Don't become French........

Bonjour!

Before I left, one of my classmates told me "Don't become French." When I asked him what he meant by that, his response was for me to not become rude, smoke all the time, and hate foreigners. I'm sorry, what? He actually believed all the terrible stereotypes that exist about French people. I have to say that these are NOT what I would turn into if I were to become French.

First of all, the French people are not rude. Well I mean, there will always be rude people in any culture, but the French as a whole have not been rude. While you can't casually talk to strangers here, when you do talk to people they respond politely (most of the time). The first day of school, the teacher told one of the students to sit next to me and help me. She could have chosen to ignore me the next day, but she didn't. Rather than abandon me when her job was finished, she helped me again. She is one of my best friends here to this day. Another example is in the recreation room, where the foosball is. You would think that people would be viciously insulting each other over the game if they were that rude. In reality, the only thing people do is swear and make light jokes about their friends. Also, French people compulsively feel the need to say hello to everyone that they know if they see them. If you don't say "bonjour" and do the cheek kissing or handshaking when you first see someone... well that just doesn't really happen, so I'm not sure.

As for the smoking.... It is true that a lot of people smoke here. Some of the people who smoke look as though they cannot be more than 10 years old. I was told that it is illegal to smoke in France if you are under 18, but no one really enforces that. There's a police station next to my high school, so if the "no smoking under 18" rule was enforced, there would not be smoking at my school. Anyway, in the group of girls in my class that I hang out with, no one smokes (that I know of). There are people in my class who smoke, but not a majority (I think... again, I'm not sure). Also, I don't think any of my teachers smoke. There are of course, teachers who smoke, but not everyone. My point is that the French do smoke more than I was used to, but just because I'm here doesn't mean that I will feel pressured into it. So don't worry about that. Coming to France will not turn you into a smoker unless you want to be turned into one. It's a choice.

Moving on to the idea that all French people hate foreigners. Completely false. The students in my high school have all been very accepting of foreigners. In the school, I think there are 6 exchange students total (2 Rotary, 3 AFS, and 1 CIE). As far as I know, none of us have been rejected. In fact, when people find out that I am American, they don't seem disgusted. They either don't really make a big deal out of it, or they flip out over New York City or LA (which is on the opposite side of the country). Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like. The high schoolers here may make a few little jokes, but they are never insulting, or at least, they don't try to be insulting. 

The only thing that bothers me about how they treat me, is that people tend to start speaking English with me when they find out that I'm American. It happened this morning! My host dad was explaining the exchange and told his friend that I'm American, and his friend started speaking English with me. It's insulting. I have been here for over 2 months and people are still under the impression that I don't understand anything. Maybe they think that Americans wouldn't have bothered to learn the language before arriving for a YEAR LONG stay or are so egotistically inept that they can't be bothered to try and understand. No, I do not understand everything. Yes, it is difficult for me to be confident enough with my French to initiate conversation. I AM TRYING. 

I can't help but wonder. Maybe if I was from some other country, like I don't know, Germany we'll say, and I told people that I spoke English very well, but was still learning French, what would they do? Would they start speaking English with me because I know it better or would they speak French because they know that I'm learning? Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion, but it seems that being American implies that English is the one and only language that I will ever speak. I hope this is not the case. In the States, we start foreign language in high school. That isn't early enough. English may be the "international language" but that doesn't mean that people who originally speak English shouldn't learn other languages.  Perhaps if I become super rich, super quick, I can become a Politician and pour my life into trying to change the system. For now, all I can do is deal with the fact that people will speak English with me if I don't tell them not to. 

My level of comprehension has actually skyrocketed. I understand more than I can speak, but that's still progress. I understood an entire French class, an entire SVT (biology) class, and an entire math class. I took a test in SVT that was given verbally and I understood it. Two of the questions were a little confusing, but I think I got the gist of them. Now, I can't write profound essays in French, but I can do math and attempt biology labs successfully. I'm happy with where my French is at this point, even if I say I'm not. Also, my friends have started teaching me random words and quizzing me about them later, and they aren't afraid to correct me if I make a mistake. That isn't insulting. That is helpful. When I'm talking with people I don't really know, I'm afraid to make a mistake because they may not correct me, and I may go on thinking that I said it right. It's a weird system, I know. Hopefully it will work.

This was a lot longer than I expected it to be.... Au revoir!

Amelia