Which part of United States are you from?
Illinois.
Oh, Illinois.
And how long have you been living in France?
Four months.
How did you get so lucky to move to Paris?
I wanted to improve my French.
I work here now.
I have a job with a French marketing firm.
I work for a big marketing firm in Chicago that acquired a smaller marketing firm here.
I'm kind of like the American point of view.
Oh, so you're studying French now?
Yeah, I've been studying at my office.
Uh-huh.
Did you study French in US?
I did, yeah.
Two years at high school and three years at university.
So you're pretty good at French now.
I wouldn't say that.
My spoken French isn't that great.
I'm better at reading and writing than I am at speaking.
Really?
Yeah.
So, how's the Paris office treating you?
They're a fun bunch.
I'm fitting right in.
Did you experience any culture shock when you arrived?
Uh, yeah, some.
In what way?
Manners are incredibly important for the French people.
This was one of the biggest culture shock examples in France for me.
There's always a merci or s'il vous plaît tacked on to any interaction at a store.
And people are dressed as madame or monsieur.
It's cute.
What do you like about living in France?
The food is so delicious.
I'm obsessed with French cheeses and croissants, which are buttery, crispy and delicious for breakfast.
The fashion is so chic.
The lights... so magical.
What do you find difficult about living in France?
The language.
Even though I've studied French for five years, I find it really hard to communicate.
I think in general French people expect the visitors to speak really good French.
And they look annoyed if you get something wrong.
What impressed you the most so far?
Everything is impressive in Paris.
The small cheese shops, meat shops, baguette stores, wine shops, people sitting on sidewalk cafes.
Have you been to Louvre Museum?
I have.
It was excellent.
Fantastic.
Do you miss your home?
Of course, I love France and feel grateful to have the opportunity to live here, but at the end of the day, there's no place like home.
Does it always rain so much here?
Yes, it usually does.
Where I'm from, it rarely storms.
Oh, it doesn't often storm here, but it rains frequently.
That's good.
I don't like storms because they usually scare me.
It's the lightning and thunder that bother me, and the strong winds.
That's what does the damage in a storm.
I get extremely nervous.
I'm never scared of storms.
Well, what are you afraid of?
I am scared of spiders.
And how long have you had this phobia?
I've had it since I was about 7.
Did something happen to start the phobia?
I remember a very big spider in the apartment that we lived in at the time coming out from under the television and going across the room and me being absolutely terrified.
And that's the first time I remember being scared.
How does it affect your life?
In the past it was really awful.
I mean, I couldn't sit in the same room as a spider, and I always had to keep all the doors and windows shut, because I was frightened that spiders might come in.
But now I can sit in the same room as a spider, and I can put it in a glass and take it outside myself if I have to, if there's nobody else there.
So it doesn't affect me as badly as it did before, but I still don't like them.
What other things are you afraid of?
Uh, let me think.
How about clowns?
No, clowns do not usually scare me.
What about big dogs?
Yes, big dogs always scare me.
I always get afraid whenever one of them gets too near me.
That makes two of us.
You don't look so well lately, Dan.
Are you okay?
Well, I've been feeling out of sorts lately.
I've not been sleeping well at all, and I can't concentrate.
Maybe I should see a doctor.
You need to take care of yourself.
You need to make your body strong.
How can I possibly do that?
It's not that hard.
First, you should eat healthy food.
I eat only healthy food, but I still don't feel good.
Oh yeah?
What do you eat?
In the morning, I eat frozen waffles, muffins, and flavored yogurt.
Then, at noon, I eat a hamburger or a pizza.
For dinner, I almost always have salty french fries with lots of ketchup.
Ketchup is very healthy, you know.
It comes from tomatoes.
For dessert, I eat ice cream, which contains milk, so it's very healthy too.
That doesn't sound very healthy to me.
Maybe you should improve your diet.
Well, how should I do that?
First of all, maybe you can add in a big salad once a day.
You know, a big salad with lots of fresh vegetables.
Okay, I can do that, I guess.
I can have a big salad with lots of fresh vegetables once a day.
I know you have a job that requires you to sit all day.
Do you ever work out?
Unfortunately, I never find time to fit that goal into my schedule, so I have a pretty sedentary lifestyle.
You don't need a gym membership or an exercise machine in your basement to stay active.
