Fall is a strange time to be away from home, to be away from the Midwest. I think of November, I think of football games and leaf piles that smell of burning wood always in the air. Here, autumn is nothing special; the leaves shrivel up and die without ever changing color — the weather stays more or less the same. No one carves pumpkins or talks about going home for Thanksgiving.

Maybe, I've been spoiled by Michigan's bursts of color — red and orange and yellow blurs on both sides of the road. Or maybe I took for granted all those amazing Indiana sunsets, the wide sky full of purple and pink and all that ethanol. Now, I sit in my apartment in Paris and wish this country had at least a little autumnal festivity to offer me.

Halloween began to catch on in France several years ago and now many storefronts use the popular American holiday as a display theme. But here it's just an excuse to give happy hour a few novelty drinks — there are no trick-or-treaters and most Parisians seem to like pronouncing the word "`Alloween" more than actually donning a costume and getting into the spirit.

The pumpkins are oddly flat and long and the candy corn is no where to be found. A big disappointment for those who still love to empty out the pillowcase at the end of the night and brag over who got the most king-sized candy bars.

Thanksgiving is, obviously, the same story. We'll still have classes on that Thursday and there won't be any cheesy parades or football games to watch while getting geared up for turkey time. I understand the holiday has nothing whatsoever to do with France (or any other country for that matter), but I say that if they want to plaster jack-o-lanterns on the windows, they might want to look into a day devoted entirely to eating. You take off work, spend the day cooking, have a three hour long feast and then fall asleep with a full belly — it's perfectly Parisian.

But I don't see it happening.

It always comes back to the same argument, though. I'm in Paris — stop whining. I know I'll never have another fall like this one and I know I'll miss it so much once I've gone. But I would still love one good day at home right now to complain about raking leaves and sit down to eat my mom's pumpkin pie. And I'd give anything to see campus in all its colors, hear that roar from the Stadium on football Saturdays and shiver on the walk across South Quad.

So fall is home and Paris is now, I accept it and move on. I guess Halloween on the Champs Elysées was never really going to catch on as an international attraction. I'll spend Thanksgiving in London — sort of the antithesis of what the original day was all about. But hey, you gather your Americans where you can.

And Christmas in Paris? That one definitely has a nice ring to it.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Laura Kelly is a junior French and English major studying abroad in Paris. She can be reached at lkelly@nd.edu and wishes to thank the one grad student who wrote her, for boosting her self-esteem. French Connection appears Mondays in Scene.

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