Ma Vie in France

Way back when (it seems like a lifetime ago) I was teaching French at the university level in the United States. One semester in particular, I had a group of architecture students who had never studied French and who I needed to prepare to go abroad in one semester. I've just found some of the final cultural notes I gave the students before sending them off.   In any case, this advice can be useful for both tourists who are only passing through for a couple of days, to people who are settling in France and need to know the basics of getting around. Keep in mind that France is a very high-context culture. In plain English, this means that much of what you are supposed to do socially is coded, and not explicit (see the first point below for an example). Whether you are just visiting France or moving here, remember the following... BONJOUR, EXCUSEZ-MOI...AU REVOIR : If you ever need to stop someone to ask for information (French people do this a lot), always begin wit...

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...