Hi guys, and welcome to the Tell Me Panda YouTube channel, where we talk about studying and working abroad. In this video, I'm sharing five cultural shocks I experienced in France. And no, it’s not about French bureaucracy—let's get started!

Timecodes:

0:00 CULTURAL SHOCK #1

2:28 CULTURAL SHOCK #2

4:29 CULTURAL SHOCK #3

6:19 CULTURAL SHOCK #4

7:16 CULTURAL SHOCK # 5

Living in France

I'm Elina, originally from Russia. If you hear a French accent, it’s because I’ve been living in Paris for almost 7 years. Honestly, I feel like I’ve lost a bit of my English here! This is my first video in English; I also have a channel in Russian. If you understand Russian, you can check it out here.

Just to give you some context: I came to France in 2014 to study for a master's degree at UCP Europe Business School. After that, I found an internship at Amazon and then started working at a French startup. Let me know in the comments if you want to hear more about these experiences too!

Today, I feel quite integrated into French society, but I still remember the things that shocked me when I first arrived in France. Here are my top five cultural shocks:

Living in France: Cultural Shock About French Cuisine

Well, you have probably heard about it many times that French people are really passionate about their French cuisine. They can talk about it for hours and hours they are aware that they're probably the only people who can talk about food while eating food. For example, they can talk about restaurants they have been to or the restaurants they plan to go to or they can explain to you in detail how they prepared these nice sauces or how they cooked this dessert. If you want to make friends with French you can ask either about their favourite food or recommend a nice restaurant in a place to have a nice experience. At that very moment, you will see little stars and big enthusiasm in their eyes. So I understood that French people really like good Cuisine with fresh local products and a good combination of dishes and wine and cheese and whatever is really like a religion. It's very impressive how can they talk about it all the time with very serious faces.

Living in France: Cultural Shock About Apéro

Cultural shock number two is closely related to the first and centres around the French aperitif. This pre-dinner ritual involves enjoying drinks and snacks, often in a relaxed social setting. It can vary widely, from a casual partage (sharing) of drinks with friends in a bar to a more formal apéro on a Parisian terrace. You might also encounter apéro on a riverboat, during Christmas celebrations, or before a weekend brunch. The French often find it difficult to understand that this concept doesn't exist in all cultures, such as Russia. For me, it was a challenge to explain the significance of apéro to my family and friends. Now, it seems natural to have an apéro as part of French culture, but it's not universally understood. I'm curious to know if this concept exists in your country. One of my earliest experiences with French aperitifs involved going to a bar with colleagues after work. When I asked about dinner plans, they casually mentioned we'd "see." We ended up spending the entire evening there, enjoying drinks and conversation. While it was a wonderful experience, I was surprised that apéro could sometimes substitute for a full meal. It was a reminder of how cultural differences can impact even the most basic aspects of daily life

Living in France: Cultural Shock About Healthcare

The next cultural shark is quite serious and it's about the French Health Care system. This is a very important topic and I know that different people have different points of view about it. Judging from my personal experience several years ago I went to a drugstore to buy some drugs honestly I don't like to take drugs but at that time I didn't have a choice I showed a prescription I was given some drugs and that was it. I mean there was no money, no transaction between ours and I was shocked. I didn't pay anything everything was covered by French insurance by Carte Vital which is mandatory insurance and the rest was covered by Mutuelle - the complimentary Insurance. Sometimes for medical checkups in Russia, I used to pay €200 and here almost zero. With French insurance, you can be refunded up to um 80% or sometimes even 100%. It's very impressive. Well at the beginning it's a nightmare to understand how it works because sometimes you have to introduce your Carte Vitale, and the rest you pay by your card then you are refunded by Mutuelle, sometimes you have to introduce both cards, sometimes everything happens automatically, sometimes you have to have to pay first and then you get refunded. Well, it can be very very complicated at the beginning but once you get it how it works you start to appreciate this system because it works and because it's one of the best Healthcare systems in the world.

Living in France: Cultural Shock About Baguette with Chocolate

The cultural shock number four is the French baguette with chocolate. I'm not talking about "pain au chocolat" or if you're from Toulouse, I know guys you are calling this chocolatine. It is very good. But I'm talking about taking a baguette taking a bar of chocolate putting this bar of chocolate into a baguette and eating this like a sandwich. When I saw it for the first time I didn't realize that it was something cultural, I thought it was one person's preferences, it's like okay. But then I saw other people doing this - why are you guys doing this? The answer was a typical French answer - but because it's delicious!

Living in France: Cultural Shock About La Bise

La bise - you know these French cheek kisses used to greet people even when you don't know someone. I like Paul Taylor's video about La Bise, because it shows exactly how we expats in France feel about La Bise, especially in the beginning. There are so many rules for it: sometimes you start from the left cheek to the right, sometimes you start from the right to the left, sometimes it's two, sometimes it's three, sometimes it's four, it depends on the region, sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes it's not appropriate. You have to do it when you're coming to a party, you have to do it when you're living at a party well. If you haven't watched yet this video I highly recommend it because it's very funny. From my experiences, I had some embarrassing situations when even before a job interview French people did La Bise. When I started to recruit candidates myself I even remember that one lady she saw that I would not call her back after the interview just because I didn't do it at the beginning. Oh my God, it's so French! Well, you know today because of Covid- situation French do less La Bise but some French even do La Bise with masks which is weird. But it shows to what extent it's a really important part of French culture and French people even teach their children to do La Bise because it's very polite.

🎥 Note: this video was filmed in March 2021