Today our office is hosting an open house for other TAs and grad students, which is basically an excuse for us to have a crêpe bar instead of office hours or tutoring. Obviously, this is awesome, and totally the biggest perk of grad school. If you don’t have plans this weekend, I encourage you to go find some friends and make some crêpes. If you don’t have any free, start announcing that you are hosting a crêpe party and I promise, friends will find you.

This week my students learned about nationalities and we played a game where they had to discuss stereotypes about Americans and French. There were the usual (Americans are fat and stupid and the French are romantic-snob-alcoholics who never work and only eat cheese and baguettes), as well as a few creative ones. Today I am showing this video with them, shared by one of my French colleagues.  It is so cute I had to share it with all you too. The French is pretty easy to understand, and even if you speak no French, stereotypes are always easy to understand. 

Of course, I wish my students’ French was good enough to show them this clip, because I laugh so hard every time I watch it that I can barely function. My friend Emma introduced me to Gad Elmaleh when I was in Paris and he is probably the funniest comedian I have ever heard. I watched the DVD at least 3 times in a row the weekend she loaned it to me.  If you parlez français, have a look. If not, then just know that he is perfectly and hilariously describing the role Ikea plays in our lives. Since our home is basically an Ikea ad (but with the added middleman of Craig’s List) I die every time I watch it. 

Inevitably, fall makes me miss France, which to me (and my stereotyping students) means Paris. I miss those grey days where the leaves look especially bright as they fall and fly around your feet as you walk through the Luxembourg gardens. I miss the cozy evenings inside as the steady cold drizzle falls outside. I miss the energy of la rentrée and the sense of urgency to enjoy every beautiful day before the cold dark winter comes. I miss the beauty of that graceful aged city surrendering its fall colors in a beautiful finale. I miss playing in the gardens with the girls I nannied and exploring with my Parisian friends.  The two falls I spent in Paris are some of the happiest and most beautiful in my memory. Here are a couple of the scenes that play over and over in my head, even though I know I have shared at least a couple of them with you at other times.

Happy weekend all. We are headed down to Charlottesville tomorrow for a wedding and then hoping to squeeze in some apple picking on Sunday if the weather is good. What does this weekend hold for you?