Forget the stack of glossy travel guides for every country you might possibly visit over the next five months. Forget the year's supply of shampoo, the address book of people to whom you'll never send postcards and the trendy fanny pack that will allow you to blend in oh-so-well with the natives. All you need to bring when you go abroad is a fat sense of humor.

"Why?" you ask. Because everything that could go wrong eventually will. It's some sick version of Murphy's Law that takes over once you've crossed international waters, and when the airline has rerouted all of your luggage to Zimbabwe, the ATM machine has laughed at you as well as eaten your silly American debit card and your alleged landlord says, "Apartment? I no have apartment for you. But, I sell you watch?" you are faced with two choices.

You can curl up in the fetal position and lie in a gutter until some other American comes along and snaps a photo of you ("Look, honey, it's one of them gypsies that Ethel and Norm warned us about. Should we kick it?") or you can laugh long and hard about how you chose to put yourself in that situation.

Being able to laugh at yourself is especially important when you have to deal with a language barrier.

Example No. 1: the classic French mistake of thinking "excite" means excited. Nope. You end up telling the kid next to me on the plane that you're very "horny" about going to Paris, and then have to deal with his shifty eyes and repulsive attempts at pick-up lines for the next seven hours. Once you escape into the bathroom and consulted your handy dictionary, you have nothing to do but laugh. Laughing at yourself can ease the stress of new and difficult situations.

Example No. 2: you don't realize picking your own fruit from produce stands is a huge no-no, and the grocer glares at you with pure hatred as you present him with your apple. You giggle nervously and throw the contents of your wallet at his feet in an effort to appease his wrath … then you run.

While a good sense of humor can often be to your advantage in trying to fit into another culture, you must also remember the cynical version of the adage your mother always told you: they're not laughing with you — they're really laughing at you. But don't let this deter you, because a smile, no matter how forced, is still the only thing that will keep you sane.

Purely hypothetical example No. 3: while walking through a crowded street after enjoying a bit of the local wine, you turn to laugh at your friend's joke and walk smack into a street performer juggling fire, sending his hard-earned coins flying in all directions. Every local within five city blocks stops to point and guffaw, while you meekly scrounge for francs in the gutter and offer attempts at apology to the angry fire juggler whose life savings you've just scattered to the cobblestones.

Yet another example of a perfect time to laugh at your own mistakes … and then run.

Laura Kelly is a junior who hopes to major in French and English if she makes it back to the States in one piece. She has been laughing at her own dumb mistakes for several weeks and can be reached at lkelly@nd.edu. French Connection will appear every Monday in Scene. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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