preview

French Culture Vs American Culture

Better Essays

France vs. America

It was a Tuesday morning when I first decided to meet with my creating culture partner. We decided to meet in the Calvin T. Ryan library here on campus. I didn’t know what to expect at first. So, I spent a good twenty minutes before the meeting coming up with a definition of culture in case it was brought up in the meeting. I decided that my personal definition of culture is how a person lives their everyday life based on societal beliefs and norms. This lead me to think about the French culture, and how I have seen their lives portrayed. My partner Romane and I are from two different worlds. We can converse well with each other as long as we try to understand and respect the differences of our cultures. There are many …show more content…

Etiquette is a hot topic in both of our countries. We both try to be as polite, kind, and as courteous as possible. In reality, most of the things Americans do cross French people as odd or estranged. In both countries, it is considered common courtesy to wait for the host of the dinner to tell you that it is okay to begin eating. One thing I did not know is that in France, it is improper to eat with your hands. In America, we have “finger” foods such as chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers. In European countries, it is typical to see people greeting one another with a kiss on the cheek. However, in America, this is not the case. We do not go around kissing someone on the cheek in fear of not knowing how the other person will take this gesture. We do hug people to greet them, however. We hug, pat on the back, smile, and ask about health and family. In France, personal space is not as big of an issue as it is in America. The French only use about an arm’s length of personal space. In America, we typically ask for about two to three feet of space in our “personal bubble.” What is considered rude to do in public? Well, in France, it is rude to sniffle or pick your nose, spit, and yawn. Here in America these actions are considered fairly normal. When I walk down the street I hear people sniffling because of the flu, parents yelling at their children to get their fingers out of their noses, and …show more content…

We compared the systems and the effectiveness of both education systems. Both France and America have similar systems in the fact that the ages are around the same when you start and end your education. We decided to look deeper and compare prices, the atmosphere of the classes, and the sizes of the universities. In France, universities are free for students, unless you decide to go to a private institution. A private institution is the path that Romane chose. Also, they do not have your traditional college campus. It is just the school. American college institutions can be, and are, very pricey. The price significantly increases if one would like to go to a private college. At Romane’s college in France there is a “Bureau des étudiants” which translates to office of students. This office is a group of fifteen students who organize student parties. There are alcohol at these parties because it is legal to drink at age eighteen in France. It astonished her that we are not allowed to drink, or purchase alcohol until we reach the age of twenty one. Our equivalent to the office of students would be the campus group named LPAC. Any function that this group puts together is alcohol

Get Access