Surviving Teenagers: Trying to impress a French one

I'm 16 and I did an exchange 2 years ago and I went to France first and I found quite a lot of things really difficult - they ate their dinner at 9pm and I was hungry by about 5, I had a fly in my dinner one night and I avoided it and eventually had to say something and she said to eat around it (I didn't eat a lot that night) and she had about 5 grains of cereal in the mornings and I found that really awkward. When she came here (Edinburgh) I tried really hard and asked her what she would and wouldn't eat and took her out somewhere every night and if we met anyone else on the exchange she ran off to talk to them and kept leaving me on my own. When I was at hers she decided we were going to have a sleepover at hers with another pair and me and the other girl from my school were expected to share a bed which would've been fine if we'd ever spoken in our lives before... so yeah... it was really awkward...

She is a teenager...take her out on the piss !!

nurseyclose4: you forgot the women don't shave their legs and they use those bidet things rather than bathe properly and they all powder themselves instead of use soap. And they've never seen deodorant. And they all have two lovers, only park on sidewalks. they shoot all women over size 4. All the men have fey names like Jean-Claude, which is why they always surrender so easily. But the one cool thing about them is that Tour de France gig.

Well, the French, per se, have always mystified me, as many of them apparently think that Jerry Lewis is hysterically funny. [No American child over 10 thinks so at any rate,] As a US citizen now living in the UK I don't think you could go wrong with showing them something they don't have at home. If you live reasonably close to London, Windsor Castle is a good bet, assuming they haven't been. Perhaps it's possible to inquire general likes/dislikes and if they've been to the UK before? I wouldn't particularly worry about what kind of food you have on hand - let them take pot luck with the family. I've always found British beef quite good, as well as the dairy. I like your 'tea' with all the little goodies. [The British are fond of curry, though to me personally, they are 'anathema sit.' Something about the yellow vile stuff that just makes me want to hurl. I try and be polite and eat around it though!]

How good is the visitor;s English? Perhaps a trip to a theatre or pantomime when in season? You can really get some decent bargains. If you don't live around London, surely there is something well worth seeing in your area? A lot of sights in the UK are very low cost, and are not infrequently free.

Don't sweat the weather. Not jack you can do about it -- except when there's a good day, take advantage of it.

we had a french exchange student years ago who arrived with a note from her mother which said "Sylvie is on a diet. Please do not lether eat anything sweet or fattening" So I ran my self ragged doing the healthy meal overdrive. Unfortunately "Sylvie" didn't eat anything healthy and pushed away vegetables and salads with a pained expression. Then I tidied her bedroom on about day 5 and found all the sweet wrappers, empty mars bars papers etc etc so. Enough! My first and last exchange student.

The nice thing about France and UK is that they are different! Vive la différence! Of all the European countries, these two have kept their identities more than the others, bar McDonald and all the other fast fooderies from the US that one can easily avoid. On the whole, the exotic foods come from ex-colonies (curry and tea for UK - India ... and spicy couscous from North Africa + Arabica coffee from Central Africa), both favourite foods in each country. As a teacher organising exchanges for many years, I was always amused by the fact that neither the British nor the French children ever thought of themselves as foreigners when they travelled: They were always British or French and would refer to locals as foreigners ! No other nationality I know of ever referred to others in that way. And the strange thing is that the French and the Brits are close cousins! Family disputes? Most probably. As the Somerby Estates (see below) rightly says, they are very similar (in their pride and origins) and that is the reason... not the problem. They have been brought up in believing - wrongly- that they are superior to all the others.

As for cheese, yes both sides of the Channel love cheese, but they are different types... Oh and one more thing: in France, nibbling is considered bad for your health as is drinking between meals. So, no cuppas, no coffee, no sodas, no nuffin ! If you don't have a decent meal and need something in between, it's your fault! Basically, meal times are very strict: 12 midday to 14h00 and 19h30 to 22h00. Outside these times, you need an American type joint. It always surprises Asians who eat when they feel like it!

There you have it. It's not surprising the poor girl hated curry. She'd probably never had it. Nor tea ! And certainly not between meals... As for rain, there is very little difference between northern France and southern UK if any. I just wish the BBC Met Office reports showed Northern Europe (of which the UK is a part) more clearly. It would debug a myth!

I lived in France for three years, and can tell you that I never had a decent meal in all that time, bar Mc Donalds!
They are very strange people indeed and you would need to live there for a hundred years before they would class you as a local.
You should be proud of Britain and our rich heritage, it equals Frances, and anyway, as much you try with them, they will always say they are better. In truth, they are very similar, I think thats the problem.

Seriously? You thought ALL French people like cheese? I suppose you also thought they all wear stripy clothes, berets and wear strings of garlic around their necks whilst playing the accordion too?