No, good guess though!

This is all excellent advice, especially regarding France. Where I live, which is only 20 minutes from Geneva, you'd be lucky to find anyone outside larger towns who can speak English confidentially. And forget about it if you have an accent other than very standard British or American.

Europeans in general appreciate the small things in life much more than Americans. Like everyone has already said, try and relax and take it all in, rather than rush from place to place trying to cram as much as possible into your trip. Have that second glass of wine, or that dessert that looks amazing, or even that afternoon nap after a long lunch. Trust me, you remember those moments just as fondly as the big ones.

Lyon is pretty great. Depending on the vibe you're going for, Marseille is also pretty awesome. I'd avoid it in the middle of the summer, but shoulder season down south is amazing. The weather is great, the people are friendly (if you avoid the worst parts of town, like anywhere) and the food is a nice mix of traditional French and Mediterranean cuisine. And make sure to get a flight of Ricard.

As an Anglophone who lives in France, I agree. Although where I live (east / south-east) English is not very widely spoken, even in bigger cities, but the people are generally very friendly.

Through victory my chains are broken. For the Empire! In all seriousness though, it's fictional space fantasy. When I was a kid, watching the OG trilogy, I always supported the rebels, but as I got older I slowly became way more into the empire. Sometimes it's just fun to root for the bad guys. Also the dogmatic nature of the Jedi becomes glaringly more obvious as you get older.

God I hope so. When I switched from Mint to Debian a few months ago, it worked fine. All of a sudden, one day after an update, it would no longer load. Since then I see that they've downgraded to the previous version, yet it still doesn't work. So annoying.

Guitar pedals. My collection is fairly modest (20-30 pedals) but I have some neat pieces, like a couple Japanese Boss pedals from the 80's. They are functional so I don't feel like it's a waste of space per se. Also they look cool, so there's that.

Hmm. C'est peut-être anecdotique, mais mon expérience en France a été tout à fait contraire. Presque personne parle pas une autre langue que le français, et si c'est le cas, c'est l'anglais. Souvent, je pose des questions sur le patois local (savoyard) personne n'y connaît rien. C'est triste. La Savoie fait partie de la France depuis 170 ans, mais malheureusement la culture unique s'est diluée. J'ai le sentiment que quelque chose unique est perdu lorsqu'une langue se perd dans le temps. Je crois ce que l'anglais fait au monde, le français l'a déjà fait à la France. Je pense que nos positions différentes sur ce sujet sont une question de perspective, c'est sûr.

C'est clair. Il y a beaucoup de choses que je préfère dans ma vie ici (par exemple la nourriture, mode de vie, etc.), mais je crois qu'on peut pas juger des autres pour leur ignorance. Si on fait ça, on est pas meilleur.

Merci pour ta généralisation. Je suis Canadien (pas Québécois) et j'habite en France avec ma femme française. En fait où je vis (Haute-Savoie), très peu de gens parlent anglais. J'étudie beaucoup chaque jour en français pour pouvoir me faire des amis et vivre une bonne vie ici.

Nous sommes pas tous pareils.

Eh? My wife flew from the PNW to France with our cat when we moved. She gave her half a dose of the veterinarian prescribed knockout juice and she was completely fine. Of course, she wasn't in the hold, but still.

Rare Quebec W.