France
My name is Jennifer, I'm French and I live in the suburb of Paris. I studied English and Spanish languages and graduated in European relations two years ago. After that I did two internships abroad, in Sofia and in Brussels and then decided to spend a year in Macedonia as a volunteer of the European Voluntary Service Programme.
Currently I'm looking for a job. It's quite hard for young people to find a job in France. Most positions require experience and usually internships and voluntary periods are not considered as "real" experience, even if that is the case. Also, a lot of the jobs that interest me are really badly paid. Being unemployed at 26 and having no ‘real’ experience is sometimes hard to explain to people who have had a more ‘usual’ background, i.e. who studied and found a job immediately afterwards. But as I didn't really know what I wanted to do after my studies, I thought it would be better to travel and experience different things. I was right, even if I am still quite unsure about what I want to do I know what I don't want to do. I know which fields I'm interested in, and there are several: culture, social matters, development, international solidarity? My wishes for the future are quite blurred, as I still don't know what I will be doing in a few months, but I hope I will be able to travel even more and to live abroad again, because my stays abroad have been the most fruitful experiences in my life so far.
As I have a background in European studies, I can say I'm really interested in European matters and European policies. I also had the opportunity to work in Brussels. I benefited from a lot of things from the EU: Erasmus programme, European Voluntary Service programme, I also took part in projects granted by European programmes, such as youth exchanges? All theses experiences enabled me to meet other young European people, to exchange experiences and knowledge, to share good moments?
I think there are a lot of benefits for young people to be part of the EU nowadays - they can take part in a lot of European projects and programmes with freedom of mobility between countries, which I think is essential for the youth today.
The negative side of the EU is the fact that it is building borders between European countries and non-European countries. Some countries and their people are being left separated, especially young people - for instance in the Balkans, they are unable to travel. I realised this lack of mobility when I was living in the Balkans, and it leads to an absence of awareness of what is taking place abroad, with a distorted vision of the EU - some see it as a land of plenty, a paradise where they long to go by escaping from their country. Others on the contrary have a very negative view on the countries that are setting them apart.
When I am in France, I don't feel particularly French I really feel more like a European. I'm talking here about the widest sense of Europe, not only the European Union. I was living in Bulgaria when it wasn't a part of the EU yet, I was also living in Macedonia and even if I was not in the EU, I was feeling good, I was feeling at home after a few months. Then travelling in the Balkans, I felt at home too, likewise in Greece, Bosnia, Kosovo, Turkey?even if people did not speak the same language. All the so-called Western Balkan countries have something that is deeply European; they have history linked to our history.
However, travelling and living abroad helped me realise something else - I AM really French, there is something in me which is linked to my country so much, but it is only when I'm abroad or surrounded by foreigners that I fully realise that I am French. Being abroad, for instance in Macedonia, made me realise some things from France were missing there for me. It could be some ‘trivial’ things like food, because France is synonymous with a huge variety of food, not only French food, but also food influenced by the different nationalities of migrants that we have in my country. Then I was missing other things from time to time: French spirit, French state of mind, mentality. I don't know what to name it but I realised I was deeply influenced by where was born and actually appreciate a lot of things about this French spirit, open mindedness towards other cultures and communities, modern values, etc.
By contrast when I'm in France, it's mostly the ‘bad’ part of the French spirit that I see - French people complaining a lot, French people being arrogant and thinking France is the centre of the world? But since I've been back from Macedonia, I've taken the time to volunteer here in France, to go out in order to meet all different kinds of people. As a paradox, it is my experience of living abroad that gave me the will to be more active in my country and made me like my country even more. I realised that maybe what I was looking for abroad also existed here, and that what I wanted to do abroad could also be done here, at a different level. Solidarity, volunteering, helping people in need, being helpful, meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds, learning, exchanging?
Apart from this ‘French spirit’, I would say that what I like most in France is the culture, museums, arts and especially the access to the diversity of our culture, even if this is mostly true in Paris. I think that more generally ‘diversity’ is the word that would best define my country. The influences of so many people from different cultures, countries, ethnic groups, religions have made France into a cultural mosaic.
I realised recently that for me being French means being aware of this diversity, accepting it and building my identity on it. Montaigne was saying: ‘Paris has owned my heart since my childhood. I'm only French because of this great city, great above all and incomparable in its diversity?’ For me, it's the incomparable diversity of France which makes my heart belong to it. No wonder Europe has my heart too: isn't the motto of the European Union: United in diversity?
Jennifer Neilz, 26, Paris, France
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