(asked by Patricia from somewhere – I guess the US) Do French men really find American women fascinating? Ah American women! The object of fascination of all Frenchmen!!! Or are they? Well, first I guess we need to define “fascination.” Personally, I always found mole rats to be extremely fascinating if you see what I mean. I guess we need to separate two things here. First, American women, the way they are depicted in the French media and the fascination [Read the rest]
Dec 282010
(asked by Leesa, from the US and currently living in France) I have a question out of genuine curiosity…. Why do the French burn cars… and why is this done as a common practice or sort of “tradition” on New Year’s Eve in Strasbourg??? What’s the draw for people to go out and burn all those cars? Why do people get away with this/why isn’t it enforced more??? So, first, I don’t want people to be confused by the title, [Read the rest]
(by Young Reader from Vietnam and the US) Ok, I guess it’s the season, so I’m treating you with new entries. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to post regularly (like I used to do), I’m still busy with other stuff and all, but let’s give it a shot. Let’s start (again) with a very long e-mail from Young Reader, a Vietnamese girl that has been living in the US for a while. First of all, thanks for [Read the rest]
Sorry guys, I know I haven’t been very active around here lately, blame it on me being out of the country a little, me being quite busy with other things, and also some lack of motivation I admit. Back in the days, idiotic questions amused me, now they bore me. And I won’t mention the dozens of “I met this French man, what does he think?” questions. Those are unfortunately the vast majority of questions I get and they’re way [Read the rest]
(asked by Jason from Canada) Something I was surprised to not have read about on your blog was the difference(s) between the north and south of France! For reference, I also didn’t see your area of origin on the blog, so I’m sorry if the answers seem obvious or you might not know as much about one of the two! Whatever the case, my questions would basically be: What actual differences do you see between the north and south of [Read the rest]
Aug 162010
(asked by Ché from England) I’m looking for a little advice but may well have missed the deadline for getting an answer before my trip. Either way the answers maybe of interest to your readers or future tourists. I have kindly been invited to spend New Years Eve with my boyfriends family in Lille. In England, New Year’s Eve is about partying, drunken antics, laughter and tears. All coupled with the feeling that your pants are being pulled down (figuratively [Read the rest]
Jul 282010
(asked by Melanie from somewhere) I have a question about apartment hunting in France. When I look up places to rent their prices come up as 255cc in euros and does not specify if it is weekly or monthly. What does ‘cc’ mean and do you know if in France apartments are usually paid by the month or week? Yeah, I know, I’m posting two articles in the same night, crazy, eh? I also have a question for you. Where [Read the rest]
(asked by Megan from Brisbane, Australia) I have read in various places that Bretons see themselves as a little bit apart from the rest of France. Is this true, in your opinion? Is it changing over time? What are some cultural differences? Oh yeah, I totally agree with this statement. Bretons are a peculiar kind of French… Or so they think and try to convince themselves. The reason is simple: they think that they’re not really French and that their [Read the rest]
Jul 192010
(asked by Megan, from Brisbane, Australia) On reading your blog I can tell that you are very disillusioned with religion (perhaps with some good reason) but I was wondering if you could tell me a little about the L’Église Réformée de France (Reformed Church of France) as my own distant ancestors were Huguenot refugees who left France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (thanks to Louis XIV and his dragoon thugs. ) There is very little information about [Read the rest]
Small Clarification…
No I do not publish every comment that is submitted to me. I obviously don’t publish spam or comments that are actually questions deserving their own topic. But I also tend to not publish comments on topics that have been widely commented when said comment doesn’t bring anything new. Finally, unless really interesting, I won’t publish a comment that is off-topic and/or will lead to a lengthy off-topic discussion. And most importantly, if I don’t publish your comment, don’t come [Read the rest]