Sunday, September 30, 2012

Podcast Review: The France Project



 This is a new show from podcasting veteran KatiaGrimmer-Laversanne, an Australian who has lived for 10 years in France, and is married to a Frenchman. Her prior podcast, the excellent Katia & KylieMac Show, ended earlier this year after six years and nearly 500 episodes. In that show, she and her American co-host explored life in Paris from an expatriate perspective.

This show covers similar territory, but this time Katia is more comfortable in her adopted country. She is still an outsider in France, but she has garnered much experience, knowledge, and friends in her decade living there.

Two episodes of the France Project have been released as of this writing, and they are made up of short segments of Katia interviewing different people with connections to France. In the first episode, she spoke to a range of interesting people (tourists, an author, and an American diplomat) about their experiences in France, and what makes the country so appealing to foreigners.

In the second episode, she covers the topic of "stereotypes." She talks to foreigners about how their experiences in France differed from their expectations, and then has a long chat with a world-traveling Frenchman. In his segment, he talks about the stereotypes he has faced around the world. It was interesting hearing him explain how France is viewed very differently around the world. His main message seemed to be that he rarely eats frog legs.

This new show is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in travel, foreign cultures, or interesting conversation.

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