How did travel work before Google Translate? I could wax philosophical about all the profound changes technology and social media are having and the good, bad, and ugly about those implications. But let’s just not, all right?

In college I found that the best way to survive mid-terms and finals was with the help of lots and lots of baking. The simple, clear measurements, and the mindless stirring have a calming effect. It reminds me of home. For a few minutes I get to pretend I am eight years old again and fighting with my siblings for the privilege of cracking the eggs (totally the best part) instead of being made JSTOR’s bitch.

But here I am, in France. Everything is, you know, in French. I have been blessed with a toaster oven in my new apartment. It’s about the size of a shoebox and while I jokingly refer to my apartment as being figuratively shoebox-sized, my toaster oven is not a far cry from being literally shoebox-sized. It is also about a thousand years old and will probably set my apartment on fire at some point this year. Oh and the temperature is in Celsius, because, you know, I’m in France.

But it can bake things. And that is all that matters.

The handy toaster oven. I feel like I need to name this appliance. Thoughts?

Unfortunately, in order to bake things I have to have ingredients. In order to have ingredients, I need to have some concept of what the hell I am purchasing. When I go to the grocery store to purchase something specific that I have not yet purchased, one of the first things I do is get out my phone and type the item into Google Translate.

This is not a fool-proof method if your language skills are actually at zero, but a pretty reliable start. For example, when I typed in “flour” it gave me “de la farine.” Now, not all of the packages say “de la farine” but after a bit of searching, “OH HEY, THESE ALL SAY ‘FARINE’ AND LOOK LIKE FLOUR.” (although, if words like “de” and “la” actually throw you off, you might want to reevaluate your choices…but that’s for another day.)

That’s the easy scenario. Sometimes it gets a little tricky. Either Google Translate doesn’t give you a result that you can readily see in the aisles or it gives you something that you are unsure about for some reason. On top of the linguistic confusion I experience, grocery store layouts just aren’t quite the same. In the US, for example, baking soda would likely be in the vicinity of flour. It was not. This makes me dubious of my Google Translate results.

Fear not — Android has the answer to that too! Go to my Google search bar and type things like “how to buy baking soda in France.” Adding the question-like terminology is important. You don’t want translations or wikipedia pages on baking soda. What is most helpful in these situations are the countless expat and travel forums out there. The question terms increase the odds that you’ll pull up one of those forums.

And, oh, hey! Baking Soda is usually by the salt! (Which is nowhere near the flour) And my new keyword is BICARBONATE!

(I was also a little dubious of “cassonade” for brown sugar. The forums swear it’s the same. I contend that it is not exactly the same, but it works. I guess this is my version of the guy who swears by French salt.)

Sometimes, however, your search makes it clear that some things are just highly uncommon items in the kitchens of the country you are in. In that case, you suck it up and open your wallet at the nearest imported food store.

I forked over a ridiculous amount of money for baking powder and vanilla extract. I reminded myself of the long-term benefits to my mental health, and promised to bring some back when I go home for Christmas.

If all else fails, you can always crowdsource your issues:

You can get by knowing a lot less, as long as you know how to find the people that do know. Like converting measurements from Fahrenheit to Celsius because I’m still functioning on that idiotic American system. Thanks to the internet, I don’t really have to switch.

I also haven’t purchased measuring cups/spoons yet, so my baking skills were put to the test. In the interest of minimizing damage, I decided to start with something simple: chocolate chip cookies.

A little fatter, but a lot less stressed. My kitchen is now mostly stocked for my baking habit and I will be unloading copious amounts of butter and sugar on my classmates. Not that either one of those items are in particularly scare supply here — the French are no strangers to butter and sugar.)

Thanks, Google. I know you own all of my information and I have lots of reasons to be concerned about you, because I have four professors telling me that throughout the week, and I’ve maybe noticed that in the thousand and six privacy agreements I have ignored and clicked “I Agree” on…but…you brought me cookies! So it’s all good, yeah? Yeah.

The best part is that this might turn up in some other helpless soul’s search for, “How do I buy _____ in Paris?”

I feel you, friend.