Amanda Mahmoudi
If any of you are still reeling from France's victory over Brazil in the World Cup final on Sunday, you should stop to consider what exactly all of this football hoopla really means.
Although the British Code of Ethics does not permit me to respond with anything other than sheer ambivalence to France's miraculous feat, I must admit - rather sheepishly, of course - that this does indeed seem to be the Year of France.
Considering other aspects of international importance (although some may dispute the actual degree), France has proven to take the lead in world affairs.
Just a few months ago, the French government had the first eurocurrency (the new currency developed and supported by 11 of the 17 European Union members) coins minted, giving them a lead in what one hopes to be a much brighter economic future.
Of course, as far as the French economy is concerned, there could not have been a better summer for tourism in the history of the world as we know it. Millions of tourists flocked to France this summer with the hopes of somehow defying nature and obtaining World Cup tickets.
Although most feeble attempts were shunned, I'm sure that the daily celebrations made up for it.
France profits are booming - despite the Air France strike and various militant threats to shut the whole World Cup tournament down.
The innovative tourists have shown that they too can find ways to beat a failing system and prevailed.
You have to be pretty quick to keep a francophile away from France for long, to say nothing of keeping him away from the world's greates sport.
Just take my word for it.
On a completely different note, French music is finally starting to find a global audience. No longer compelled to churn out dashing Maurice Chevalier chanseurs or high-pitched Edith Piaf chanseuses, the French now have creative and supercharged groups like Air and Daft Punk.
You may know of Daft Punk from their highly eclectic video for their chart-hopping "Around the World" in which colorfully decorated and costumed models march up and down stairs in repeating circles, almost like a conga line of electronica.
The video airs quite frequently on MTV (as does a new video from the German group Rammstein, but that's for a different column entirely).
Don't bother saying au revoir to Vanessa Paradis, my friends, because you won't be seeing the likes of her again.
Trust me.
So it may have taken the French a little while longer than the rest of us actually "get with it," if you would, but the end result is definitely worth it, n'est-ce pas?
I'm sure they think so.
Mahmoudi, a junior German and French major, maintains that the British are superior to the French, despite their victory in 1066. Send comments to amahmoud@bayou.uh.edu.