Today is Wednesday

And because I've got nothing better to do, I've decided to compare Angers and London a bit.

Tonight we're going to see The Alchemist at the National Theatre. As nice as it was to have a "real Shakespeare experience", it'll be nice to be able to sit down inside - a "real London theatre experience", if you will.

Since I have the time, I'll list off a couple differences (and the occasional similarity) I've noticed between the English and the French. I wish I had some pictures to illustrate some of the points, but I don't... Maybe I'll take some and add them for y'all.

1.) Meals in England are much more like American meals. In France, you have the multiple courses; in England, it all gets thrown on to your plate at once. Also, meals in France were a bigger deal. There wasn't one time that I didn't sit down for a full dinner with my French host family, while here, it's been the rare occasion that all of us are home for dinner in England.

2.) Kinda on the same subject - food - but I felt like I needed to break it up. The food eaten in France seemed better for you. We've had a lot of really fatty, greasy food here (sausages baked in batter covered in gravy) and not as many vegetables, while in France, every once in a while the main course was vegetables (tomatoes, artichoke), and never really greasy. And there was always a salad course. I still do like the food here though.

3.) I've noticed my table manners have regressed to the way they were before I left. In France, I got in the habit of using my fork and knife for everything, and continued that through my time in Italy and Greece and even my first few days here. Since then, I've been using my fork more and more when I was previously using my knife.

4.) This may be more of a big city/small city thing, but the drivers in Angers were a little more courteous to pedestrians. I'm pretty sure the busy-ness I feel here is just big city - I think I had the same sensation in Paris.

4.) Here, the bed covering is just a comforter. In France, I had just sheets, maybe a blanket.

5.) The English keyboard is much similar to the American keyboard - the only keys out of place are the @ sign and the " sign - and they just appear to be switched. In France, there were several letters in different places and they had to make it easy to add accents.

6.) Public transportation is pretty good in both places. Even though I hardly ever needed to use it in Angers...

7.) Dogs (and pets in general) are allowed in many more places in both France and England than in the U.S. There are a few more restrictions in England however.

8.) The press is a lot more hostile in England. Maybe it's because Tony Blair is in a downward spiral, but there was hardly any leader-bashing in the French papers I saw.

I'm reaching a bit far for stuff... Maybe I'll stop and think about it a little more.