Four months. I’ve been here for four months. It’s quite hard to believe I’m more than halfway through my contract and I’ve already started counting down to finishing my contract. The last couple months, I’ve lived with a French family, taught to French students and have had some French friends who taught and showed me a lot about their culture. In just a few short months, I’ve learned so much and understood about cultural differences, seen and witnessed how the French live.

Here are some lifestyle observations and based on my personal experiences:

1. The French Dream: Everyone knows that government jobs give good perks such as high pay and good vacations, but in France, the perks are even better. It’s called guaranteed jobs for life. Coming from North America where students are highly competitive and even with a problem with youth unemployment, I was so shocked to find out that it is possible you can have a career for life and never have to worry about being fired. My teacher once told me that after she passed her exams, she would be on the list of teachers to be hired, and even though there is not much advancement, you do have a job for life. I find this a little frustrating because I feel that administrative people in this crazy bureaucracy country have no incentive to work harder and have been so selfish in providing me zero customer service. Who needs to work harder when you have no way to excel and have a secure job for life?
2. Complain Culture: You’ve must heard — France is the capital of the world for protesting. There is almost not a day that goes by without a protest or something they complain about. One of my teacher once said, “If we can make our voice heard and make change, why should we not? We are entitled to make our lives better.” As a foreigner, it’s quite interesting to see how dedicated they are in making change. Even in the school system, I’ve witnessed a few times. There was one day where teachers were allowed to skip an hour of class so they can listen to the labour union about how their pay may get affected with more work and less vacations. The union came to my school to talk about it and hosted a meeting for teachers. Even though I think it’s great they are fighting for their rights, sometimes it’s like enough is enough. Appreciate more with what life is, than complain what life does not give you. I’m tired of France too.
3. Travel: I feel that travel is the single most important thing to all French. Not only students get a lot of vacations, full-time workers get 7 weeks of vacations a year. Although this is shocking to me, I’ve learned first-hand that traveling does change you and you get to learn so much about other cultures and the world through it. Giving full-time staff seven weeks of vacations means that they can take their kids to explore the world and to see a different side of things — give them a type of liberal experiential learning. In North America where 2 weeks is the norm, parents don’t have same ability and flexibility to go on vacations. Traveling as a priority is definitely an European mindset.

I’m excited for the next couple months and what else I’ll learn. Everyday is a new adventure.

Everyone has a story.

This is mine