2.  France is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Texas and covers about 211,208 square miles.  France is in the shape of a hexagon and is sometimes referred to as the Hexagone country which is French for hexagon.  The terrain consists of plains, mountains, forests, and farmlands.

3.  The southern climate is Mediterranean with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers.  The north is temperate and rainy.  The west is also rainy and has temperate winters.  The central, east, and mountainous areas have a temperate winter and a humid summer. The temperatures are unsteady.

4.  Some of France’s natural resources are coal, iron ore, and zinc.  These directly impact France’s economy because they export iron and steel and many chemicals.

5.  Overall the climate should not prevent you from getting to your job on time or missing your ride.  Unless you just happen to run into the French Alps, neither should the geography of France.

6.  France is going through tough economic times. Its unemployment rate is 9.8% which is worse then the ours.  France’s poverty rate is 6.2% making it much better then our 15%.  You might ask why France’s unemployment rate is higher than ours, but the poverty rate is lower: France’s government gives the poor tax free money.  Their deficit of 4.5% and their inflation rate of 2.3% are both better then America’s 8.7% deficit and 3.1% inflation rate.

7.  Overall the standard of living in France is good.  The standard of living in France has doubled over 40 years, but there is still a very fine line between being rich and being below the poverty line.

8.  France’s religion is 85% Roman Catholic.  The French diet consists of a light breakfast, a fairly big lunch, which is the main meal of the day, and a mid sized dinner.  Almost everyone in France speaks French and the government stresses this.  Why is France nicknamed the country of human rights? The Human Rights Declaration was written during the French Revolution and it was a fundamental document in the history of human rights.

9.  Even though 85% of France’s population is Roman Catholic only about 8% of these actively practice the religion.  Today less then half of the French children believe in God.  About 6% of the population claims that they do not have a religion.

10.  In France, cooking is considered an art.  The first French cookbooks date back to the middle ages.  Early on, the French set the bar high on cooking and baking standards.

11.  French is an official language of the U.N. and is second only to English in use between nations for communication.  Almost everyone speaks French in France because the government has stressed that they do. Even the different nationalities speak French.

12.  Cooking, religion, and language all make France’s culture unique.  France is not very diverse and that is partly what makes it unique.  The fact that French people love cooking, is 85% Roman Catholic, and has an important world language makes it very unique.

13.  Just last year in the Elysee, which is the French version of the White House, a story leaked out that the French had been hacked by Americans. Many thought that the U.S. hacked the French to see whether sensitive material that the French President had was destroyed. A few months after this, the French hacked the U.S. and it is believed that they did this because the U.S. hacked them first.

14.  Overall, life in France is good but not Fantastic. Most families are in the middle class and earn a decent amount of money. There is a lot of cooking and fun in France; and who could forget the Eiffel Tower.