I still don't have insurance for my room. My room is insured under my roommate's name; but when she left, they told me I needed to get it under my name too. What they don't tell you is that actually getting something important done in France is impossible to do without losing your sanity. Let me take you through the simple process of getting insurance here:
They send you to this one person's office. Ok, you can go there. You get there and they tell you to call another office. They don't give you the number. Ok, you somehow find it on an old document and call them. They don't answer the phone. Ever. Ok you'll go to the office. No one has the address. Go back to the first office for help. They tell you this is urgent. You can call them to get the address! Laugh at yourself for thinking something that ridiculous. Find the address in the phone book. There are two. Go to the one you know. Spend your afternoon walking up and down this street to its entirety to find a freaking number on the buildings. Realize that you're standing outside the address you wrote down. It's a clothing store. It starts to rain. You don't have an umbrella. Cry. Go back to your uninsured room and email your host coordinator for help. You receive an automated message saying he'll be out of his office until next Tuesday. Get a letter in the mail saying this is urgent. Seriously begin to think that you'd rather just pay the thousands of dollars if the whole thing goes up in flames than go through this any longer. Go to the place your roommate went. It's covered in newspapers and "For Rent" signs. Go to a tourism office, post office and random agencies to ask for information. They're all closed until 2 but really won't open until they decide to come back at 2:30. Go to your (still uninsured) dorm room and write an angry blog post about your struggles.
No wonder why the French are always in a bad mood! Again, this is a stereotype and a generalization, but if I had to go through this every time I needed to do something productive in my life I would be cranky too. And the story I gave above is just ONE scenario that I myself have experienced. For something as important as insurance, it's so unorganized and you are expected to do literally everything by yourself. That's probably because everyone is so consumed with all of their own ordeals of missed calls and unaccomplishable tasks they don't even want to bother with your petty problems. Every man is out for himself.
It doesn't help that when you walk down the street absolutely no one moves out of your way. And then they all park like this:
Actual pictures I've taken of actual cars trying to actually park. I don't even drive here and this is frustrating.
Here's a tip: GO TO WORK. And when you're at work, DO YOUR JOB. One time at the first office mentioned above, the lady made me sit outside for almost forty minutes until she finished eating her salad. I wish I was exaggerating. Imagine living in a world where people actually did what they were supposed to do and therefore things could actually get done! "Mais non, c'est impossible! T'es folle toi!"
Don't get me wrong, I love France and am still having the time of my life here. I've had situations at home that can compare to this, too (yes, I'm talking to you, Clarion). And I don't actually think that the French are really even that rude. Most of the French I've encountered are more helpful and generous than many Americans I know. I am just so frustrated and this is a part of France that I don't want to forget but at the same time don't want to repeat a bunch of times. So there: now it's documented.
If you made it this far into my post, thanks for reading and putting up with my first world problems. Rant over.
No comments:
Post a Comment