Ma Vie in France

What do you wear to go the gym/to work out? Do you care about having the latest fancy adapted workout clothes (special bike shorts? running pants?), fix your hair, put on makeup? Or are you like me, and sometimes make an effort, but also sometimes just throw on an old faded t-shirt and pants and are ready to go? This question has sparked a small debate in my household and opens up discussions of clothes in general in France. My significant other, who is French, is very interested in dressing well in general (and he does!). The gym is no exception - he will style his hair and would probably avoid wearing sneakers that were somehow not coordinated with his clothes. My argument : Who cares? This is one place where how I'm dressed doesn't matter, I'm just going to sweat anyway. His argument: There are other people there, therefore it is important! This small example, while maybe not the same across the board for everyone, illustrates a larger issue of appea...

In the US regional differences are stretched out for miles and miles. Even though are regions and landscapes can be incredibly diverse, the change from one to another is fairly gradual and you often have to drive a long way before anything changes. Not the case in France. Just taking the area Lyon, you have to the east flatlands with small lakes and ponds, and if you go further, you run into the Alps. To the northwest, vineyards and rolling hills with naturally ochre colored stone for building constructions, and further west still the Loire river valley and then, the Massif Centrale, dormant volcanoes which make up a small, low, mountain-like range. Not to mention due south, where you can find prehistoric caves, or the north where you eventually leave the Beaujolais vineyards for Burgundy vineyards. All of these changes are within about a 2 hours drive of Lyon. But it's not only landscape we're dealing with, it's also regional identity, and of course food. Eac...