Bonjour everyone!
Today, I'm happy to welcome Emma from Words and Peace for a French Friday guest post!Emma is French, but has been living in the US for 11 years.
A French Woman in the US
First, let me thank Charlotte at The
Book on The Hill for inviting me today to speak about my experience
as a French lady living in the US.
In 2001, I left behind the gentle and
flavored hills of Burgundy…
…and landed
basically between two corn fields in the Midwest countryside.
My first reactions were:
- Where are the
skyscrapers?
- Wow, people drive
really slow here!
- And they are so
nice! They say “hello”, even though they don’t know me “from
Adam and Eve”, as we say in French.
- Funny ways around
the eating table.
The fact is that unfortunately, the
media and TV series exported oversees do not reflect the best of
American culture.
I could not see any of the very tall
buildings I thought America was only made of, and no crazy drivers
slaloming at high speed. In fact, French drivers were definitely
insane in comparison.
And only back in the 70s in my little
village of 250 inhabitants did I remember strangers greeting me.
Living now in a suburb of Chicago, I’m
still amazed today when people walking their dogs greet me.
And pedestrians are kings here!: even
before I reach the curb to cross the street, cars slow down and wait
for me to come and cross. I have never EVER had that experience in
France.
One more thing about drivers, and
something that still amazes me more than 10 years after I left
France: in the 4-way crossing, drivers gently take their turn to
drive ahead. In France, courtesy does not rhyme with driving, and you
need lights or round-abouts, otherwise you have a recipe for
disaster.
And only since the driving license has
come up with points that you can easily lose with each driving
violation have French drivers finally started to really slow down and
be more careful.
As for the eating table, 3 things:
- When I was a kid, I was told NEVER to put your hand under the table while eating, and leaning. The etiquette is to rest your forearm on the table, but NEVER the elbow, this is supposed to be very rude, and sit straight. So I was very surprised when I saw a group of friends, well raised Americans, eating ALL with their hand under the table, and leaning forward. They had a good laugh when I explained the difference
- Also, they seemed to be doing an awful amount of work to eat: they used their knife in their right hand to cut things, and switched the knife and their left hand to eat with their fork in their right hand. In France, you cut with the knife in your right hand, but keep your fork at all time in your left hand, so you eat from your left hand. It saves you lots of extra movements! Is it because we are naturally lazy? I wonder…
- I was surprised at first to see you could ask for a bag to take home leftovers from the restaurant. I think the French are actually starting to do it a in a few places. In France, restaurants serve smaller portions. But in the US, with large portions, this actually makes sense, and it is very economic, as you can easily have two meals out of one.
To go deeper in the cultural issues, I
have noticed that young people seem much less mature here than in
Europe. They seem to me overprotected, growing up in a cocoon, and it
takes a much longer time for them to leave the house and fend for
themselves.
Also, this is I guess without saying
because the age of the nations, but it sound sometimes funny to me
when people here talk about an old building. It may go back to the
1700s. Old for me means Medieval, and last time I visited France, I
showed my husband several churches going back to the 8th century.
Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay –
Burgundy. 12th century
And here are a few other things coming
to mind:
- in France, we complain all the time,
about anything and everything, and here we sue people, for anything
and everything!
- a joke, well founded, says that the
French are either on strike or on vacation. Here, we seem to be
working all the time, I know people who have at least 3 jobs.
- the French seem to be paying more
attention to the quality of food and produce. In the US, GMOs do not
require even labels, and I just read that ALL tomatoes you buy in a
grocery store are genetically modified. GMOs are forbidden in
France.
Sometimes, when I drink wine here, I get a headache in a split second. I drank wine many times last spring in France and NEVER got any problem: they do not add extra sulfates and chemicals in their wine, that’s THE secret!!
Sometimes, when I drink wine here, I get a headache in a split second. I drank wine many times last spring in France and NEVER got any problem: they do not add extra sulfates and chemicals in their wine, that’s THE secret!!
There are numberless differences, but
these are the ones I noticed most when arriving.
After more than 10 years, I still
prefer living in the US, the cost of living being much lower, and
people more open, at least in the Midwest.
But if you want to go and visit a
beautiful country, there’s none better than France.
Thank you Emma!
If you would like to write a French Friday guest post like Emma did, click here!
What a great post. I loved reading your experiences and the differences. I found that certain things of France sound better (portions, more vacations, no hangovers, and no GMOs) and certain things from the US I love and value the way they are (to go bags and driving). Thanks for the great post.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What brought you to the US?
You are right, the best would be to go back and forth, to enjoy both worlds, lol. To answer your question, I was part of an international organization and got transferred.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Emma
ReplyDeleteI've never lived in the US so I can't compare but I've been visiting and I had the same experience about the different idea we have of what an old building is. For me old is Medieval or Roman not 19thC.
I've always thought that we are supposed to show our hands ON the table so that other people are sure there is no wandering hand under the table. You know what I mean.
I'm not sure about everything you write about France. I eat like an American, when I read you. I do change my fork from my left hand to my right hand when I don't use my knife.
We do have more holidays but I work 50-55 hours a week (and not 35)and for the record, we don't have more days on strike than other European countries.
I don't drink wine, so I can't tell the difference. However, I hope that the EU stick to the current rules on food: no GMOs and no hormones in meat or in milk. It speeds puberty for children, especially the girls.
Something else. I regret that you forgot to mention two capital things to me: we have free access to health care and we can go to university for almost nothing. (less than $1500 for a year)
Another French Emma, still living in France
Very interesting post that I'm reading as I catch up with my blog reader. I'm an American, and have visited France only for a week. I think that's fascinating about the hand under the table thing. I wish the American culture was less workaholic, but there are some movements that are emphasizing better work/life balance and better produce. The problem is, you generally have to be in a good financial place to get that balance and to get that better produce, which is a shame.
ReplyDelete