I return to my beloved computer and discover that telnet works fine overseas. Unfortunately, general computer skills don't survive the trans-Atlantic journey quite as well. France uses the "AZERTY" keyboard, rather than the QWERTY keyboard that I know, love and use to touch type. In the States, I am Queen of the keyboard; without QWERTY I am humiliatingly clueless.

It hasn't all been unpleasant surprises, however. I am pleased that my fears about sexual harassment in the French workplace are totally unnecessary. The hour-long lunches are absolutely delicious. And although I need to figure out how to pronounce certain business words like "yuppie" (pronounced "youpee") and "logon" ("lugunn"), my French is going to make the grade and I am improving by the hour. Additionally, I ate two fresh croissants for breakfast this morning, along with a delicious cup of cafe. My concierge is a sweet if loud Portugese woman who was more than happy to show me how to find the metro station. The Parisian summer rarely gets hotter than 80 degrees, so air conditioning is rarely needed. And tonight I'll be drinking wine at an outdoor cafe.

After all, who am I to complain? So what if my summer won't earn me a sidebar in the Internship Bible? If I wanted to impress random strangers and resume readers I would have stayed in New York. As it is, I have two months of low stress life ahead of me. Hey, if my job gets too boring, they ain't paying me; I can quit.

Christina S.N. Lewis '02, a Crimson executive, is a history and literature concentrator in Leverett House.