Keep your friends close, and strange French people closer

I've only been in France a few days and I've already made a ton of friends.

The bus driver who laughs at my misfortunes
On Saturday, I decided to take a bus to get to a building by a huge park. When I got on the bus, I asked the driver if it went to the park, and he said yes. I sat down and started watching all the buildings we passed, until we passed the park and I realized I had missed my stop. The driver smirked when I got off at the next stop, but I acted like this was the stop I had wanted all along.

Curses. So I got off the bus, crossed the street, and waited for the bus coming the other way. The buildings were not cute in this area. When the bus finally pulled up, it was the same driver, he had gone to the end of the route and turned around. And when I got back on, he laughed at me.

My own personal cheering section
While I was waiting at the wrong stop for the bus to come back, I showed a woman my map and explained where I wanted to go. She said I needed to get off at the park and walk through it, but said it was easy.

Back on the bus, I was pulled from my building-watching-induced trance when she yelled "Mademoiselle, this is your stop! There's the park!" A man behind her stood up and pointed, "It's on the left, on the other side of the street." and a little old lady with a poodle reminded me to be careful when I crossed. The woman said "Just go straight through the park and you'll be there." The little old lady was yelling "Go to the crosswalk and cross! The cars are coming fast and they won't see you!" and her poodle stood up straight and gave me a determined stare and slow nod that seemed to say "You can do this, Brooke. I know you can." Soon the whole bus was cheering me on from the windows as I walked toward the park. Thanks guys. I promise I won't let you down.

The ice cream vendor who knows best
I went to buy some ice cream today, and told the vendor I wanted strawberry. "Really? Strawberry?" I had never had someone selling me something question my choice, and didn't know what to say. So he continued "You know you could get strawberry-vanilla or strawberry-banana? That's twice as many flavors for the same price." I told him I was fine with just one flavor. And why is he selling flavors he can't stand behind? Giving people bad deals like that, one flavor for the same price as two. How does he sleep at night?

Anyway, after I tasted it I wished I'd gotten strawberry-vanilla. But now if I go back, I know he'll laugh at me. He and the bus driver should get together sometime.