If you never learned French, you may not have realized how many English words have been derived from the French language, and only until I learned the language myself, it was like an ah-ha moment! If you go to a fancy restaurant, you’ll see the menu with the word “bon appétit!” which means enjoy your meal! If you learned basic french, you would know bonjour, which is a simple gesture to say hi, and if you learned more french, you realize you can use the prefix, bon, can be used for just about anything to wish someone good! For example, you can use it throughout the day, like bonjour (for the morning), bonne apres-midi (good afternoon), bonsoir (good evening), and even bonne nuit (good night!). There’s almost ‘good’ in everything and I’m really starting to understand why. Contrary to unsatisfied French citizens who protests just about anything, from a foreigner perspective, I would say there are high living standards and the life is indeed very good.
Here are a few things that I really admire in the country for implementing:
- Good Health Care: France has one of the best health care systems in the world and it’s largely funded by the government (just as many other things also). Coming from Canada, I’ve been very fortunate to have free health care also - I know this is not the same situation for my fellow neighbors in the United States - so I am indeed thankful. However, just as many free things in life, it does come with a price and sometimes, I think we really do pay for it with long waiting time at the emergency room, months to see a specialist and even worse, weeks before you can even see your own family doctor. This week, I sprained my feet (being the clumsy me, I’m not too surprised). I would have hated to have to walk to the doctor limping and so, I decided to ask for home service instead. Yes, the doctor came and saw me in my home without me taking a step out the door and it only took a day for her to come! This was in fact the longest waiting time for me to make an appointment. Usually I can make an appointment on the same day and be seen in a few hours. Doctors in France offers home service in which they set a number of hours in the office and a number of hours visiting their patients. I was so excited to be seen!
- Work Benefits: As a worker in France, my employer provides me important benefits that I am quite thankful for. For one, it is health care. I would be scared not to have my health care covered in a foreign country, you never know what can happen. Every time I go to the doctor or have prescriptions, I can send in reimbursement forms to get a certain percentage of my money back. However, one of the rare benefits that I am surprised (and absolutely love!) is that I get transport reimbursement. My employer pays for me to commute to work. Each month, I pay a monthly pass to take public transportation that covers me for the bus, metro, and trains (so convenient) and I get reimbursed 50% of the price. So I only pay half the price, and the other half my employer pays! Love this!
- Cheap Tuition: This is the one awesome benefit that I do not currently have access to and really wish I could take advantage of the cheap tuition going to school here (and that I knew earlier to perfect my French). Since higher education is funded by the state, the fees are very low; the tuition varies from €150 to €700 / year depending on the university and the different levels of education. One can therefore get a Master’s degree (in 5 years) for about €750-3,500.[Wikipedia] It is crazy that a degree is less than one year of my tuition back in Canada and that it is high-quality education. This is great because then they won’t be facing debt (like most North-American graduates) and can immediately enter the workforce without having a delay in other important things in life (such as financing a car or a house). Like my German friend said, “The state should fund students to go to school so when they graduate, they can work for the state and give back to their country.” How come we don’t think like this?
If you have ever lived in France, I’ll love for you to share on your thoughts! Am I missing anything?
You only know what you have when it’s gone and everyday I’m learning about the world and comparing to norms at home.
Everyone has a story.
This is mine.
I find the Canadian health system very good as well and trust me, as a freelancer (i.e. no benefits) I was very grateful to be covered under OHIP. I didn’t pay for a single health-related expense during the pregnancy!
Cheap tuition is great but some French universities are really falling apart. That’s the downside. And they can be overcrowded too.
I do wish Canadians had more paid holiday. Even taking time off without pay is very hard. This is partially why I decided the freelancer life was a better fit for me, I couldn’t live with the usual two-week paid holiday time.
Thanks for reading my things all the time Zhu! It must remind you of France. I do agree that our health care system is pretty good on a world scale, but I was really impressed by home care service and no wait times here! And yes, coming from a country with the norm of 2-weeks holidays, the multiple weeks of holidays in France really is SO so amazing!! You are so lucky you grew up here!
One thing I feel really lucky about is the fact that I have no student debt, since I completed my degree in France.