I’ve heard so many things about France while living abroad and reading expat blogs that I wanted to give you the truth about 7 clichés about France. 🙂 So you never sounds like a tourist, more like a real French expert.
Bastille Day
First, there is no “Bastille Day” in France. We call it le 14 juillet. And it is not a celebration such as Christmas or New Year. Or something similar to Independance Day. So, “Happy Bastille Day” makes no sense in France. I hear it very often abroad, but a French would never say it. We usually use le week-end du 14 juillet to meet friends. Some people go to le bal du 14 juillet which is followed by a feu d’artifice.
Eating snails and frogs
I have to confess I love snails. And I’ve eaten frog legs only once, when we had Irish visitors who brought some as a “real French food” experiment. I don’t like it.
However, not everybody likes snails and frogs. They are both quite “special” and you need either a lot of curiosity or being used to early. My mum hates it, my boyfriend too…
So: don’t think every French eat frogs and snails every week. We don’t.
All women look like Carla Bruni
With the fantasy created by perfume ads in Paris, foreigners tend to think that we all look like models. We don’t. Don’t pressure yourself. Avoid a few fashion faux-pas, shop in French boutiques and you will get a Parisian look. The fashion faux pas punishable by death being wearing these awful “tourist clothes”: ugly trainers, tracksuits, shapeless tee-shirts, bumbags, sandals, socks in sandals… You see what I mean. 😉
French wear berets
We don’t.
French wear hooped shirts
We don’t. Fashion makes them come back sometimes, but we generally don’t wear hooped shirt.
French eat fresh croissants in the morning
To eat fresh croissants in the morning, you have to get up earlier, go to the boulangerie and come back. That’s a lot to ask for on a day to day basis. Maybe during week-ends. Sometimes…
French cook French cuisine
If you are thinking about the “French cuisine” with 34 ingredients you see in books. We don’t. “French cuisine” is left to great restaurants. We cook easy simple recipes, with fresh ingredients as often as possible. But we are far from being chefs.
Hope I did not kill the myth and make you regret buying a hooped shirt to look French in France!
Take action now: Let me know in the comments what French myth was destroyed when you moved to France!
Share it with your friends: you’ve just discovered something? Send the article to your friends! They need it too!
