Open Windows

Unlike back in the good old USA, the temperature here has been absolutely delightful, remaining mostly in the 70s throughout the day. We had about 2 weeks of 90 degree heat back in late June/early July, but since then the weather has been great. As you know, there is no air conditioning in most of France, so our normal reaction was to open as many windows as possible to get the cross breezes going. Apparently this does not seem to be the case for a majority of the French. Either people don't live in the buildings, or they don't like opening the shutters and letting the light, and nature, in. Everywhere we walk around town there are buildings with shutters closed. When we first got here I just figured it was because it was the middle of winter. Apparently not. There just aren't a lot of open windows to peek into.
We, as I stated earlier, do indeed have our windows wide open, which has led to some interesting occurances. First, when it was pretty warm out still, I started getting bitten like crazy by bugs. I am naturally bitten by more bugs than anyone else, even when I am at home in the states, so I wasn't all that concerned, until the bug bites turned out to be HUGE welts on my legs. I only had about 2 at a time and they itched like crazy. The thought of bed bugs did enter my mind, but after some research, and consulting the pharmacist, she assured me that they were just normal bug bites from our little friends who flew in the open windows. I tried to find bug spray here, you know, handy dandy OFF!, but no dice. So the second time I went to the pharmacist she gave me a supplement to the cortizone and allergy medicine she gave me the first time and sold me a 8 euro bottle of bug repellent. Stuff worked like a charm. I sprayed it all over my body for about 2 weeks and now my little friends are gone! Now, the window closest to my bed mysteriously lost its handle so it won't open, which means fewer bugs on my side of the room, which means, no bites for me. Nice.
The second occurance of some note that came from open windows was another little visitor. The other day I was redoing the sheets on my bed because they had become askew and I moved my bed away from the wall. As I did this, I saw a little mouse scurry from behind the window shade to my roommate's side of the room and her open suitcases. I jumped on the bed and stood there for a second and then realized how utterly ridiculous I was being. I got down and continued on with my task and then got my stuff and left the room and closed the door. I kindly informed my roommate that when she got home from work, we would be mouse hunting. She was so excited, let me tell you. I spent most of the day in the other room, save for a few ventures into my room, but when roomie got home and we hesitantly moved all the stuff, we found no mouse. I think he left the way he came in...through the open window. Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more no more!