Tuesday, February 5, 2008

understanding france - from travellers diary

France is a lovely country, with large meadows and greenery all around. Surrounded by the pacific and the meditareanean in the west and south, alps in the east and the countries like brussels and UK in the north it has everyting that one would like to see and live with. Cities like Paris, Lyon, Grenoble are the business centres of the country while places like NICe present something unique.
To understand France one must understand that it is one of the most liberal and yet very closely tied country. One wil get all the liberty in the world that one likes to, and yet there is a deeply knited social fabric that is hard to miss.Another interesting feature is that people are very friendly and would like to help for a genuine cause and yet there is some selfishness in the country's basic structure.
France is known as the capitol of luxury and there are luxury everywhere , yet there is also deep poverty within the society that does not comes to the surface before the public eye. Life is easy and yet very difficult.
The main economy is cenetered around tourism, besides, wine, dairy products and strong R and D base in sectors like agriculture and pharmaceuticals. IT and automation are also high.
To live in France one must have good money and or a good job at hand. Labour laws are tough and immigartion is not promoted. To get job in France one must have a french degree and should knoe french well. However that does not mean that one will get job easily. Finally it is the comptenece of the individual that matters. cerain sectors like IT and computer sc. may make life easy if one is really good in these domains.
French people are very proud of their culture and country. However they are also very fun loving and passionate. It is common to have two - twenty affairs in ones life (men women alike) and is not considered a crime or loose personality feature. It is rather easy to find love in France if you are looking for love (men or women) but the relatuonship can be very temporraily depending upon the individuals and what they are looking for.
Like all European countries French people beleive in independent behaviors and will not take obligation. If you are going for a tea or coffee you can pay for yourself and the other person pays for himself/herself...nothing great about it. Finances are tight and so no would pay for you and one should not feel sad about it.
To be continued......
Asheesh Shah
asheesh.shah@gmail.com
n.delhi
india
.

No comments: