During this ACOPIA’s multicultural class, Marie Bardoula - one of our numerous French interns - introduced the part of France where she was born and raised, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. She also talked about the stereotypes about French people and gave some tips on how to behave while visiting France !
really enjoyed holding that multicultural class about my country and its culture.
I was also really pleased to talk about the part of France where I grew up, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Most of the time, foreigners only know about Paris, so I thought it would be nice to talk to the participants about an other part of my beautiful country.
They were pretty surprised by the habits and customs of people living in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais : we prefer drinking beer rather than wine, the kissing habits at the Carnaval de Dunkerque, the huge amount of mussels we eat during La braderie de Lille, the beautiful architecture and landscapes, and so on…
By the way, if you want to watch a funny and interesting movie about this part of France, watch 알로, 슈티 ! I am sure you will like it ;)
Then, I talked about some stereotypes foreigners may have about French people. Some of them are of course false, but I have to admit that some of them are actually true (yes, we DO complain quite a lot..! ^^).
It was really interesting, for both French interns and foreigner participants, to talk about those stereotypes, and about what the rest of the world think about Frenchies. It was a lot of fun ! :)
After that, I wanted to give some tips on how to behave in France : the way French people act, our taboo subjects, our beliefs and superstitions (NEVER open an umbrella inside !), etc. Some of the topics covered really surprised the participants !
To finish this class, we ate some French biscuits, drunk some orange juice and had some chilling time while listening to actual French songs (no, no, not « La vie en Rose » from Edith Piaf !). »