"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." ~Mark Twain
While studying abroad in Paris , I have been exposed to stereotypes that the French have about Americans, as well as reminders of stereotypes that Americans back home have about the French. A few days ago I met a couple of French boys near the Pantheon who told me that they had just watched the movie, American Pie, and thought that college life in America looked like one big, crazy party. Unfortunately, this stereotype of Americans is popular with the French. I tried to explain to these guys that all American students are not like those in the movies, but I’m not sure they believed me.
For many people from other countries, the only thing they know about the United States is what they have seen on TV, and the content of some of those shows makes it understandable that they might have a warped view of America . Americans traveling abroad can either reinforce those stereotypes, or give people a different view of Americans. I hope that the French people I have met can see that there is a flip side to the American images portrayed by TV shows like the Jersey Shore and Baywatch, and movies like American Pie. I hope they can see that we are not all alcoholic bimbos with no manners, class, or brains. On the other hand, in America there is the stereotype that the French are mean, nasty people, who hate Americans. I can honestly say that this is NOT true. I have met so many kind, nice French people. I remember discovering this almost immediately, when on my second night in Paris , while I was buying yogurt from the corner store, the man behind the counter showed me how to hold my bag and told me to always have it zipped and in front of me, as he was concerned that I would be pick-pocketed! I find that in Paris “Bonjour” and a smile go a long way. Greetings and manners are appreciated here. Sometimes when I eat at the dining hall on campus a French person will sit near me and turn to me, smile, and wish me “bon appétit!” It’s times like those when it is hard for me to imagine why anyone would accuse the French of being nasty people. I think that your experience completely depends on the attitude you bring with you.
Before coming to France , I was told a great analogy that is used to explain the difference between French and Americans by comparing them to coconuts and peaches. Americans are peaches. They are soft on the outside, easy to get to know, friendly, and hard in the center(pit), only letting a few people know their true inner selves. The French are coconuts. They are hard on the outside, and sometimes can seem rude or brief with strangers, but they are incredibly soft on the inside. Once they make a friend they are extremely loyal and remain friends for life. In America we tend to have more surface-level friends than very close friends. When a coconut and a peach bump into each other the peach gets bruised and gets its feelings hurt, while the coconut moves on as if nothing important has happened. So there are differences between French and American people, but they are not so severe that they cannot be overcome. I like to remind myself to look for the good in people, an early lesson learned in childhood from the movie, Pollyanna:“When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.”
- Abraham Lincoln
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