Archive for 'Culture'
A little song and dance . . . Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 8, 2016
Musicals are most commonly associated with Broadway and London’s West End, but France has produced it’s share of musicals too. Some of them like Les Misérables have known long-term success around the world, while others are more obscure. And while in the last 20 years France has seen a growing success at home and abroad…
French Presidential Election Vocabulary Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Nov 7, 2016
Ah, the beginning of November is upon us … the season of spectacular foliage, chilling temperatures, and … particularly divisive elections. As tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8, is the day Americans go to the polls to choose their next president, let’s go over some French election terms (no pun intended!). Le président de la République française is…
Renewing My Carte De Séjour In France Posted by John Bauer on Nov 2, 2016
While I’ve been looking for a job and finishing mon mémoire, there has been another big source of stress in my life here in France: dealing with l’administration française (the French administration/government) and le paperasse (the paperwork) that comes with it. Ma carte de séjour (my residence permit) recently expired, and I had to go…
Vérités Éternelles* Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 1, 2016
C’est La Toussaint aujourd’hui. And since the holiday falls on a mardi (Tuesday) this year, it’s a safe bet that a lot of folks in France took yesterday off too to faire le pont from le week-end. And nice long weekends like this are great for catching up on your reading. Since I live and…
How I Prepared For My Thesis Defense In France Posted by John Bauer on Oct 26, 2016
Part of mon mémoire (my thesis) involved not just studying, but practicing my French and making sure I knew how to present my ideas clearly. I needed beaucoup de préparation (a lot of preparation) if I wanted to get un vingt. A few weeks ago Taghreed left a comment asking for some tips on la…
Mea culpa Posted by Tim Hildreth on Oct 25, 2016
Did you catch it? My mistake last week? Non? Well, I’m glad! But I’m also sorry if I misled anyone. Halloween of course is le 31 octobre (October 31) which is still a week away! I was either so excited for les déguisements et les bonbons (costumes and candy) or I was simply not paying attention…
La Toussaint (All Saints’ Day) Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Oct 24, 2016
As Tim mentioned in a recent post, Halloween traditionally wasn’t celebrated in France and has only been exported to France is recent years from American traditions. Even when I was living in France around eight years ago, you wouldn’t see children trick-or-treat in the streets of Paris. Rather, some friends would hold small Halloween parties and…