Author: abuckle3

Hofstede Insights evaluates France as a more “feminine” culture than the United States, focusing on quality of life as opposed to competition and achievement. I’ve found this insight to be true here in France. There are certain aspects of everyday life in France that are more leisurely and conducive to a happier lifestyle in my opinion. I think the most striking example of this is each country’s respective relationship with coffee. In the United States it’s very common to get a huge coffee and drink it on your way to work or class to energize yourself. Here in France walking around with a large coffee is a surefire way to give yourself away as an American.

The French relationship with coffee is far more social. Instead of drinking your huge coffee on the way to work it’s far more common to go to a café with friends and get an espresso. While a café in the United States would be full of people typing away on their laptops, a French café is full of people socializing. Coffee is something to bond over. It’s normal to take an hour or two out of your day to just get a coffee and talk with your friends. I find this to be a much healthier and enjoyable relationship with coffee. This relationship is reflective of a society that places more emphasis on a higher quality of quotidian life.

I initially found France’s relatively low Indulgence Score of 48 to contrast with this emphasis on quality of life. One would think that there’s a direct correlation between a focus on quality of life and allowing ourselves to indulge in our desires. However, in thinking of my experience this low indulgence score does not particularly surprise me. The aspects of French life that are dedicated to quality of life are organized and built into everyday life as opposed to being dedicated to more spontaneous indulgences. I think this is supported by Avignon’s nightlife before the festival. During the festival every night is a party night, but before the festival the nightlife was relatively quiet. Except for la Fête de la Musique, a day in which towns and cities around France all organize concerts to come together and celebrate music. I found this incredibly organized nationwide celebration of music to be unlike anything in the United States. I find that having a specific day dedicated to celebrating music and having fun reflects France’s low indulgence score.

One of my favorite aspects of life here in Avignon has been cycling. Since moving to a host family, I was given a bike to cycle around the town and I love it. Everything I could want is just a short and enjoyable bike ride away. But recently everything has changed. Avignon is home to the Festival d’Avignon, one of the premiere theater festivals in the world. The Festival has just started and theater lovers have flooded Avignon. Some of the streets I used to regularly cycle on are now covered with street performers and pedestrians, making it almost impossible to cycle. I’ve figured out back alleys and quieter streets to avoid the crowds, but cycling isn’t as convenient as it was before. 

Due to the influx of people, there’s a little less space to cycle now. As a result, the other day I was in a cycling accident. As I was cycling home there was another cyclist a little bit ahead of me and slightly to my right. Due to all of the pedestrians we were going at relatively slow speeds when he abruptly turned to the left without checking behind himself or signaling, resulting in me t-boning him. The man caught himself as he was falling and immediately began to curse and yell at me in French (he did vouvoyer me which was awesome). I’m not really one for conflict and I just wanted to get home for dinner, so, although I was not at fault, I just helped the man with his bike and asked if he was ok. He continued to yell and curse at me until two strangers approached telling the man that they saw the whole thing and he was actually at fault. This shifted the man’s anger from me to them, until he eventually fizzled out and we all parted ways.

My immediate interpretation of the accident was that I was not at fault and thankfully nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged. I saw the other cyclist’s reaction as completely unreasonable, and as such there was no reason for me to start arguing with him, as I doubt he would be easily convinced by me. This interpretation was verified by the two strangers approaching the man and telling him he was at fault and his unreasonable reaction to them. My evaluation is that I handled the situation very well. When tempers are high sometimes it’s best to just avoid confrontation as it’s very possible you’ll make no headway even if you’re in the right.

After my first week living in the studio an opportunity arose for me to switch to a host family, an opportunity that I immediately seized. I’m now living with an older lady and her cat. She’s been hosting students from all around the world for around a decade, but does not host a lot of American boys. This makes sense to me, French isn’t particularly popular with American boys. She’s formed a stereotype of American boys from the few that have stayed with her and from the many American girls that have stayed with her as well. Her view of American boys is somewhat negative. She views them as unintentionally rude and less social, often choosing to eat dinner alone. She says that American boys seem generally less engaged than boys from other countries, and definitely less engaged than girls. 

I understand why she views American boys in this way. I know a lot of guys who are generally less engaged and enthusiastic about academic pursuits, especially when compared to girls. I could see this being more pronounced when visiting France, especially in a program like mine which is very female heavy. I doubt that living with a single woman and her cat helped with their enthusiasm. Thankfully, I do not find this to be the case for myself, and am really enjoying living with my host mother. The food is amazing, and the cultural immersion has been doing wonders for my linguistic and cultural comprehension.

I do hold a similar autostereotype of American boys to my host mom. In the context of academics I do view American boys as typically less motivated than girls. From kindergarten to twelfth grade the smartest and most dedicated people in class were generally girls. I remember most boys not really caring about academics except for the one day each year that class rankings were released. Then they really cared but that was only because of their competitive spirit. For me, reflecting on this heterostereotype was not particularly difficult because it is very similar to this autostereotype that I hold. I know that stereotypes do not apply universally, and I can only worry about how I keep this stereotype from applying to myself.

Also, I took up the lady on the train’s offer to visit her countryside estate, it was a fantastic experience.