Definition of Normal

Finally, after a month in France I feel like an actual Lillois. Perhaps it is because this has been the most “normal” week I’ve had thus far. I wouldn’t usually consider trips to Paris and London in a week to be ordinary, but when you’re studying abroad, it’s just a way of life.

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to spend the day in Paris with a friend back home from Santa Clara, the wonderful Stephanie Clements, and her family. It’s still kind of weird that I can say that I’m going to Paris for the day and it’s not a big deal. The whole summer we talked about meeting up in Paris for the day but Steph didn’t know when she was going to be in Paris. Coincidentally, Steph was in Paris during the week that I only had class on Monday. On top of that I bought a ticket to Paris one day before the trip for 15 Euros (J’aime mon carte 12-25), which is really cheap.

When I got to Paris a few things ran through my head: A. I’m going to live here for a year or two, without hesitation B. Wow, I don’t remember this much English being spoken in Paris the last time I was here C. Wow, there’s a lot of English here. After spending so much time in Lille, it felt weird to hear so much English and see so many people/tourists. Just watching made me think sympathize with the Parisians for a little bit, having to deal with so many tourists all year round. Even though I don’t necessarily know my way around the city that well I didn’t feel like a tourist; I felt French—I asked for directions in French, I ordered my food in French, etc.

Paris was pretty much the same as when I went in 2008; some of the pictures I took were exactly the same! This time, however, everything seemed a lot slower and I saw all the details of the city that I missed beforehand. Whether it’s the one stained glass window that’s different from all the rest in Notre Dame, the ‘I love you’ wall at Montmartre that not many people know about, or the vineyard behind Sacre Coeur, I didn’t notice any of these things before and it made my trip that much better.

This week I finally feel like I’ve gotten into the swing of things and feel like I’m at home.  I finally learned how to get stamps from the post office, learned how to open a bank account (en francais bien sur), found the cheapest supermarkets, and I feel like I’m a pro at filling out paperwork, which I’ve been doing about every week since I’ve been here (OFII stamp done, I’m well on my way to getting 90 Euros a month!). Heck, I’ve learned to avoid stepping on the dog poop that has been lying around everywhere. I’ve even gotten use to France’s “soft deadlines.” By this I mean that deadlines are always drawn out and it’s accepted in the culture. For example, when I opened my bank account I was told that my debit card would come in a week. I went to the bank a week later to pick it up and they told me it wasn’t ready. If this were America I would probably complain because I was told a specific date and expect the bank to stay true to their word. Here in Lille, however, it is an accepted part of the culture to be perfectly fine with soft deadlines. I know my example is rather specific but when you talk about homework deadlines or government paperwork, it really boils down to this culture of trust, where everyone trusts everyone.  

The thing that really makes me feel like I’m truly at home is that I’m a regular at a bar. There’s this bar, La Traviata (or La Trav as we call it) right near my school that I go to pretty much everyday and it’s relaxing. First of all, pints are € 2, whenever I go there’s always someone else that I know that, MOMO, but last but not least, the bartender/owner, Sébastian. He’s a big menacing man but with a kind heart. Every time that I go to the bar he’s always there to say hello to me, have a conversation, and teach me French. I feel like going to the bar and talking to the locals and Sébastian has been the soul reason why I have improved my French. Conversely, we, the English-speaking people, are always on hand to teach people English. When there’s a word we can’t put into French/English we resort to charades and drawing pictures. In fact, some of our drawings have ended up on Sébastian’s special board behind the bar. For anybody wondering the word for keg in French is “fût.” There are even times when Sébastian is feeling extremely generous and feels the need to give out free beer to his favorite customers. He’ll tell me that he has some extra beer on hand that he needs to get rid of or that I need to try a certain French beer while I’m in Europe. To simply put it, the atmosphere at La Trav is the epitome of life in Lille. Not the drinking beer part, which is also very prevalent, but the diversity. Whether you’re from France or even South Korea you will never feel left out. The camaraderie amongst those young and old is what separates this bar from others.

The last thing I want to talk about is the education system in France, which is radically different than anything I have ever encountered in the United States. Maybe because I’m an exchange student there really isn’t structure, but in general, there really isn’t structure. What it comes down is the school giving teacher the dates for the semester and the teacher can choose what days they want to have class, for how long, and how many times we meet during the semester. For example, my organizational behavior class meets on Wednesdays for 3 hours every other week. We only meet 6 times over the course of the semester and are finished with the class by November.

Another thing is just the culture of the students in class. I’ve actually never had a large lecture before I got to France but I never expected lectures to be like my intro to marketing class. There’s about a 160 students mostly French, but the class is taught in English. On a quick note, when I signed up for intro to marketing (which I will be credit for at Santa Clara), I didn’t know that the class was literally intro to marketing for people that don’t know anything about marketing or business for that matter. It should be called marketing for toddlers. Anyways, back to the lecture. It is literally a zoo during the lecture. The teacher is kind of soft spoken and doesn’t have the courage to tell everyone to be quiet. People are yelling across the lecture hall, I can barely conduct a conversation with the person next to me because it’s so loud. I was even in the front row!

Lastly, one of the things that really intrigue me is the different points of view offered in my classes. In most of my classes I’m usually one of the few Americans mostly filled with French students and other countries filling in here and there. Because most of my classes are in English I have a clear advantage and as it turns out, I’m usually the outspoken American in class. In one of my classes we did a case study on Patagonia, an American company based in California, and an analysis of why Apple is so successful in certain aspects. Personally, I can go on about these two companies and their organizational styles. The difficult thing, however, is trying to make my responses clear enough so that everyone understands. Thus far it has been quite interesting because we do a lot of group work and Hofstede's Power Distance definition comes into play a lot (special thanks to Professor Toppel for teaching me about this). Working with the Asians, I know that they aren’t aggressive in assuming leadership in the group, whereas Europeans (not all though) don’t mind taking leadership but they like to build the relationship before they get down to business. For myself, the American, my main focus is the task at hand and getting that done as soon as possible.

In any case, however, living and going to school in this culture will be quite interesting over the next few months. The main goal is to just gain a greater understanding of different points of view, which can prove to be very beneficial when I go back home.

I apologize for the length of this post, I just had a lot to say, but I’ll end it here. I’m on the train to London and I’m about to enter the Chunnel! How exciting.

One last thing…

“Shi Shi, wǒ xǐhuān nems!”