Comment on Anyone feeling like doesn't belong anywhere?
Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’m dutch and I’ve lived abroad (EU) for most of the last 8 years. I’m now trying to settle down permanently in France. It’s been only 1.5 years but I think I will always be a “dutch person in France”, just because of my accent, name and the fact that some habits here are just not going to become mine comfortably. However, in NL I feel like an outsider sometimes and I started getting comments about my dutch sounding foreign. Being with my family is nice, but with foreign experience, you just see habits and customs in a different way.
That said, it doesn’t really bother me too much. I made the choice myself to emigrate knowing the consequences and being the goofy outsider fits me.
lucg@lemmy.world 3 days ago
What habits make you stand out in France? As a Dutchie in Germany I’m not aware of any, but I may just be too inept to notice :P
Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I don’t know what makes me stand out, but there are some habits french people have that I keep being surprised by. Especially the kisses to greet people, even when you meet for the first time or among colleagues or distant friends. In the netherlands I only kiss family members as a greeting.
Apparently eating on the go is a very non-french thing to do and my boyfriend is usually the only one on his commute that eats breakfast on the train.
Then, we had to learn that you can never just poor water or wine for yourself when at a dinner. You must ask everyone if they want a refill. That one is easier to get used to though.
We’re also the only ones that take out bike to the local “centre commercial” to do our weekly shopping. Although commuter bikes are becoming a more frequent sight, buying more than a few things by bike is very weird here.
lucg@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Okay yeah I see, that sounds like the types of habits I’d run into as well!
For a German example, they look each other in the eye while toasting with full cups or glasses and make such a point of it that you almost think it’s in irony but no! They’re dead serious that it’s otherwise worse than skipping someone xD