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My (former) employer sent me to France in 1997 to help setup a new department in our Paris office. I was given about 24-hours notice to prepare for a two week trip; this two week trip turned into six months. I had already spent a year in Germany, so I felt fairly confident about the trip. I was delightfully unprepared. I arrived at the airport, overburdened with luggage, without a clue of how to get to my destination. To add to the confusion, I had to use the public transit system to get to my hotel, which was located in a suburb just southwest of Paris.
Like most people raised in the U.S., I was conditioned to believe that French people were rude, nationalist snobs. Once I arrived and spent some time working with my French colleagues, I quickly realized that they were totally different from my expectations. The people I met and worked with were not rude. They were not gratuitously friendly, either. It's amazing how I can learn so much about myself, and the culture in which I was raised, by traveling. In the U.S., people in a service industry job frequently pretend to be friendly and eager to help. In fact, it's usually obvious that they would rather be doing something else. This behavior is not to be found in France. This is, perhaps, where visitors get the impression of rudeness.
Paris is a very expensive city, but bargains can still be found. The simple pleasures are very affordable. Bread and table wine are excellent and inexpensive. A habit I picked up in Paris is to have a shot of espresso (the French call it café) after lunch or dinner.
I'm not very fond of French food. Typically meats are not cooked completely and vegetables tend to be overcooked. At least they have good portion sizes. Most restaurants in the U.S. and Australia tend to have extremely large portions, and the French seem to have a more practical expectation of a person's appetite.
I made a lot of good friends in Paris and eagerly anticipate returning soon.
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