Archives des Adaptation to France - FUSAC Paris Classifieds

Hogtied in the Hexagon? comprehend France part 1 of 3

Hogtied in the Hexagon? comprehend France Part 1 Our choice of 15 Books to help you better comprehend France. First of all what is "hogtied"? To hogtie is an Americanism that goes back to about 1890 literally meaning to tie an animal, in particular a hog, with all four feet together. Figuratively the phrase means to thwart or hamper. So below is the beginning of our list of 15 books that'll help you feel less bewildered and more comprehend France. What is the Hexagon? The Hexagon is a nickname for France! (due to the mainland's nearly hexagonal shape) Part 2 of this article Part 3 of this article Dictionnaire amoureux de l’Histoire de France Max Gallo Max the historian works the alphabet from A to Z with entries ranging from Alésia to Jean Zay, touching along the way on Bernard de Clairvaux, Dreyfus, François Ier, Gambetta, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Henri IV, les intellectuels, la laïcité, le maquis, Saint Louis and Verdun. When Monsieur Gallo says he lov…

Paris Quotes (France, La Seine …)

Paris Quotes (France, La Seine too) To be Parisian is not to have been born in Paris, but to be reborn there. — Sacha Guitry ... here's what Paris is: it is a giant reference work, a city which you can consult like an encyclopaedia: whatever page you open gives you a complete list of information that is richer than that offered by any other city. Take the shops... in Paris there are cheese shops where hundreds of cheeses, all of them different, are displayed, each labelled with its own name, cheeses covered in ash, cheeses covered in walnuts: a kind of museum or Louvre of cheese... Above all this is a triumph of the spirit of classification and nomenclature. So if tomorrow I start writing about cheese, I can go out and consult Paris like an enormous cheese encyclopaedia. -- Italo Calvino in Hermit in Paris Two days and three endless nights later we arrived in Paris... Paris looked much bigger than Bordeaux, but much uglier. The bread tasted flat. Everything, even the sun…

Understanding the Municipal Elections in France

First: what is a Municipality? In France a municipality is referred to as a « commune ». The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, meaning a large gathering of people sharing a common life; from Latin communis, things held in common. This new word replaced that of parish, which under the Ancien Régime designated simultaneously a religious entity (still relevant today), a territorial administrative district, and a fiscal one. Introduced by royal decree in December 1789, along with the word "mayor," this new designation was definitively established in November 1793. The gift from the Convention on Christmas Day, 1792was universal suffrage. However that concept was short lived when under the Directory, and for almost the entire 19th century. Then during the third Republic of 1884 mayors were designated by the municipal councilors. At the same time, universal male suffrage was introduced. A municipality thus consists of the …

The Saints on the map of Paris

Whether you walk across Paris or look at the metro or street map, you often see places named after a Saint. Such familiar names as St Genevieve, St Denis, St Vincent de Paul etc... Have you ever wondered who were these saints on the map of Paris and what their history was? We did! Here is a bit of history on the Saints on the map of Paris.

Sainte Geneviève

Logically the patron saint of Paris, St. Geneviève, is the one you come across most often. Her statue by Paul Landowski graces the Pont de La Tournelle in the 4th district. There is also one in Jardin du Luxembourg. She is on the front of Notre Dame as well. The Catholic church is celebrating the 1600th anniversary of Genevieve this year. A relic, her index finger, and her sarcophagus is in a chapel dedicated to her in the church of St Etienne du Mont a church in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte Geneviève where she lived and prayed.

She was born in Nanterre in about the …

Bicycle visibility

Darkness is here: Visibility for biking and pedestrians

" ' Dans les jours qui suivent le changement d’heure, le nombre de morts parmi les piétons augmente de 42 %, entre 17 heures et 19 heures ', ajoute la Sécurité routière. " Quote from Le Parisien 26 October 2024

The months of "darkness", October through January, are the deadliest for pedestrians and bicylcists as busy traffic during commuting times takes place after sunset. In particular there is a 42% increase in fatalities right after daylight savings time ends. When daylight savings time ends and you have daylight from only 8 am to 4 pm there's a lot of bike riding and walking that is done in the dark. How can you put the odds of being seen on your side? Wear light colored and reflective clothing. According to highway security if you wear black you are visible at a distance of 20 meters, with reflective clothing you can be visible at a distance of 150m. That makes a huge difference…

English Books Paris: What’s New at Bill & Rosa’s Book Room

Each month in the Book Room online, we recommend newly published books.

