Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?
 

Excellent point. They're rich in culture, richer than parts of America I've visited.

I don't really come from anywhere. I guess it depends on the individual. I am glad for Alizée that she has something to ground herself, something to connect to. She's going to be needing it more in the future.

According to studies, poor people aren't necessarily unhappy. They may be more happy. Of course, those studies could be crap since, I think poor generally means poor relative to those one is regularly in contact with anyway. Poor people in a third world country don't actually know much about us anyway I'd wager. How do they even know they are poor? What's poor? We have conveniences that the richest men in the world didn't have 100 years ago.

I don't know if I could live outside the city anymore, but Tolla, Fr looks nice from what I can see from outer space.

I'm glad Alizée got out of Paris proper. It has amazing and beautiful aspects, but filth as well. I saw it all the time when I was there for two months. It was depressing to think of the happy Corsican girl being subjected to that and no she did not live in some special part of the city away from all that. The poorest places in the world are the cold sidewalks where the bums sleep, wherever it is (well, maybe not poorest, but you get the point).

Dio vi salvi Regina - thanks. I like that. I've heard some that remind me of the Indian shabads that I have heard, but this one had a more medieval European sound to it.

Roman, that is why I ask for people to see Tolla, Fr. through Google street view. It looks like a nice village that seems to be a tourist destination during the summer due to the lake it is situated on. It is a typical mountain village/town on Corsica.

Plus being that Goggle drove through Tolla with their camera car makes it an interesting place to check out with out having to fly over to Corsica to check out the Island.

Oh, whoops didn't see that. Wow. That is very picturesque. As long as I have internet, I could see going to live their for a while. Ces rues-là ont l'air très tranquille. It looks very peaceful. So far in character from Paris. Not that Ajaccio is quite like this place, but it would seem strange to go from living there one's whole life, even at age 18, to Paris. Or, can you imagine, New York? This place is just a little mountain village by a lake. I can see how, if someone was drawn to the allure of the big city, someone like Edie S. perhaps, one could get really lost in the big city, get so seduced by anything and everything that looks like part of the glamor as to not be able to tell the good from the bad.

Just to show that Corsica's catching up with the rest of western world :
Today's grand opening of a new Apple premium reseller (not an Apple store) in Bastia. I Corsu
10% rebate (today only) on every Apple product but Iphone, and of course Ipad as it's not available in Europe yet...

http://static.macgeneration.com/img/...507-094946.jpg

Let's hope independantists won't blow it up. Mr Jobs, if you see a Corsica Nazione IPhone app passing by the appstore, better not reject it...

I think that it's an exaggeration to say that Alizée grew up in a tough neighborhood. I'm from Chicago, so I probably suffer from a greater threat of violence than Alizée ever has. Someone said she has a humble background, which I think is the perfect way to describe it.

I talked a bit with my host mom about Corsica and she said there are some very reactionary people down there, even terrorists, and it hurts the tourism a lot. That's in part why Corsica is not quite as well off as the rest of France.

Here's some trivia for ya: I asked my French friends about word 'maquis' (from the first line of Les Collines) which I had trouble understanding. The first thing said was that it's part of Corsica. The others agreed but said in a modern usage it means a place similar to the maquis of Corsica: a rocky wilderness with sparse vegetation. The word is given to the revolutionaries that fought Francisco Franco based in the mountains: the Spanish Maquis.

And guys, everything here in France is decrepit and old. That's just how it is :P

An American in France speaks up?
 

I have never seen ANYONE suggest "Alizée grew up in a tough neighborhood." I have not tried to look where her parents live. But I have read that they own a sailboat, and a house with a swimming pool, while many people live in apartments. We also know Alizée attended a private theatrical school for a decade. And I understand that greater Ajaccio has about 100,000 people and everything one can expect of a modern city. On the basis of all this, I would call Alizée's childhood very comfortable, even by American standards.

I understand there is a joke in France that goes like this. When they held a national referendum on whether Corsica should be freed of the shackles of French captivity, the people in mainland France voted yes, and those on Corsica voted no.

I take it you are an exchange student in France now. Could I ask in which city? How long have you been there now and when do you return home?

Americans my age and older probably think of the French partisans who resisted the Nazis and their servants during World War II. In recent decades, the name was recycled to refer to a fictional underground organization in the TV series "Star Trek: TNG."

Even Alizée????? She must have one FANTASTIC makeup artist! ;)

I guess that's my generation. That's where I knew the word from before I found Alizée.

Happy Mother's Day
 

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corsica-Eyewitness-Travel-Guides-Fabrizio/dp/0789493403"><i>Eyewitness Travel CORSICA</i></a> (Dorling Kindersley 2008) - ISBN 978-0-78949-340-8, writes this on pp. 16-17:<blockquote><i><big>Since the Matignon Agreement, finally reached in 2001, France has been investing heavily in both economy and infrastructure on the island, a fact that perhaps has made total autonomy less tempting...

There are only about 260,000 Corsicans on the island; three times as many work in mainland France. During the winter, as less jobs are available in the tourism sector, many leave for temporary work on the continent. The majority of the population live along the coast, mostly near the main towns such as Ajaccio and Bastia. Apart from Corte, the interior is [sparsely] inhabited...

Corsicans are generally quite traditional, and family comes first... Women might no longer be the cause of vendettas, but the attitude towards them is very conservative and, ompared to northern Europe, equality is a very remote goal. On the other hand, <b>no one receives more respect than a Corsican mother.</b></big></i></blockquote>

<hr>

For reference, here is some material about the Matignon Agreement from the <a href="http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18365.htm">US State Department</a>:<blockquote><i>Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2002
March 31, 2003...

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:...

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment...

Government authorities continued to be concerned about violence in Corsica. The Corsican National Liberation Front claimed responsibility for 12 bombings this year; there were many other bombings that had not been claimed but were under investigation to determine whether their motivation was political or criminal. By year's end, investigations continued in the killings of three members of the Armata Corsa and the 2000 shooting deaths of former Corsican nationalist militant Jean-Michel Rossi and his bodyguard.

The Government took steps to address the concerns of Corsican nationalists. In December 2001, Parliament approved the <b>Matignon Agreement of 2000</b> that gives Corsica greater autonomy. However, in January the Constitutional Council declared that the first article violated the Fifth Republic's constitutional prohibition against delegating legislative authority to local or regional assemblies. At year's end, both the National Assembly and the Senate approved an extensive decentralization reform package that includes measures to reform the Constitution to allow delegation of authority in the manner called for by the Matignon Agreement. A final vote is scheduled for early 2003...</i></blockquote>