Last year in Reims

It has been more than three years, when I was weighting my luggage while getting ready to go to the UK and when I didn’t know at all, what to expect from University studies. I was even more scared of the fact that after having spent two years in England I will be obliged to go to France – to a country, where I will certainly understand nothing and where I will for sure fail the very first exam.

And the moment has arrived – studies in France are coming to an end and I can barely remember what the level of my French was at this period of a last year. It was not most likely the very best as I was close to having a nervous break-down from the French system and from the fact that it wasn’t just the system that I couldn’t understand, but also the French language which was making it even more difficult for me. However, after having spent half a year working in a French company I was able to adapt myself not only to the French culture, but also to the way of their constant non-standard usage of the language. Today, I accept without any problems the fact that if I remember at noon that I need to go urgently to a bank, I will have to wait until three o’clock in the afternoon when their lunch break will be over. I know that I have to do the grocery shopping on Saturday as no shop will be opened on Sunday. I send same documents to twenty five authorities without complaining. Sometimes, I do this twice still without complaining as I understand that it got either lost by the French post office or that it got thrown away to a bin by the officer together with his wrapping from his snack which he was eating during his “Snack break” and because of which he certainly closed the office with a sign “Snack break”. I call the customer service completely calmed down while explaining them that no, my order really still hasn’t arrived and yes, of course I agree having it double-checked the next day as I certainly understand that the branch will be closing in ten minutes and I really wouldn’t ask anyone to work overtime because of me! When I buy a monthly ticket for public transport on the 31. of a given month, I know that it will not be valid the next day because the month is ending on 31st and that is the reason why it is called “monthly ticket”. Finally, if my Internet stops working during night, I totally accept the fact – and of course I don’t ask for more – that someone comes at least until the end of the month once they have a chance to pass by mines.

But there is actually something special about this approach – even if I think that the customer services are really bad, this whole system works. As most of the people accept this system and most of the people behave in the same way, they have more time to concentrate on their personal and family lives. They are not in a hurry and they really enjoy their holidays and their free time. At the expense of customer service, they have time for themselves during the entire working process. And, that’s actually what makes France so unique. One just has to see it from the other point of view – from the positive one. One has to see and discover the little things behind all of this – the things you usually don’t see during your first year (I haven’t seen them before either. And, until today, I still don’t understand to some types of behaviour, but that is what we call “Different cultures of different countries”).

When I got used to all of this and when I started making more jokes about it than just complaining, I discovered that I have a lot more time for studying and for my extracurricular activities – I don’t get nervous with not important things and I know very well that it does not make any sense to be on the phone all night long trying to get help because no one will come anyway. I have, therefore, time to be getting ready for my final exams, for writing my thesis, for getting ready for the admissions to masters’ programmes and finally for myself and for my friends. I am sure that this year will fly quicker than any other before and I hope that I will successfully finish studies on both of the universities (in England and in France). And then, I will be hopefully ready for my new path to go and discover other cultures.


 

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