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On my second night in Paris, I stayed at a “Novotel” hotel. I was offered a computer to access the internet. At about 11 pm I bought a phone card and connected to the internet straight away. What a wonderful feeling that was!
However, I soon found that it wasn’t very easy to use. The order of the letters on the keyboard were different to that on my computer, there were many French words and strange symbols on it. The pointer was controlled by a touch screen and the instructions on the screen were in French.
Anyway, I tried to use the touch screen, tried to guess the function of the symbols, tried to open the inbox of my email account. Eventually, I was able to work with the computer, but it had taken me so long that I only had time to type in about a third of what I should have. I was so tired and sleepy and my finger was starting to ache and so I stopped work. I would have like to have finished it early the next morning, but I couldn’t because there was no money left on my phone card and also, our group had to leave. :-)
Well, I was still happy, why? Because I had learned a new skill. It was the first time I’d used a French computer and I learned how to use a touch screen to move the mouse pointer, I had used the internet in a far away country.
The fee was 120 Francs for 3 hours; do you think that was too expensive or too cheap?
Thanks for sharing my thoughts and experiences… :-)
Written in Oct.,2000
Edition on 30th.,April,2005
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