A REMARKABLE MAN, DR. SHUNTARO HIDA FROM HIROSHIMA TO FUKUSHIMA is a poignant, eye-opening portrait of a witness to the atomic bomb who dedicated his life to treating and advocating for radiation survivors. This book is chilling, edifying and inspiring all at the same time.

As a young doctor, Shuntaro Hida (1917–2017) played an essential role in the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, which he witnessed firsthand only six kilometers from ground zero. Tending to the overwhelming number of victims from day one until his death, Hida spent more than sixty years developing an unparalleled understanding of the harmful effects of internal and external radiation.

Through intimate, thoughtful interviews and compelling reportage, and personal reflection Marc Petitjean has created a worthy tribute to this charismatic, determined man who stood up to complicit businesses and gov…

Paris Lost & Found

Maybe it was the early job at a uranium mine. Perhaps it’s his fascination with the Paris catacombs. For whatever reason, acclaimed author Scott Dominic Carpenter relishes telling stories from beneath life’s mundane surface. A professor of French literature and creative writing at Carleton College, Scott Dominic Carpenter’s books include the 2021 Midwest Bookstore Bestseller French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris, for which he was given a Next Generation Indie Book Award, and This Jealous Earth, a collection of short stories and Paris Lost & Found. In 2018, Carpenter won the Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Award, a national humor writing contest. His award-winning first novel, Theory of Remainders, a Kirkus Best Book of 2013, is currently under option by a major motion picture production company. Always searching for the next unexpected story, Scott Dominic Carpenter splits his time between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Paris, France.

List…

International Bookstores in Paris

FUSAC's own Bill & Rosa's Book Room, is composed mainly of used English books. We also have a certain number of French language books. And when we also receive books in other languages Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish we are reminded what a cosmopolitan city Paris is. In fact we read recently on the city of Paris' website in carefully inclusive French that the population of the city is composed of 22% Paris-born, some place else we saw 26% foreign-born and the rest of Parisians are non Parisian French. The international community stems from 176 nationalities. And 3/4 of Parisians think the ideal city is multicultural. This got us to thinking that there must be bookshops that deal in other languages beyond English and French so we set out to see what we could find and composed this list. After the foreign language shops there's a list of English bookstores in Paris and a few of the historic French shops we thought we just couldn't leave out. If you love…

Recycle, Please don’t just throw it in the garbage

Zero waste

There's a Zero Waste House in Paris, 3 rue Charles Nodier 75018, which proposes ateliers, information, products and ideas for moving your day to day towards zero waste. The association Zero Waste France which runs the House has all kinds of different campaigns to reduce waste most of them are initiatives to not use containers or distribute flyers in the first place. The association is also a great place to volunteer or make monetary a contribution.

But sometimes we have to get rid of things no longer useful to us. So here's some ideas as to how to clean up and clean out by sending things you are done with to either proper disposal facilities or recycle and pass them on to others who just might find your garbage to be just what they need.

Please don’t just throw everything in the garbage - recycle

Some items need a few minutes reflection for proper waster disposal and to recycle. For example according to Eco-Systemes one …

Are You Becoming French?

Are You Becoming French?The French say that foreigners can never truly “become” French - no matter what legal status is inscribed upon what identity papers they carry around in their France-based wallets (1). Nor might newly minted citizens or official residents wish to swap their own cultural markers, manners and mentalities for those of the local waiter who serves them their morning café au lait et croissant (to say nothing of totally being able to). But if you’re here long enough, your adaptation mirrors those Escher drawings where columns of black geese or fish on the left fly or swim straight across the page, migrating and mutating by imperceptible degrees, melting into and finally becoming their white counterparts on the right. To a greater or lesser degree, whether you expected to or not, one day you realize that you’re crossing to the other side. How do you know that you’ve arrived? When you (a very incomplete list): 1. sound as brilliantly amusing-funny-sarcastic-sn…

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