Recently we got the once-in-a-lifetime experience of going and living with a local French family for a week, and we learned a whole lot during our stay. We got to learn a lot about their culture along with what they do every day.
On the first day, we went food shopping with the dad. Unlike countries like America, France and many other European countries have separate shops, meaning that instead of driving to your local supermarket you would need to walk to each one separately. So if you need vegetables you would go to the farmer’s market, and if you need meat you would go to the butcher. This can either be an inconvenience or a positive to the way you live. A benefit of having to walk around is that you become much healthier. One thing I noticed while in France is that EVERYONE is fit, no matter the age, and I suspect that one reason might be because of the shops. Even apart from the shops, the culture is heavily oriented towards walking instead of driving. The sidewalks are even wider than the streets in some areas! Another bonus for the separate shops is that it is very environmentally friendly. In America, you would need to drive to get anywhere, and as you might have guessed that is very unfriendly to the environment. However, there is an obvious downside to this, which is that you need, to, indeed, walk. So if you’re lazy or if it’s raining it can be a pain to get your daily items.
On the topic of being outside, another thing that I noticed is that everyone spends a lot of time in squares or restaurants hanging around with friends and strangers. This leads to a very nice social environment which in my opinion, makes the city feel alive. Another nice thing about Paris is that there are many public parks. Even in each block, there is a small space dedicated just for children to play in. My favorite thing we did in Paris apart from the parks was just to walk around and get a really good sense of the city. One thing probably anyone could relate to about Paris is its grandness. From the long boulevards which stretched until the horizon, to the grand homes intricately decorated lining the streets, to the huge public parks, it is to say that this place is truly amazing.