Reflections
Trip Start
Jul 28, 2008
1
17
Trip End
Aug 30, 2008
Queensbury,
New York,
United States
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
1) Smiling
The French don't like to smile because they are taught from a very young age that smiling is not very nice. Smiling could actually mask condescension, maliciousnous, or flirtation. In general, unlike in the US, smiling does not have good connotations. Ex) If I smiled at a man on the metro, he would probably follow me around for the rest of the day because my smile had "invited" him to. Instead, I learned to assume a look that said "if you come anywhere near me, you will die" which was very difficult because I tend to smile a lot.
I do like to smile and I appreciate the customer service that I generally encounter in the states. However, upon thinking about this cultural issue, I realize that we might take smiling to the other cultural extreme. Society teaches us to smile constantly, even when we are not necessarily happy. This leads to the realm of fake smiles and our inability to just be sad for a day instead of trying to make everyone around you comfortable by just giving in and smiling. There must be some balance between being honest and being rude.
2) Food
I am still astounded at the wealth of amazing food in France and how I don't think I saw one fat french person the entire month that I was there. I was on the lookout and occasionally I would see a larger person in the distance and then I would realize that the person was a tourist (most likely American :( ). I think it is more that the quality of the products is so fresh and rich that they do not need to eat too much of it. Ex)Berthillon ice cream- quite possibly the best ice cream of my life- they gave me a little scoop of, say, Pistachio, and I am good- at least until the next day :).
Also, Parisians walk a lot and must walk up hundreds of stairs a day. Therefore, they can, and deserve, to bask in the fruits of their city.
3) America
Regardless of what is going on in American politics, I am proud to be an American. I saw so many of the others in my program utterly renounce America, saying that France is so much better. However, I think that we should be able to look at these countries, recognize their differences, and appreciate them both. Sure, the US can be viewed as a dominating superpower that tramples on every country in its path for the sake of its capitalist needs and agenda, but we shoud also remember hat whenever wnother country is in trouble and needs aid, who is the country stepping in to help? I don't think I need to help you answer.
People may also scoff at our lack of greco-roman, romantic, and gothis architecture, but we might not have it because the US didn't exist then! We are a baby of a nation and we should be proud that instead of remaining a 3rd world, developping nation like the other babies, we are the land of Hollywood, NYC, purple mountains majesty, and a million other unique, original places.
Also, when I tried to point out that we are a young nation, the popular response was that we are so young because we destroyed all of the history of the native americans. Now, I am not defending this massacre in any way, except to say that this kind of behavior was not unique to the US. I know that that does not in any way make it right. I just mean that when people call Americans "bad" for doing that, they should not turn around and call French people "good." How do you think they got their land? Probably a destruction of some people or another.
We're babies, so we're bound to be loud and obnoxious. Eventually, we'll probably grow out of that and learn some more international etiquette. Just because we are going through a phase doesn't make us hateful.
4) Preservatives
I love the lack of preservatives in the food, but at the same time, that means that you have to be careful. If you buy fruit, vegetables, or bread, be prepared to prepare and eat them that day because otherwise, you might get the unpleasant surprise of a nice white mold covering the entire thing. Also, be careful and check out the whole thing BEFORE you eat it because otherwise, you might end up halfway through a grapefruit and find, oh I don't know, a maggot. Not Pleasant.
On the other hand, other things that you wouldn't expect to keep really well. Eggs are so fresh that when you buy them in a store, they are no refrigerated nor do you have to put them in the refrigerator when you bring them home. You could make scrambled eggs a week later and they would be just lovely despite my paranoia that they would be rotten.
That's also the same with cheese. Americans think that cheese should be in the fridge at all times while I learned that the French passionately believe that cheese should never go into the fridge and is best when it is warm and flowing. I tried this method with Brie that I bought from a cremerie (no prepackaging!) and I must admit that it was pretty amazing. I had a bit of trouble getting over the idea of luke warm, room temperature cheese, but once I got past that, it was great.
I am sure that I learned a whole lot more than this, but at the moment, that is all I'm coming up with. If I think of anymore groundbreaking reflections, I will write them here. For now, I think I am just going to rest and relax and get ready for school in a few days, so I hope you enjoyed my trip to Paris with me!
