Would you like some cheese with that WHINE?!

With my ribs constricting, stomach growling, and head pounding, my travel group headed to the first meal we would eat in Paris around 9pm. Little did I know that my physical ailments would compare little to the epic dinner I was about to endure. I should have known things were going downhill when we arrived at the “famous” fondue place, located on the outskirts of Paris (shown here by our hotel: http://maps.google.lu/maps?hl=de&ie=UtF8&Q= hotel+andre+gill+Paris), and were told that we would have to wait an hour to be seated. Being a group of around 10, this was really the only place that could fit all of us at one table. As I peered into the window during this endless wait, I noticed that it only contained two long tables holding about 25 people each. This would mean that a few members of our group would be sitting next to strangers and would be doing so in very close corridors. I noticed the people residing in the restaurant were at least 20 years older than our group and obviously French other than one American couple.

After what seemed like an eternity, we were finally seated. I was placed right next to a French couple who looked to be in their 40’s. As the night progressed, everything was going fine. We had ordered, received baby bottles full of wine (a restaurant tradition), and were happy to finally be just relaxing after a day full of stressful travel when I noticed something odd. The thin, pale French women next to me was for some reason pointing directly at me.

Confused a bit by this gesture, I decided to let it “go” just as our steak and cheese arrived. The aroma of the cheese was magnificent and I started right for it with a piece of bread in hand. Unfortunately, the cheese tasted as if it had been overcooked and the steak turned out to be just as bad. I asked myself “What is worse than paying twenty euro for steak and cheese that tastes horrid?” My question was quickly answered when I then again noticed the dark haired French woman pointing and laughing (more like a vicious kackle if you ask me) in my direction. I looked over and shot her a look of disgust. My friend Will Poindexter and I were very fired up about the current rudeness that was occurring and decided the mature thing to do would be to speak Spanish so that they could not interpret what we were saying.

Will: "Is she serious?!"

Me: "Yes, how rude"

We accompanied this with obnoxious laughs and received a series of death stares for doing so. Luckily there was a brief intermission to this battle when dessert arrived.

Dessert was perhaps the only good thing about dinner apart from my travel groups company. It was a rich, delicious piece of chocolate cake topped off with a sugary white sauce (look here for "better" restaurant and eatery suggestions: http://www.blanc.net/) . This really hit the spot and made me forget briefly about the dreadful French couple beside me. Just as soon as the peace began, it was ended. I found myself watching the French woman conversing with the Americans on the opposite side of her and shaking her head with a look of annoyance toward my group. Next, her male companion said something in French and they both giggled for entirely too long. Just then, their bill arrived and I was relieved to find them leave five minutes later. After this experience, I believed all of the horror stories I had heard about the French. However, after a few days in Paris and many French encounters, I found that like everything else you can’t stereotype a community based on a small group of people. I had met a hotel clerk that was extremely nice and helpful, as well as a waiter that recommended the best gelato in Paris but had also come across some aggressive, rude citizens. The mix of hate/love French feelings towards us was very confusing.

I picked this experience from my Paris travels because it was unfortunately the thing that stuck out to me most other than the Eiffel tower. I could have written about the beautiful meal my group shared in front of the national monument, but I didn’t feel it would be representative of my complete experience in France. France was a place where I experienced more obstacles than I have so far in Europe as far as acceptance goes. The mixed views of the French people towards Americans kept me guessing and I think that future students should realize that they may experience similar negative experiences when traveling to Paris. Hopefully, they will be more prepared for these things after this post. In addition, this experience reminded me of concepts we learned in geography this week concerning boundaries and population. Boundaries were apparent when the boundary between the French couple and my group was broken. They could see and hear everything I was doing but I was hopelessly restricted by the French language barrier. This most likely was the cause of our quarrel and reminded me of the French/Spanish border that was in one of our readings. In addition, the older population in the restaurant and the older population I witnessed in general in France reminded me of the population reading dealing with Europe’s declining infertility and elderly population. Lastly, the sense of nationalism on both sides of the problematic dinner was apparent. The French couple and I both showed ethnocentrism and refused to try to mix our cultures. Once again the language barrier somewhat prevented this even though they could speak English but refused to do so with my friends and I.

Au revoir!