I've had this one in the works for a while, but was a bit afraid of its potential length to get started. No time like the present, though, right?
Of course there are many differences between the US and this land of wine and cheese and smoke and beauty. And I have heard, from past French teachers and various family members, how the French don't particularly care for American culture. How, in fact, the European world in general does not appreciate the intense infiltration the US manages to create world-wide.
Since there was this distaste for it, I never imagined it could be so prevelant. But it is, I just didn't quite catch it at first, because so much of it involves things I am constantly surrounded by in the states, so it seemed normal. It wasn't until I was really listening and looking that I saw it. The infiltration.
In my classes, the students who have computers general have Macs. And when professors mention Apple as an example of a business, the students actually listen (an amazing feat as I have also found French students have a much more lax approach to school). They are fascinated by Apple and its products. What is Apple? An American company.
When we discuss examples of different business practices, McDonald's often comes up. And Wal-Mart, and even Taco Bell on a different day. The professors never have to explain what any of those things are, either. Everyone just knows. Carrefour is a major supermarket in Europe, and yet and I had never heard of it until I knew I was going to study abroad. Yet these American companies are used as examples in classes in France. As are American associations and business models.
When we go out to clubs, they play American pop. When we go to the grocery store, they play American pop. When we walk through Old Antibes and cars pass by us they are listening to American pop. There is a law in France that at least 40% of the music on the radio must be French, because prior to the law, it was almost all English music.
There are many other things as well, but these are the ones I notice the most frequently. In a way, it disappoints me. Being here, I have also learned the things I appreciate and value about American culture, but they are not the things I see most often. I came to another country to find their culture, to live in it, but I find myself constantly in a bubble of American-influenced situations. Partially this is my own doing, as I do live with Americans, but it seems that even if I didn't I would find America everywhere.
It is a strange phenomenon, and not all the way bad, because it is good to share and blend cultures. And perhaps we have more French influence in America than I realize, it is just more underlying because it has been around for so long. Regardless, I wanted to note this observation. I will be making more attempts to discover French culture, in places like this:
Of course there are many differences between the US and this land of wine and cheese and smoke and beauty. And I have heard, from past French teachers and various family members, how the French don't particularly care for American culture. How, in fact, the European world in general does not appreciate the intense infiltration the US manages to create world-wide.
Since there was this distaste for it, I never imagined it could be so prevelant. But it is, I just didn't quite catch it at first, because so much of it involves things I am constantly surrounded by in the states, so it seemed normal. It wasn't until I was really listening and looking that I saw it. The infiltration.
In my classes, the students who have computers general have Macs. And when professors mention Apple as an example of a business, the students actually listen (an amazing feat as I have also found French students have a much more lax approach to school). They are fascinated by Apple and its products. What is Apple? An American company.
When we discuss examples of different business practices, McDonald's often comes up. And Wal-Mart, and even Taco Bell on a different day. The professors never have to explain what any of those things are, either. Everyone just knows. Carrefour is a major supermarket in Europe, and yet and I had never heard of it until I knew I was going to study abroad. Yet these American companies are used as examples in classes in France. As are American associations and business models.
When we go out to clubs, they play American pop. When we go to the grocery store, they play American pop. When we walk through Old Antibes and cars pass by us they are listening to American pop. There is a law in France that at least 40% of the music on the radio must be French, because prior to the law, it was almost all English music.
There are many other things as well, but these are the ones I notice the most frequently. In a way, it disappoints me. Being here, I have also learned the things I appreciate and value about American culture, but they are not the things I see most often. I came to another country to find their culture, to live in it, but I find myself constantly in a bubble of American-influenced situations. Partially this is my own doing, as I do live with Americans, but it seems that even if I didn't I would find America everywhere.
It is a strange phenomenon, and not all the way bad, because it is good to share and blend cultures. And perhaps we have more French influence in America than I realize, it is just more underlying because it has been around for so long. Regardless, I wanted to note this observation. I will be making more attempts to discover French culture, in places like this:
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