While much of my study abroad experience has been joyful, studying another language is a process. It requires a lot of repetitive work and is at least described as a time-consuming activity by all students abroad. This has been my past month here. In a mixture of dinner talks, nights studying vocabulary and taxi rides in French, I believe that my adaptation period to the French culture is now finished. Not only I feel comfortable here, but I see myself living here in the next years, as I acquire and add little pieces of French habits to my own. That thought had been wandering around my head for a while. What if it is only this style of life that pleases me?
What if it is not France and it is Paris? This post is therefore, to describe to you my experience in south France, more specifically, Nice. Booked ticket for the weekend, I was, unknowingly, about to embark in a journey of different cultures mixed.
Follows a bit of history: Nice is the fifth most populous city in France. Known for its all-year-round tourism, incredible rock beaches, and for being the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes region (French Riviera), it has a population of just 350 thousand people. All facts that I have learned while there. Because Nice was not a part of the French territory until 1860, it still widely shows its roots through narrow market streets and cuisine, mostly originating from the Kingdom of Sardinia, now known as Italy.
Nice has shown me a lot. A taxi ride from the airport to my hotel had already changed my mind on income inequality, when my driver referred to the cultural difference and government objectives. It sounds like a lot for a taxi drive, but while I was speaking French, I would not oppress the subject.
During the wait for my hotel room, I talked to 2 Italians that had been there many times apparently. While they told me the best tourist spots, the best commentary on the city was that it is important to appreciate the environment and enjoy the calm moments at the beach sidewalk.
The train ride on my way out put me next to a German girl who described me her entire trip, also in French. Being a citizen of both countries, she had been trying to decipher the biggest differences between the two countries for some time. While I did relate to some of them, my origin and mixed culture of American, Brazilian, French, and Argentinian habits seemed too comprehensive for her brief analysis on European cultures.
People just seem to love talking, and I probably look like a good listener. These talks put me in a context where I can no longer only understand the concepts, but create my own opinion on these differences. After a calm and considerably informative weekend in Nice, I found an answer to my question. It’s definitely not only the Parisian differences I like, but the world ones.