These are students from all five continents: from South Korea to Finland, passing through Australia, the United States, India, Singapore, China, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain, Greece, Bulgaria, or Spain… In short, the world at the feet of the Baie des Anges. Between universities and business schools, they – both male and female – take courses in “French Culture,” participate in sports or club activities. And, for some of them, it’s their first time discovering Europe and France. After a semester, their Nice adventure concludes. The time for reflection arrives, as does the sharing of experiences. Let us not exaggerate their significance. Nor should we underestimate their meaning. And let us accept to listen to them for what they can offer us: there is no greater strength than recognizing one’s weakness, says the philosopher.
Let us pass over their inevitable “enthusiasm” regarding the endless “gentleness of the climate,” the commercial foundation and raison d’être of the Côte d’Azur. A “pleasant surprise” for those coming from regions with less forgiving skies at this time of year. They are considerably less effusive about the human environment, “hesitating to express their disappointments.” A young Brazilian takes infinite rhetorical precautions, referencing “all the problems her country faces,” to say how much she “finds the French resistant to change.” After returning from a stay in Paris, she doesn’t see the difference between the capital and Nice from this perspective: “it feels like France is not adapting,” according to her, “to modernity and is sidelining global developments.”
This encourages other young colleagues to speak up: Contrary to their “assumptions” – a Mediterranean city, therefore a city open to others – they note “difficulties in making connections with the local population,” deemed “rather distant.” Often, Niçois people are described as “inward-looking,” they further specify. They are all the more surprised given Nice’s evident “cosmopolitanism”: the city is “teeming with many foreign residents” often “encountered around a shop, on the Promenade, or in Old Nice.”
While it has several universities (actually several campuses), Nice – another “disillusionment regarding the prior image” they had – is ultimately not perceived as a “student city,” “lively”: highlighted by the “higher average age of the population.” Too convinced of the advantages provided by their privileged geographic environment, the young Niçois “restrict themselves,” still according to these students, “to the region and do not seek to look beyond.” “Food, soccer, and girls,” explains a young German, are the “constant topics of discussion,” if not the inevitable weekend agenda. A young Scandinavian “engaged in politics” also regrets the “little interest of young Niçois in public affairs and Europe.” The “cultural possibilities” are deemed “limited.”
Another cloud on the horizon: daily costs. Prohibitively high prices for going out, accommodation, food, and clothing make Nice and the Côte d’Azur a region they deem “not very youth-friendly.” A region where many are also surprised by the lack of “tourist-mindedness” that prevails. From “the welcome in certain establishments or in transportation” to the feeling that foreigners are merely considered a “source of profit,” a group of young Asian students regrets this “unprofessional attitude,” according to them. Those among them who visited Spain briefly, notably Barcelona, a city which largely wins their approval, or Italy, further note this difference in treatment.
However, there is no need to despair. For these young foreigners, Monaco wins the award for criticism: “flashy, fake but funny!”
