We had a delightful dinner last night with two young Frenchmen. We were in a small hotel in Trient, Switzerland. We sat at a long table, my wife and I sharing corners with the two. There were perhaps 30 people there. On the menu was rice and beef. My wife and I were sharing a beer, which turns out to be important.
We are not served individually for the main course. Instead, a large bowl of rice and a large bowl of beef in sauce is passed around each table. (It was delicious.) As we served ourselves and ate, the more vocal of the two men toasted us, seeing that we too had a beer. The conversation was choppy at best. My wife has some memories of French and the more outgoing young man had some English in his memory even as he had dropped out of college in his second year. So we got by.
Here’s what he learned from us:
American jobs are very insecure. If you lose your job you also lose your health care.
American unions are very weak.
American public pensions are very weak. Most people don’t get enough from them to survive, and have to continue working in some fashion, above or below the table.
Colorado is not a city. Colorado’s mountains are beautiful but not like the magnificent Alps, which have formidable and massive glaciers.
Here’s what we learned from him:
You don’t want to be overeducated in France, as employers don’t want high skills to fill low jobs.
Education is not free in France (post-secondary). You have to earn your stripes with good scholastic performance or it can be costly.
France is not a beautiful country, and our friend does not like Paris’ or any big city. He loves Britannia (Brittany, France), which is somewhere on the English Channel. The water there is too cold to swim in.
The French Riviera is too cold for swimming, oddly. I said I liked girls in bikinis and that swimming itself was not an issue. He agreed and said that it was better when they did not bother with bikinis. At that point his friend interjected that sunglasses are useful, as if women did not know that ploy.
His parents are retired on 800 Euros a month, and that is enough to be comfortable. Prices are very reasonable in France.
He said McDonalds’ food is tasty but he does not eat it as he thinks it makes people fat.
We asked him if we could immigrate. Not very damned likely.
Piece of Mindful 