Ma Vie in France

If you were intrigued by this title and are looking for the answer to this question, I'm sorry to disappoint. There is no magical French anti-fat gene. The French do, in fact, "get fat".  I chose this title because it's a common stereotype we hear of the French, things like "they eat all that cheese and fatty food, and yet have lower levels of cardiovascular disease". People tend to attribute this to drinking wine, or the Mediterranean diet based on olive oil.   Let's look at the facts. An OECD study published in 2014 showed that France has a rising rate of obesity, whereas countries like the US have levelled off. [1]   But other statistics show clearly that the US is still far ahead of France in terms of the obesity rate. Depending on your source, the US has approximately twice the percentage of obese adults as in France (anywhere from 24-26 % for the US, and 12-18% for France) [2] . So yes, the French do get fat, but seemingly not as fat as Ameri...

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...