How France was portrayed and how it really is

I felt misguided about certain things thus I thought I would pen it down.

Before coming to France, this is what was portrayed to me;

• France is so fancy and clean.
• French people are proud and mean in general.
• The culture is modern and has the typical western culture.
• Being a European country things must be fast and high tech everywhere.
• Amazing styles and fashion.
• Beautiful architecture.
• People are gorgeous.
• French people don’t bath regularly.
• Paris is the prettiest city in France.
• Paris being the international city of love — France is all about romance and love.

But actually,

I found people from France in general are absolutely kind and welcoming. They also give privacy for the others as well. Most of them have been helpful during my toughest times based on my personal experience. I have had one racist experience for two years. I have to say many of them get grumpy when they have to speak in English — at least in the city where I lived, which is less urbanized than Paris. However the ways of people may depend on the city. Parisians are supposed to be a bit ‘arrogant’ — which is stated by French people themselves. But it can be because they are busy and the traffic etc.

France and the French are very practical — cars to clothes. They are also frugal. They are concerned about their fitness and it’s common to see people jogging at all times of the day. They balance out their work and life well which is my favourite thing ever. They give priority to relaxing and destressing, so the next day they would be entirely committed to their work.

I used to think it would comparatively be very clean and fancy etc. but some people just throw their trash or cigarette butts on the ground and you would kind of have to watch out for dog poop when you are walking ;)

The fashion sense is actually effortless and considers the practicality of things. They wear clothes which look comfortable — they use chalk colours for autumn and winter, and, wear white shoes with everything. The stockings and leggings is to keep the legs warmer during the cold seasons, while the countries close to the equator adopt the same styles without considering the practical aspects…