Ma Vie in France

When I returned home to the US this Christmas, I got a lot of questions about what happened in Paris, and how people are coping.  Since the tragic events in Paris on November 13, I've visited the city twice.   To be quite honest, things seem to have really gone back to normal. There is still heightened security in places, but in the end people needed to resume their daily lives.             So in the spirit of honoring this great city, I'd like to talk in this post about the very important place that Paris holds in France. Paris is an unusual city. Not only because of its rich history, art, and beauty, but because Paris is the capital of everything in France.   Unlike neighboring countries like Germany and Italy where different cities tend to have distinct functions, France is entirely and completely Paris-centric. Paris is the country's financial, cultural, educational, and political center. This is also a clear...

No blog on France is complete without at least one post about food, and I'm surprised it's taken me so long to write one! But as I started to think about all of the different things there are to say about food in France (and there are many) I realized that it's just as important to discuss how people talk about food as it is to describe the food itself. So how do French people talk about food? Below I'll give a examples of language relating to food that I think are important to help understand the French mentality and experience of eating. Food is an experience: je prends mon déjeuner For starters, in France food isn't just something you consume, it's an experience. There is a certain time, place, and way that you eat. The language reflects this, as it's seen more appropriate and polite sounding in French to say 'I take my lunch' (Je prends mon déjeuner) rather than 'I eat my lunch', sounding a little more vulgar or just rep...

The title of this post Simple comme bonjour (literally 'easy as hello') is a French expression used to mean that something is easy, roughly the equivalent of 'easy as pie' in English.  There are certain things that you need to know in order to function in society in France, and especially, in order to be treated like a normal human being by others. One of these is the importance of greetings and closings, or more specifically, the use of hello and goodbye. This may sound silly, but don’t be fooled.   It is, in my opinion, one of the most important social cues in France. And without prior cultural knowledge, there's nothing simple about it.  Hello and goodbye (bonjour and au revoir) structure your interaction with just about anyone in France.  When I get onto an elevator with a stranger, I say hello and goodbye. When I enter a store, the clerk and I both say ‘hello’ and make eye contact. And obviously, when I meet up with friends or family, I will also ...

Did you know that today is Pentecost? Do you think anyone you know who is not Christian knows it? I can guarantee you almost every French person, Christian or not, knows that this weekend is Pentecost. Why? Because the day after, called Pentecost Monday, is a bank holiday in France.   France has, in addition to Pentecost Monday, five other Catholic bank holidays in the calendar year: Christmas, Easter Monday, Ascension Thursday, the Assumption of Mary in August, and Toussaint in November. Any tourist visiting France can also plainly see its ties to Catholicism in its magnificent cathedrals. And yet, in spite of this visible Catholic tradition in France, one of the most paradoxical things about living here is the effort the state makes to erase any signs or references to religion. Officially, the French state is laïque , a term which can be roughly translated to the (enforced) separation of church and state. Laïcité is technically a term used in the French constit...