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Vacationing in France: a redundant phrase?
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La Tour Eiffel: yes, it's typical, but absolutely necessary.
La Tour Eiffel: yes, typical, but absolutely necessary. Sort of along the same lines as vacation time in France. That is, the French have guaranteed vacation time of three weeks (26-27days), in addition to the national holidays, which quite frankly occur about as often as a Monday or a Tuesday does. That means that a French person who works 37-39 hours a week and has 4-5 weeks of vacation per year (3 of them paid) really struggles with the concept of the American who works 60+ weekly and has 10 days paid vacation yearly.
It is pretty sensational, when I have conversations with my French friends, how exhausted they sound as they talk about the upcoming vacances. "Oh, my, how much work I've had...thank goodness we're on vacation next week, I just don't know what I'd do with myself."
Now, I love my Frenchee friends dearly, and perhaps it's my ever-lasting Americanism clouding my viewpoint, but I find this sort of adorable. I often respond to these conversations of how exhausting and difficult life is in between vacation with some sort of playful reproach:
"But guys, honestly, we were just off like 2 weeks ago...how can you feel like you're getting anything done?"
And yet, they do.
France is the world's 4th largest economic power, and for its size, the amount of time French people spend not only on vacation but also in cafés, and its citizens' general disdain for working too much, I'd say that's pretty impressive. I find myself having a coffee with a friend downtown between classes every now and again, and sometimes, I'm flabbergasted by the number of people, of all ages, in the middle of the day, sitting around me, smoking and drinking and just being.
So maybe it's me who should just shut up and go back to complaining about how i never have any vacation.
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