Welcome to Perdoe o meu Francês (or, pardon my French)!
This blog - six months late - aims, above all, to be a space for recording my days lived here, and also a space where I share with you my great adventure that is living in France.
"But, why France, Giovanna?" That must have been the question I heard the most since this whole story started back in 2015, and I usually give 2 different answers (depending on the day and my mood). The first is: “because I feel good here”, and the second is: “why not France?”.
The truth is that there was never a reason that led me to choose this country. My tastes and life took me along paths that, when I saw it, I was already here. Affinity, you know?
But anyway, since I've been here for some time, there are some questions that I always discuss with people in Brazil, and it seems that the questions / comments are the same... the good old cliches, right? But for us, who have changed countries, cultures and languages, it is very dangerous to stick to these generalizations because they will only make it difficult to adapt in a new environment. In a simple way: you have to know the country you are going to, but leave it to create your opinions after you arrive, after you meet a nice number of people and after you feel comfortable in that place, and then take your conclusions. Because the worst thing is to judge without knowledge, right?
What I saw and lived until today (and we will pray that the questions will subside after this post) and what I can tell you, from my eyes are:
- FRENCH PERFUME IS NOT CHEAP
- FRENCH DO SHOWER EVERYDAY
- THEY DO NOT SMELL LIKE CHEESE (where did you get that from?),
- AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE, BEER IS MORE CONSUMED THAN WINE,
- TUESDAY HAPPY HOUR IS AS COMMON AS FRIDAY'S
- THEY DO SPEAK ENGLISH
- THEY SHOW FEELINGS (and they're funny),
- THEY LOVE BRAZILIANS
- THEY HAVE A WIDE GENERAL CULTURE,
- BUYING WINE CAN BE CHEAPER THAN BUYING TOILET PAPER,
- AND BRIE TOO
- MACARON TASTES BAD
- I NEVER SAW A FRENCH WEARING A BERET
- NOR WEARING A SAILOR'S OUTFIT
Not what you think when you hear about French culture, right? This is because the experience of each person in a country is unique and that culture cannot be labeled from a single account. As in Brazil, each region has a different face, and each person is different !!
So, let's put aside all those pre-defined images in our head and embrace the curiosity to see all the facets of a culture, whatever it may be? 🙂
And yes, I know that the generalizations they have with Brazilians are clichés and sometimes offensive. For my part, I insist on ending all of them every time I hear a generalization on their part, this is no circus, nah ahn!
A bientôt, and once again, welcome to Perdoe o meu Francês!
