France in My Eyes
Sabrie
Noer, Angers, Winter 2012
Recorded that image in my mind, it has been always my “dream” to go to Europe. Yes! It was
twenty five years ago. Now, here I am. Feeling so small in one of great
countries in the world. The country that produced democracy, country that
created revolusi, country who gave birth to many
philosophies and theories: the country called France.
As a student
from a developing country, having a chance to study in France is always a
precious gift. Not only to study the compulsory subject materials in the
courses, but also to study the culture , the people, the habits, the
lives, to study the way the people work, the
way they think - to study France and french. Here in Angers, an old city of
about one and a half hours by train from Paris, I feel like a “life observer”
in every single day of my walking.
Facilities (Public Services)
It is a big
suprise to me to know how great attention that French government pays to the
society. I mean, the government of France really cares about the rights of the
people: the public service. Even, it
doesn’t mean that the application of administration and bureaucracy is good
enough if it is compared to those applied in other developed countries. I mean,
we can see various policies made by the goverment to help people for their
living, such as those related to school fees, accomodation, transportation,
social scurity, etc.
There is
always kinds of certain regulation (reductions) available for those who poor,
handicaps, for the students or the young people. French people are very lucky
to have these kind of government policies because there are many countries out
there, especially in the poor or developing countries, which never have these kind of facilities and policies for real.
As a foreign student with residence permit for just
one year, here in Angers, I’ve received many facilities and good service. In campus, for
example, I can borrow 5 to 7 books for 21 days and I can prolong them for the
next couple of weeks without rushing myself to come back to the bibliothèque (library)
but I can just do it via internet from my residence. Moreover, I can get
internet access for 24 hours both in campus and at home (of course, it is not
free, but it is also not really expensive and included in the residence rental
payment). With CAF (such family allowance), I deserve to get reduction for more
than fifty percent of the normal residence payment per month. Then, I just have
to pay €19 instead of €38 (the normal price) for the tramway and bus’ ticket
for one month since I have an attestation
de long sejour (temporarily
residence permit) from the OFII. I always
wish we had also all of these facilities in our country.
It is also wonderful to know how great the government
of France in providing information to the people in every corner of this
hexagonal country. The availability of data, the maps, the guidance brochures,
phone booth in each tram station, free newspaper, web sites, etc. The
utilization of information technology (IT) is very good, as well. For example,
we can easily access any information related to anything through internet, even
the information about a very small museum or event. As a comparison, there are
about 200 museums in Indonesia, but only few of them have official web sites
Communication
Couple of
months ago, I was surprised as I received a letter
signed by Mr. Jean-Claude Antonini, the City Mayor. It was just to inform a new
regulation related to plastic rubbish. However, it was a very exclusive and
well-designed letter, joined by two other colorful brochures content the
technical steps to handle the rubbish. I was very impressed. Even I never speak
to this Mayor of Angers Loire Metropole directly, but I feel like the Mayor,
himself, cares about me since, in my country, I never receive any letter from the City Mayor for whole my life times. The lesson I
learned from this letter is how important to commit continuous “communication”
between government and the society. Communication meaning care and care makes a
country and nation stronger.
The People
People might
be right when they say that french people are cold.
That is right that we can hear Bonjour, Merci and Au revoir everywhere, everyday. But, it is also
difficult to get too close to french people. It seems that they always put a
line, keep a space to the strangers; probably among the french people too. That
is right that French people keep smiling, but at the same time their face also
say don’t touch me or mind
your own business. However,
once they open theirselves, they really make a friendship and it is even more
than friendship we normally have between Asian people. To me, french people are
just like the iceberg: cold and hard. But, once warm sun shine shining into it,
it is easily melting into water. Furthermore, ofcourse, I can not make a
generalization. Different person must have different character – just like
other people whole around the world. Moreover, to me personally, that is not
really problem. Having people who really want to get into other people’s
business is also problem, isn’t it? As long as we can respect to one
another, it is great enough.
Things
I’m Worried about France in the Future
I think one
of the problems will be faced by France in the future is related to human
resources. It is not about the quality but quantity; since almost 20% of the population is now dominated by elderly
people and it has a small number of birth rate, too. Moreover, France is not
really good in production. According to me, no matter how great a country
is, if it is lack of human resources, it will be problem. Another
phenomenon that I’m worried about France in the future is the fact that 44% of
the population are atheists.
It was the data recorded in 2004. In the present, the number might be more than
half of the population. I just can’t imagine how could people living without
faith. According to me (it’s just my own opinion), people will have confident
in lives and to face the future if they have a belief. A belief to believe that
80 years is not the only single episode of life that someone has. A belief that
believes there is another life after this life.
The Dream
Comes True
It was 9
o’clock in Monday morning, 30 January 2012, when I saw millions of white
particles flying around, falling on the ground, out of my window. Then, I
spreaded my sight further the horizone. Gray, white and blury! There, I saw
trees without leaves in winter and white snow on the roof top of the houses. It
was so wonderful. I was so fascinated. And the most important thing is, for
this time, it was real.
