With the start of the school holidays and the final matches of the Rugby World Cup, thousands of people are planning a trip to France in the next few days.
07.10.2023 - 13:51 / insider.com
In 2018, I packed up my New York City studio apartment and moved to Paris to be with the French guy I met on vacation two years earlier.
After five years of living in France and having my first child here, many things have surprised me.
Giving birth in the French public hospital system is much cheaper than giving birth in the US.
I gave birth in the private system and after an extended 10-day stay I left with a bill of 1,500 euros. I cannot begin to imagine what this number would have looked like if I had given birth in New York City.
I'm always shocked when I hear how my friends in the US are paying thousands of dollars on top of what their health insurance covers.
In France, I also found it's normal to spend a few days in the hospital after giving birth. My maternity ward required first-time moms to stay for five days minimum or seven if they had a C-section.
As a first-time mom, I loved the extra care and attention I received during my stay. I learned how to take care of my baby and breastfeed, plus I was able to get some sleep at night while the nurses looked after my daughter.
When we left, I felt rested and confident about bath time and breastfeeding. Meanwhile, in the US, some people go home within 24 hours of giving birth.
The French typically eat four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, goûter, and dinner.
Breakfast is usually on the lighter side — yogurt and bread with jam or maybe a croissant paired with an espresso. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and sometimes contains more than one course. Dinner is typically lighter, maybe a quiche and salad or soup and salad.
A favorite meal of the day is goûter, an afternoon snack children typically eat around 4:30 p.m. when they leave school. Many continue this tradition into their adult lives, too.
A common goûter is a piece of bread with a chocolate bar inside. Other options include a croissant or pain au chocolat, a fruit compote, or even a slice of brioche. Either way, the snack almost always involves sugar.
French kids are exposed to a wide variety of foods when they start eating at day care and school.
One of my first viral videos on TikTok was about the menu at my daughter's public day care in Paris. The diverse menu included organic fruit, vegetables, and grains, along with meat and fish several times a week.
When kids start school in France, their lunch menus follow the same daily format: appetizer, main course, side, cheese course, and fruit/dessert. These kids are eating better than me!
Lunches in US public schools aren't exactly known for being healthy or varied. Common school lunches in the US include pizza, burgers, or chicken nuggets served with things like frozen veggies, chocolate milk, and fruit in syrup.
One of the most
With the start of the school holidays and the final matches of the Rugby World Cup, thousands of people are planning a trip to France in the next few days.
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