While there are some major – and inevitable – cultural differences that I have become aware of since moving here, I’m noticing more often that not all of the stereotypes are true. We have been told that French people may come off as being unfriendly and perhaps even cold. However, when looking at it from the standpoint that they just are not interested in pursuing relationships that are on the surface, it makes a lot more sense that people do not smile back at you on the street. Armed with this information, I honestly was not ever expecting my sphere of interaction with people to expand beyond the other American students, my French professors, and my host family. Until recently, I accepted this fact with a grain of disappointment that my study abroad experience would not feel as “abroad” as I was hoping.
But then, my perspective changed. A group of us were engaged in a deep discussion about how life leads us to meet certain people and to have experiences that end up changing us (and in a small way, our fate) as a result. We were just sitting at a table in this hybrid between a café and a library, enclosed in shelves of books in all different languages while sipping our delicious hot drinks when a French man came up to us and asked us if he could practice his English with us. We really had no concrete plans to do anything soon, so of course we welcomed him to sit with us. It was as refreshing as my warm coffee to think that “I look approachable”, but more so the conversation that ensued. He was interested in talking to us not solely for the reason that he wanted to practice his English, but to learn about the United States, what jobs are there for bi-linguists like himself who want to teach, and whether we had connections to help him get his start.
What continued to amaze me through the rest of the night (after talking until the café closed, during dinner, and several hours afterwards) was that he trusted us and we trusted him. There was not ever a feeling of “we are different”, which is how it should always be. It is this understanding of differences that should prevent all prejudice and stereotypes in our world. Although some inevitable cultural barriers exist, we are all still human; we all have goals and dreams and who is to say we cannot achieve them?
But then, my perspective changed. A group of us were engaged in a deep discussion about how life leads us to meet certain people and to have experiences that end up changing us (and in a small way, our fate) as a result. We were just sitting at a table in this hybrid between a café and a library, enclosed in shelves of books in all different languages while sipping our delicious hot drinks when a French man came up to us and asked us if he could practice his English with us. We really had no concrete plans to do anything soon, so of course we welcomed him to sit with us. It was as refreshing as my warm coffee to think that “I look approachable”, but more so the conversation that ensued. He was interested in talking to us not solely for the reason that he wanted to practice his English, but to learn about the United States, what jobs are there for bi-linguists like himself who want to teach, and whether we had connections to help him get his start.
What continued to amaze me through the rest of the night (after talking until the café closed, during dinner, and several hours afterwards) was that he trusted us and we trusted him. There was not ever a feeling of “we are different”, which is how it should always be. It is this understanding of differences that should prevent all prejudice and stereotypes in our world. Although some inevitable cultural barriers exist, we are all still human; we all have goals and dreams and who is to say we cannot achieve them?