Le Premier Mois En France

It has been exactly a month today that I arrived in this beautiful city of Nice in the French Riviera. It has been a decent month and fortunately, there have not been any major problems till now. I hope it remains the same for the rest of my stay here. 

Several years ago, I had watched a documentary on 'The French Riviera' and I had decided then, that at some point in my life I would visit this beautiful place. Then a few years ago, I started skiing and then I decided that at some point in my life, I would ski in the Alps. And now, here I am, living in the French Riviera and at the most an hour and a half away from an Alpine Ski Resort. Also, I have always wanted to learn French and never got the opportunity to do so until last year and what could be a better way to improve my French than living in France? I am happy with the way things have turned out. Excellent!

I had heard of several stereotypes about the French people and some of them are true and some of them are not completely untrue. The service in the restaurants for example, is surprisingly non-existent. Everything goes at an extremely slow pace here. I don't know if it is only in the Riviera or if that is the case all over the country. It has been over three weeks that I have opened my bank account and I still haven't received my debit card or my cheque book. 

Another common stereotype is that the French don't speak English. That is not completely true. I have had people try to speak to me in English sensing that I don't know French. Funnily enough, a couple times, the other person was speaking to me in English as he thought that I didn't know French and I was speaking in French because I wanted to get into the habit of using the language. 

I am happy that the school I have chosen is good and the student body is very good as well. I was apprehensive about how it would be, but I have no apprehensions now; at least not about the school. It's just that it seems like whenever I graduate with a Masters degree, the world economy is on its way into the dumps. In 2008, I graduated with my MBA and the economy was horrible. Now, when I will graduate in 2012, the economy will probably be horrible again. So, I am just hoping against hope that there will be a job for me before I graduate.

One thing though that really irritates me about Nice is that almost everything is closed on Sundays. I am really not able to grasp how almost 90% of a city can remain closed on a Sunday. Even today, I went to a grocery store which was about half hour away because I had to buy something I could only buy there and guess what? It was closed! 

The city though makes up for it by offering an amazing promenade by the coast and the blue azure waters. Although, the beach is only a beach because it is by the sea, but to me, a beach needs to have sand on it and not pebbles, like it does here. Going for a jog on the Promenade des Anglais is a real pleasure. One has to actually do it to understand how delightful it is. 

The first month has been a myriad of experiences. Most of them extremely pleasant. I have been fortunate enough to meet some very nice people from different nationalities and make friends with them. The course is challenging and I am liking it.

I pray that the rest of my stay in France, however long it might be, be like this first month. And, when I leave France for whichever location that might be, I only leave with extremely fond memories. (I do wish though that if I leave France, it would be because I have an amazing job somewhere)

Ciao et Bonne Journee.