Like most Wake students at the moment, there are a few things I might change about my living situation if I could. The dilemmas I’m dealing with are a little different than those on Reynolda campus, though.
I live in a small apartment in the center of Dijon. It’s très bien placé (that is, well situated). My “roommate” is a French woman who works at the Conseil Général (regional government) about 10 minutes away. We eat dinner together a few times a week and, other than our separate bedrooms, share all the living space.
My street in Dijon, decorated with lights for the holiday season.
Unsurprisingly, most French live differently than most Americans. I’m not usually one to make generalizations about entire nationalities, but there are some cultural differences that are, for the most part, hard to dispute.
Environmentally, France is light years ahead of the US. Water and heating are kept at extremely high prices to deter overuse, and it works. The number of times I was told to turn off a light or use less water in the first two weeks with my host mother was embarrassingly high. It’s a country-wide effort, too: individually, France’s population is one of the world’s most conservative in terms of heat, air conditioning and water consumption.
A native French citizen would, for example, be shocked by Wake’s “open-door policy” in many freshmen dorms and Greek housing – when a door is closed here, it’s really closed. Busting into the living room or the kitchen if the door is closed, as I’ve learned, isn’t advisable. Privacy is an important value to many French people and a closed door always means knock first.
Ideologically, I’ve gotten mixed reviews of America and Americans from French people of all different ages. It’s normal to harbor stereotypes towards any group of people, and during our discussions at the University of Burgundy with international students or when I eat dinner with my host mother at the apartment, I get an interesting taste of various foreign viewpoints.
University of Burgundy campus (doesn’t hold a candle to Wake Forest!)
With only 26 days to go before I fly back home, I’m trying to make the most of the time I have left in France. Many of the cultural differences here I love and hope to incorporate into my life in the US. Others I could do without. This entire semester has given me some much-needed perspective, though, and a lot of American pride to boot!