Paris 2nd | Creative living in modern Paris

Four students of tourism at Périgueux’s IUT meet three anglophone teaching assistants and quiz them on their experience in France.

Lauren Twist from Washington DC (USA), Lucy Falkner and Stephanie Zemlak both from England, Cornwall and Birmingham respectively, came to Périgueux, Dordogne in September 2006 to work as English-language teaching assistants - since when they have developed a certain awareness of the particularities or peculiarities of the French. After studying languages and international studies at university they wanted to perfect their French, and were also motivated by more salubrious reasons:

“I studied in Paris two years ago,” says Lauren, “and I loved it so much I wanted to come back for longer and see other parts of France.”

“The pretty little towns, the coffee culture and of course the wine and the food are all brilliant,” says Lucy. The only drawback is that while Périgueux is très sympa, it remains: “A quiet and small city where it’s hard to find much to occupy your free time if you are young and in the mood for a party”. “We also have not found it as easy as we expected to meet and talk with the locals,” they agree.

Despite this, Stephanie has found the French she has met “very friendly and welcoming”, Lucy thinks they are “less uptight than the English” and according to Lauren “they are actually quite similar to the Americans”, perhaps noticing the bling-bling dress code and gangster-style roll of 21st-century Périgueux youth.

And what of the reputation preceding every French man, the smooth and slinky lover? “They are certainly much more proactive than British or American men, they approach you in a bar and flirt a lot more than they do back at home, but actually this is sometimes just annoying and uncomfortable,” says Lauren. Other stereotypes ring true, Stephanie confirms: “People really do wear a beret and carry a baguette under their arm everywhere.”

Where they do find young out and about, growing up seems to be less of a vomit-surrounded hazy experience here in France. “Binge drinking is a much larger problem in the UK and America,” concur all three girls. And with it, teenage pregnancy: “It’s very common and especially where I live,” says Stephanie, “but the much larger problem here is drink driving.” In England it is now such a faux pas that people really hardly do it anymore, but here they seem happier to hop in their cars after a night out on the stella.”

All in all we’ve found the experience so far very beneficial,” they chorus, agreeing that they intend to use their French skills for work in the future, even if definite career plans are hard to pin down as yet. “We enjoy learning about other cultures and different ways of life, and are firm believers in that old adage ‘travelling broadens the mind’” - and the waist, or so they have been warned about all those baguettes.

Interview by Cécile Lefèvre, Florie Fortin, Olga Michaud and Gilliane Paulus.

On the photo: Stephanie Zemlak (Birmingham), Lucy Falkner (Cornwall) and Lauren Twist (Washington DC)