, interestingly enough.  In Strasbourg and Paris, people did not want to get in our way by offering their advice, yet in Saint-Malo and Brittany people seemed genuinely interested in making us happy and comfortable.

I really did like France, no matter where I went, at least after I got used to the French attitude.  I often forget how geographically small France is compared to the US, but when I do it makes the fact that there are so many different cultures even more interesting.  So close to each other, all speaking the same language, yet the cultures have many distinctions! I am going to make it a point to visit new provinces during my return to France, whenever that may be!