France: Samantha Engel (A New Experience)

A new experience/excursion that stands out to me during my time in Paris takes place in a pizza restaurant. Surprisingly, pizza is very common in Paris and isn’t hard to find.

There is this one pizza restaurant right by my apartment that I went to with my friends. We tried ordering a pizza to share thinking we cannot eat a whole pizza by ourselves, that’s how it is in America. That is not the case here. The waiter seemed bewildered that we wanted to share one pizza, in fact, he told us no. He explained to us that we must each order our own pizza. We did as instructed and each ended up with about a twelve-inch pizza on our plates. The pizzas came with no cuts, not even a pizza cutter. I looked around and realized that everyone was eating their pizzas with a knife and a fork. Although it was difficult, I ate the pizza with a knife and a fork. This made it hard to eat fast. I learned from this experience that the French don’t really eat food with their hands.

After trying to get a box to take the rest of my pizza home, I also learned that the French don’t do to-go boxes. You are given a portion of food that you are expected to finish eating during that meal, hence the smaller portions in France. In all, I learned more about the French dining experience and can now confidently go into a pizza restaurant.

 

Samantha Engel

Hometown: West Allis, Wisconsin

Major: Legal Studies

Program: UW in Paris

I chose this program because I have studied the French language and culture for the past eight years. I decided that I wanted to further my knowledge of the language and culture in France while still earning credit for my major. This program allowed me to do that since the classes are in English. Now I get to go off on my own and experience a new culture and have a once-in-a-lifetime experience!