Culture Café: France
First of all, we were told about history of France and its geographical description. Population of France is 67.19 millions, but mostly people live in such regions as île de France (Paris), Centre (Tours), Auvergne and Midi-pyrénées (Touluse).
Moreover, France amazes not just with its history but with its sights and unbelievable landscapes as well. Don’t think they all are situated in Paris, there are many of them outside of it. For example, in the North you can visit such stunning places as Mont Saint-Michel, Château de Chambord, Falaises d’Etretat, Château de Chenonceau, Colmar and La route du Champagne. In the South you will find fields full of lavender, incredible beaches. Here are exact places from list “must-visit”: Lac d’Annecy, Les routes de la lavande, Dune du Pilat, Grottes de Lascaux, Gorges du Verdon, Biarritz. If you go further, you will face La Réunion and Corsica which will steal your heart with its’ astonishing beauty.
The next point was connected with art & fashion. We all know “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, pictures by Vincent van Gogh and etc. in art and fashion gods as Louis Vuitton, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin. These are who make France famous all around fashion and art world.
What is more, our students told us about the educational system of France which consists of several levels: preprimary, primary, lower secondary and after dividing into vocational, technological and academic, the last level is postsecondary and tertiary. And what does each student wait for every year? Right, summer! Summer in France is very fruitful and colourful. During this season there are lots of different festivals: Tour de France (7-29 July), Fêtes de Bayonne (25-27 July), Braderie de Lille (1-3 September).
So, here we are turning to french behavior and manners. That was so interesting to find out about ‘saying hello’ in different regions. The sense is that you need to kiss everyone when you come and when you leave. But difference is in amount of kisses. Somewhere it can be 2 kisses, but in some regions can reach 4. (Imagine how many kisses you will need to do if there is a company of 10 people!!!).
Talking about something more complicated, our students couldn’t avoid language. They showed us a video which clearly describes why French is a difficult one and why even people who live in France for a long time make mistakes. Here is a link on it: https://youtu.be/pz0XgAKR9Oc. We also tried ourselves in matching English expressions with French and understanding its’ real meaning. That was a bit hard but everyone managed with this task.
For the end of presentation we were left with the tastiest part: FOOD AND WINE! Here are traditional dishes which you need to try during your vacation in France: Choucroute, Raclette Foie gras, tarte Tatin, Canelés, Cassoulet. Red wine, Cidre, Rillettes will be also suitable for these dishes.
In conclusion, we would like to thank everyone who came to our Culture Café: France, and made that evening really homely and lovely. The workshop “Baguette-fromage” was as great and fun as the food our students cooked for us. We tried baguette with camembert and chèvres, crêpes (kind of pancakes) and Flammekueche (like pizza).
Hope you enjoyed the time and will come to our next Culture Cafés. We invite you and your friends in order to gain knowledge about different countries all over the world, and becoming part of them for this short time.
Author: Ekaterina Didenko
Editor: Irina Klimova
Proofreader: Shannon Williams