I love France

I was coming home from game night (at a bar in Metz) and it dawned on me how much I love it here. It would be very hard, but very easy to just stay here. I can sense already how much I'm going to miss this place come April. I complain about slow paperwork, but everyday I am becoming accustomed and growing fonder of the French lifestyle. Things don't get done quickly, but living one's life is the main priority in France. I love it. I love the language, the culture, the architecture, the fashion, French politics, the EU, the history and the international flair. The more I talk with French people, the more I want to improve my French. I have a growing desire to learn more languages. Why don't I speak German or Spanish? Next week I'm going to Spain for nine days. It's going to be great and it's only a short (and cheap) plane ride away. I love this lifestyle.

The French love their lifestyle too, and are worried that Sarkozy is threatening it. He's changed their 35 hour workweek to 40 hours. The American in me says, "big deal, I worked 50 plus hours a week this summer," but to the French they see it as five more hours away from their families and much-valued leisure time. He's also taking a very economic perspective on all issues, which the French don't understand. In France it's not about turning over the highest profit. (In no other country would a taxi driver refuse to drive a paying customer a short distance because it inconvenienced the driver.)

An immigration bill just passed through in France that requires DNA testing for those who want to join family already living in France. It is being contested by the socialists and is undergoing constitutional review, but what a scary thought. The French, despite their past problems with immigration, value the sanctity of family. They don't see the need to have the most economically profitable ratio of immigrants. And neither do I.