Two of my groupmates are living in France at the moment and they told me some very curious and true-to-life peculiarities of French lifestyle. Some of them seem nice and amusing but some are a bit strange and not always clear to me. Okay, let’s ride!
Nice and Amusing:
A French Greeting. The thing is that people in France are very emotional and open-minded regarding greetings and bye-byes. Sometimes it is surprising for foreigners to see French men and women kissing each other every time they meet or leave. This works even if they have not seen each other for 10 minutes.
French students have 5 vacations during a year - All Saints' Day (1,5 week in October), Christmas (2 weeks after the New Year celebration), Winter Holidays (2 weeks in February and March), Easter Holidays (2 weeks in April and May), Summer Holidays (2 months in July and August).
Most French women will never go even to some local bakery or some other shop without making a perfect hair-set first.
Each shopping mall has more than 200 types of delicious cheese from all France. Each small village produces its own unique sort of cheese. That is why it is sometimes very difficult for a customer in a mall to choose a cheese not only because of the large number of sorts but also due to a hell-like flavour which consists of mixed smells of numerous cheese sorts.
People in France are fond of riding two-wheeled vehicles. Even mayors of cities prefer to ride bicycles rather than cars in order to keep the air clean. As for motor bikes, the French have separate schools where a person is taught to ride a bike.
Somewhat a bit Strange:
1. "Long lunches” is a very peculiar tradition in French shops. Many of them are closed from 12 AM to 2 PM and in summer even to 4 PM. It is quite annoying for many foreigners who did not manage to make their purchases until 12. But for French shop assistants this timing is natural!
2. Another annoying thing about shops is that almost all of them are closed on Sundays, no exceptions, sorry.
3. Discos and nightclubs in France start working at 2 AM, when most foreigners usually head home for sleep.
4. In most cases French people do not apologize or explain the reasons when they refuse to do something. For example, if you offer a French something that he or she does not want to do, he or she will never apologize for refusal and won’t explain why the offer is rejected.
5. French people do not like the English language and they try to avoid using English words in their life. Every thing in this world has a French name and you do not need to use English for naming it, they say.
