Growing up in the Canadian school system, I was forced to take French until Grade Nine (for which I am eternally grateful, considering how lost I would have been on this most recent trip without my basic understanding of the language). In French class, we learned both the language and a little about the culture. Along with the cultural stereotypes I gleaned from television and literature, I began to piece together a rather cliched image of the French. Or so I’d thought.

While on my trip, I was surprised (and slightly delighted) to learn that several of those cliches were actually true:

1) Many French people really do wear berets! It’s true, I saw them with my own eyes. It was just like the musical sequence in the cartoon ‘Anastasia,’ where they sing “Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart.” Except actual French people who wear actual berets probably aren’t all great dancers. And none of them are cartoons.

2) They really do the double-kiss-on-the-cheek! Every time I sat in a cafe and I watched friends join a dinner party, they’d all greet each other with the double-kiss.

3) On a related note: French people love to make out. I saw more PDA on this trip alone than I’d seen in my entire life. In every city, consumed by amour, couples young and old would spontaneously make out in the street. Sometimes it was romantic … and sometimes it just made me uncomfortable!

4) The French love their dogs! I never believed that anybody would let people bring lapdogs into a restaurant, but it’s a common occurrence in France. Those little dogs go everywhere, from trains to restaurants. And they’re always dressed in fashionable doggy-sweaters. Of course, this means the streets are often hazardous for pedestrians, since it seems the French love their dogs more than they love to pick up their dogs’ poop.

So there you have it. They say ‘Don’t believe everything you read,’ but it seems I shouldn’t have been quite to skeptical.