Instead of cramming into your office's crowded elevator every morning, you could take the stairs.
Use this as an opportunity to get some exercise.
Park your car further away from your workplace or home to seize the chance to sneak in an extra few steps.
Thanks for the tips.
I'm sure they'll be very helpful.
Are you a morning person, Susan?
Yes, I am.
On weekdays, I get up very early at 5.45.
Why?
Do you have to be at work so early?
No, I start work at nine.
So why do you wake up so early then?
First of all, early morning is quiet.
Nobody phones me at 6 a.m.
There aren't any important emails or messages to answer.
There aren't any meetings.
There aren't any people.
The morning is my time.
I prefer to do things in the morning when I have energy.
I do exercise for 30 minutes in my home gym,
and have a big breakfast.
Then I get ready for work and drive to the office.
When I get to the building where I work, I go for a walk around a local park.
Then I go inside to start work at nine o'clock.
And on Thursdays, I get up even earlier, at 5.20 a.m., to study German.
Getting up early helps me do more during the day.
I'm usually tired in the evening after a day at work.
And when I'm tired, the last thing I want to do is to exercise, or to study, or to practice a musical instrument.
I find it impossible to get up early.
How can you do it?
You can start by setting your alarm five minutes earlier than you usually get up.
And the next day, set it five minutes earlier again.
After three weeks, you'll have nearly two hours that you never had before.
Getting up early is a big help if you have a lot of things to do.
It's better to go to bed early and have shorter evenings and longer mornings.
I don't think I want to change my schedule and my lifestyle.
I love to go to bed late and spending time watching TV, seeing my friends, and spending time on social media.
Do you ever tell lies, Trisha?
I do sometimes, but only little white lies.
You know, like telling my sister her new hairstyle is great when I really don't like it.
Stuff like that.
Oh yeah, I also told my mom that I loved the gift she got me for my birthday, even though I actually really hated it.
So you've never told any bad lies?
Well, to tell you the truth, I did tell a bad lie last year.
I wanted to borrow my friend Judy's blouse to wear it at my school dance.
But she refused to lend it to me.
Really?
Yes, but I didn't want to give up.
So I lied to her that I was sick and that I might have to go into the hospital the following week.
So I didn't know when I'd be able to go to a dance again.
She felt sorry for me and decided to lend me her blouse.
That was a bad lie indeed.
You're right.
Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, there's more.
I was dancing with my friends when someone bumped into me and spilled a drink all over my blouse.
I'm so sorry.
It was strawberry juice.
And the blouse was white.
Oh, what a bad luck.
I guess the blouse was ruined, right?
Exactly.
And not only the blouse was ruined, but our friendship too.
Because Judy found out that my story about the hospital was just a lie.
She just wouldn't let it slide.
That's too bad.
Maybe she would forgive you one day and trust you again.
I surely hope so.
I learned my lesson though.
I would never lie to a friend like that ever again.
Did you like school, Anthony?
I didn't hate school, but I don't think I liked it very much.
I used to enjoy PE.
I quite liked English and Spanish, but there were lots of subjects I didn't like.
I didn't like math very much.
History was boring, and I found science difficult.
I had a small group of friends, and I used to spend time with them, talking about sport, talking about music.
So it wasn't too bad, but I didn't like it very much.
What about you?
Did you like school?
Yeah, most of the time.
I always really looked forward to getting back to school.
What did you like about it?
Well, I had some good friends, and I liked learning things.
But there were some subjects that I didn't like very much, and I hated P.E.
I used to invent a lot of excuses, like saying that I was ill, because I didn't want to do it.
Elementary school was all fun, and we had great teachers.
High school was harder work, and we used to have lots of exams and tests.
But we had really inspiring teachers,
My favorites were in math and biology.
And overall, yeah, I really liked it.
Did you have a favorite or least favorite teacher at school?
Yes, I liked the Spanish teacher.
She was my favorite teacher because she was Spanish and she taught us to speak with a very good Spanish accent.
Did she inspire you?
She did, and I'm still learning Spanish and I go to Spain pretty often.
What's your biggest regret about school?
Well, I wish I'd been more involved in school clubs.
Our school had lots of clubs where you could do things like dance or learn to play an instrument or play chess, things like that.
It's a shame because I would have learned some really useful skills, I'm sure.
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