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[quote]
Okay, I'm from CA. I haven't had much practice zipping up a winter coat with a hood for the past three decades . . .
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When my husband was a grad student at Caltech I would often go with him to the lab and read in their conference room. That room was so cold I always wore my down jacket in there!</p>
<p>But back to the subject. I never took a French class with a teacher I really liked (she hosted a French table at our house) because she regularly required reading at least a complete fat 19th century novel a week. I couldn't imagine doing it in English much less French.</p>