Joyeux Thanksgiving! It’s just another rainy day over here, but tomorrow we’re taking a day trip to Nancy to see the other LC kids and to have a big Thanksgiving lunch. I’m definitely sad I won’t be in Seattle this weekend, but at least I’ll be with good friends over here.
Life in Strasbourg is back to normal, or at least as normal as it ever was. I’ve stayed here for the past two weekends and I’ve somehow developed a social life here. My friends from Kalamazoo here are still amazing and I’ve even managed to make some international friends at school. Kaé, Tomomi, and Maiko are all from Japan and Carolina is from Guatemala. I know them through our language block and they’re all really cool. As much as I adore my American friends here, I’m excited to have more diversity in my social life.
Speaking of diversity, last Thursday night I attended a wine and cheese soirée put on by the Institute of French Studies where I study. There were surprisingly few Americans, which gave me a chance to branch out and talk to some other international students, not to mention my two rather tipsy professors. When the soirée ended, I went out to a bar with a group of Canadians, a New Zealander, and an Australian. After that I went and met up with Kaé, Tomomi, and Maiko at a dance club. I wish I could have taken advantage of my first French dance club, but I was a little too sober and surrounded by chic French girls. So I opted to catch the last tram home at 12:15, but I was still pretty proud of myself for such a diverse night.
The wine and cheese night also involved what was maybe one of the best interactions I’ve had in Strasbourg yet. At one point, a fairly drunk Turkish guy started talking to a group of us and trying to guess our nationalities. After loudly declaring that he can’t speak French at all and incorrectly guessing that the Japanese girls were Chinese, he looked at me:
Turkish guy: Spain!
Me: Nope. The United States.
Turkish guy: You are American? I don’t like America! Your politics are not good. You ignore everyone else! All Americans think they’re the center of the universe! But I am surprised you are American, you don’t seem like that. I mean, you are just standing there and you just seem normal. You must be from, like, Seattle or something!
Me: Uh, yeah… I am from Seattle!
At this point everyone sort of laughed out of disbelief. It’s not as funny when I write it down, but it was just such a strange, random coincidence. One of his friends, a Polish woman, kept apologizing for him, but I thought it was hilarious.
It’s weird being from the States over here because you either get a really positive or really negative reaction. People are either thrilled to meet an American (I once got a rousing “I love the United States!” from a tipsy French girl) or want to tell me everything that we’ve done wrong as a country. Most of the time I agree with them, but that doesn’t always make it easier to tolerate. It’s hard to hear people constantly bash your country, especially if they have problems with the society as well as the politics. I know we have issues, but everyone does. Just living in France has shown me that. Anyway, I’ve actually ended up having a little bit of pride towards the US, which feels very strange. I’m sure that will all go away once I return to the States and have reverse culture shock. Not really looking forward to that.
Other than that, life has been pretty low-key. I’ve been shopping a lot, mostly in an attempt to stock up on sweaters. It is cold here and all I can say is that I will have an impressive collection of sweaters and scarves when I return. Retail therapy works wonders, who knew? I also have discovered what may be one of my favorite places in Strasbourg – Chez Christian. It is a little restaurant near the Cathedral that is incredibly girly, complete with fuchsia and maroon walls, and serves amazing hot chocolate. I have daydreams about spending hours there just drinking hot chocolate and reading.
Next weekend, I’m flying to Scotland to visit Merit, who goes to school at St. Andrews. It’s kind of insane, I know, to fly up to Scotland for the weekend, but… well, why not? Stay tuned…
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2 comments:
Well, i laughed at your story. probably a little too much, but that's okay...
one night, i was walking with some german friends, and some young guys came up to us and started talking. they said something to me, and the girls were like, "oh, he might not know what that means because he's american."
then he turned to me and said in a drunken and german accent, "Oh so you from America? Yeah, so i can say zhees wone zing to you: Um.. FUck , you? yes?"
i just laughed because of his accent.
but then he gave us free beer? so that was nice.
MISS YOU. happy thanksgiving. love dakota
You must take me to this place with good hot chocolate. Chris and I just booked out hostels. See you on the 20th. :)
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