I was just wondering how often people in France interact
with their neighbours?

Just to add to Raphael's train of thought . . . Many of
the American answers were very specific. People
mentioned borrowing cups of sugar, picking up the
paper, and sharing a lawnmower. Considering that most
of us live in dorms and don't do any of the specific
things we mentioned, we seem to have idealized the word
"neighbor."

The French, on the other hand, mentioned fewer personal
interactions. Do you think this is because people tend
not to interact much with their neighbors in France? Or
is it just that you don't idealize neighbors as much as
we see

Another difference I noticed is that the French are
bothered by noise and other forms of disturbance
('bruit'x6 and 'derange'x3). The Americans mentioned
'privacy' and 'not invasive' as criteria. Why is this?
My speculation is that it might have to do with the
proximity of houses in France and also the suburban
American tendency to build houses far apart with fences
separating them.

My second question is where do people in Paris usually
live? In apartment buildings? Do a lot of students live
outside of the city in the suburbs? Do they live in
house there?

Alex

In terms of noise issues, we talked in class on Friday
about the fact that perhaps students had two different
types of neighbors in mind when they responded to the
question - neighbors to their family houses and
neighbors in their dorms at school. It seems as though
the American students were using terms that related to
suburbian life and neighbors of the first type, whereas
the French students were describing either dorm or
apartment neighbors. I was wondering whether or not
there are rules regarding noise and quiet hours in
French apartments, or do you generally live in
dormitories? Also, is it typical that the quiet hours
rule gets followed? Jess

C'est drôle que vous vous interogiez là dessus car ici à
la résidence de l'int appelée Maisel un sérieux
différend a opposé une majorité des élèves à un élève en
particulier qui critiquait le manque de respect de
certains vis-à-vis des règles de vie. En effet comme
dans toutes résidences universitaires les étudiants ont
pour habitude de se voir le soir pour se "divertir".
Cela explique que sur notre lieu de vie actuel ie la
maisel les voisins sont souvent bruyants mais on les
aident bien un petit peu ;-)