Differences

I've had several people ask me to write about the main differences between France and the U.S. Of course, there are many. Here are what I consider to be the top five after two months:

5. Quality and specialization. It seems that these days Americans are encouraged to cast a wide net, to choose a specialty but also become fluent in other areas related to that specialty. Journalists are encouraged to learn to write and take photos; restaurants that could do quite well selling only cakes and pastries also offer full coffee bars and lunch fare. In France it seems to me there's still an emphasis placed on specialization that we've started to lose in the States. In Yssingeaux, which is a pretty small town, we have at least two butchers, a fish market, several stores that sell only breads, a chocolate shop, and probably a few others I'm forgetting to mention. And all of these places offer goods handmade by people who focus on what they do best and don't try to do everything else at the same time. Quality is key. 

4. Driving. I mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll repeat it here because I do find driving--from the cars to the roads to the gas by the liter--here is different. First off, not everyone here has a hatchback, but pretty much everyone does. Cars are typically smaller, though there are more SUVs here than you might think. No pick-ups, though. The colors are sometimes strange, from pale yellow to violet. And they're 95 percent manual! The road signs are mostly close enough to understand, but there are subtle differences. For example, where we have dotted lines to indicate passing is OK, they have dotted lines and big swooping arrows. And I think it's funny the way they tell you you're leaving a town--they print the name of the town with a line through it--reminds me of HTML (how big of a dork am I?).

3. "Bonjour!" People here are extremely friendly, even to us foreigners. Just walking down the street, whenever you make eye contact with someone, they're bound to say, "Bonjour," and it's polite to say it back (or say it first!). [I should note here that the same cannot be said of Paris.]

2. Smaller sizes. This applies to just about everything, but especially when it comes to food. At McDonald's, the "maxi" is a medium in the U.S. In restaurants, portions are smaller and in grocery stores it's the same. There are no "family-size" bags of chips or boxes of cereal. People here must shop more often than we're used to, which might explain why we have a mini fridge in our apartment!

In cafes, coffee is served in a tiny cup and is simply a shot of espresso.

1. Pace of life. Everything is just a little bit more relaxed here than anywhere I've lived in the States, and that mostly includes California. People take long lunches, so practically everything is closed from noon to 2 or 2:30 or even sometimes 3. On Sundays and Mondays you're lucky to find things open after noon, if at all. Few restaurants offer food to go--it's much more common to sit and enjoy your meal than take it on the road. It's sort of intangible, but people just seem less rushed here, less in a hurry to get from one place to another, less inclined to push to the front of the line or get rude with a slow salesperson. 

I have a whole post in the works about grocery shopping--eta later this week!