The gauche American

After sleeping in a regular bed for a few hours, I feel a lot better... a little bit closer to a regular human being. I'm supposed to meet my group in a little bit but a few thoughts that I've had this morning.

- Why is it that if you speak French, you automatically sound more sophisticated? I could be talking to the most uneducated person in France... but if he/she is speaking French (or even French-accented English), I feel like they're far more cosmopolitan than I am. For that matter, it works with the British accent as well. When I was in London a couple of years ago, I was asking some man for directions and I automatically thought he was an intelligent person because he had that fancy British accent. It took me a few minutes to realize that he was neither intelligent nor helpful. (I blame Robin Leach for making me think that all things British were high-class.)
- Being 6 hours ahead of NYC is a little discombobulating. I constantly feel like I'm "waiting" for things to catch up to me. For instance, this morning I opened up my beloved NY Times homepage and... it was still showing yesterday's news. I mean, c'mon! So now I have to wait until early afternoon before I can get the "morning" news. I tried reading the French newspaper but that's kind of hard to do if one doesn't actually know French.
- The NH Hotel that I'm at right now is very nice. And the breakfast that they served puts a lot of American hotels to shame. A lot of hotels say they serve breakfast... which is true in that breakfast is something that you put in your mouth in the morning. But more often than not, a breakfast at many hotels would be stale corn muffins and bad coffee. The breakfast here? Well, let's see: crepes (with Nutella), sautéed mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, eggs, bacon, a variety of cheeses, fruits, yogurts, and fresh (very fresh... as in just baked) pastries. The croissants are unbelievable. And even the coffee machine is awesome. It's this giant thing that has something like 10 options on the front, ranging from straight up Americano coffee to cappuccinos. Just hit the button and the coffee beans are ground up RIGHT THERE and the coffee is made fresh. It is awesome. I want one. Except it would fill up my entire kitchen and would probably cost me a month's rent.

Alright, I'm off to meet my group. Hopefully I'll have internet connection at my next hotel so I can update you guys on what Modane/Valfrejus looks like. Till then.

Location:Aéroport Lyon Saint-Exupéry,Colombier-Saugnieu,France