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Post #3: Les Américains et Les Français

In my French class last week, we had a conversation about stereotypes. This was especially interesting, since there were students in my class from different parts of the US, Japan, Switzerland, and Russia, in addition to my French professor. She first asked us what stereotypes we had about the French, before we moved on to stereotypes we had about each others’ countries. She also asked us about what we expected the stereotypes to be for our countries. Many of the stereotypes that I expected others to have about Americans were stereotypes that they did have. For example, there were the stereotypes that Americans are loud, in the way, overweight, unhealthy, and think we are the best (for the other students, many of these came from television, movies, and the news). However, they also had more positive stereotypes about Americans as well, which surprised me. My professor said that, in her experience from seeing American tourists, Americans always smile and get excited about little things. She used the example of seeing an interesting flower—an American would point it out, get excited, and take a photo, while a French person would look at it, shrug, and move on. Another of her stereotypes was that American students always love “pain au chocolat,” which definitely holds true, as all the Americans in the class agreed.

The Americans in the class brought up the stereotypes that Americans do not try to learn other languages. My professor didn’t fully agree with this stereotype; she seemed to think that most Americans make some effort to speak a little French when they visit. A Swiss girl in my class made a comment that I found very interesting. She said that a stereotype the Swiss have about the French is that the French do not try to learn other languages. In the discussion that followed, I learned that other Europeans view the French as people who do not make an effort to learn languages other than French. Most Americans, myself included, view Europeans as being very multilingual in comparison with Americans, so seeing another perspective of a stereotype Americans usually reserve for Americans being projected towards another group was interesting. The big difference here was being a European versus an American; we had varying stereotypes towards the French.

I also discussed American stereotypes with my host family. Their perspectives were interesting to compare. My host dad and host grandma lived in the US for a long time, though have primarily lived in France. They still have a lot of family in the US. My host mom, on the other hand, has never been to the US. My host dad, having lived in the US, disagreed with the stereotype that Americans are always unhealthy (though he did think Americans eat a lot of “McDo”). After living in the US, he talked about how Americans put a lot of emphasis into working out and eating vegetables, especially compared to the French. My host mom shared the assumption of my class, that Americans were unhealthy. I was surprised that my host dad’s opinion would differ , but it makes sense given he lived in the US for a time, and his opinions were not only formed through watching TV. For my host mom, she viewed the US in the same way that it has historically been viewed—as a land of opportunity. She felt that it is easier in the US to move up in social status and income group, and to lead a better life. My host mom has had a successful life in France, so I found it interesting that she held this view towards the US, especially since many Americans view Europe as better. But through what she had seen in both media, through her husband’s experiences, and with Americans she interacted with, she felt that the US offers more chances for one to better their life.

After learning about the stereotypes people have toward Americans, I found that they do generally align with what Americans expect them to be. The connotation is what differs the most. For example, Americans (myself included) expect Americans to be viewed as very loud and easily excitable. Americans usually view this as a solely negative thing. In my experience, Americans are louder than the French. And this is sometimes seen as annoying, but many French also view Americans as being very friendly. I was shopping with a friend in a small boutique, and the saleslady asked where we were from. When we said the US, her response was very positive, and she commented on how she likes to chat with Americans because Americans are always very friendly and talkative. While some of the negative stereotypes of Americans certainly are true, the French and those from other countries do not view Americans as negatively as most Americans would expect.

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Blog Post 1: Beidh mé i Gleann Cholm Cille!

My very first interaction with Irish literature and culture was through James Joyce’s Dubliners. I remember the absolute thrill and joy I felt upon that first reading; how the words floated and swirled in the air, and called forth shadowy visions of a place I had never visited. The glimmering yellow windows, the streets of Dublin, and the beautiful Western reaches of Ireland. I felt nostalgic for a place I did not know, and yet, from that very first encounter, felt that I had a memory of.

Part of this nostalgic familiarity stemmed from the topographical similarities between my hometown in the mountains of North-East India, and the cliffs and dales of Ireland. I grey up surrounded by rolling hills, ever-present mist and rains, and a sense of the largeness of natural landscape. And from all I read and saw of Ireland, I could sense that same largeness. And I wanted to experience it.

Fast forward to my first year as an English Ph.D. at Notre Dame, I started learning the Irish language as part of my Irish Studies Graduate minor. I have always been interested in languages and translation, and so I knew that learning another language would be a good intellectual experience. However, what I did not expect was to feel an intuitive affinity with Irish. I was able to pick up the language more easily than I had anticipated, given that it is vastly different from any of the other three languages I speak. But learning Gaeilge alongside an Irish drama course where we were reading Yeats and Synge helped me mesh language, literature, and landscape together. Further conversations with my absolutely brilliant Beginning Irish I teacher and FLTA, Clíodhna, made me want to immerse myself in Gaeilge, and learn to speak the language more naturally, outside a classroom setting. And the SLA grant provided that opportunity! Go raibh maith agat, CSLC!

I am excited to travel to the Gaeltacht, and learn to use Irish in real-life situations, outside a classroom setting. While Clíodhna’s classes taught me a lot, I feel that I learned even more talking to her outside the classroom, where I had to think on my feet, and try to formulate sentences on the spot. I am looking forward to using my Irish and gaining more in conversations with native speakers of the language at Gleann Cholm Cille.

I am also very excited for my shadowy visions of the Irish landscape, that first developed through Joyce and continued to morph through readings of Yeats and Synge, to materialize. I want to understand why I feel this sense of intuitive connection with a place, and a language, that is so removed from my own. What is it that draws me in? Is it a certain level of cultural affinity, especially when it comes to ideas of societal bonds and tight-knit community? Is it the deep love of music and dance, that I have experienced in my own native culture? Is it the rolling green environs? I am curious to find out…

…starting in less than a week!

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Les Stéréotypes et moi

You’ll often hear physicists say that the universe has four dimensions, three spatial dimensions and one time dimension. Once, I was on a youtube binge watching some particle physics videos from the Fermilab youtube channel (I know, how quirky physics major of me) and a segment of one video was giving a simplified analogy to describe the relationship between the three spatial dimensions of the universe and the time dimension. Essentially, it used a graph and some straight lines to illustrate a basic tenant of special relativity: the more quickly you move through space, the more slowly you will perceive time to move.

All of this unessential background is simply to say that I now understand the whole “time is a construct” idea. There’s no other feasible explanation as to how the past 5 weeks seem like they’ve passed by in the blink of an eye while it’s also true that I feel as though my arrival to France happened years ago. I’m incredibly grateful for how much I’ve learned and done in my time here, but it’s hard to believe I already only have three weeks left!

Speaking to French people has been a learning curve, specifically understanding them. When I first got here, my listening comprehension–as I very quickly learned–was basically garbage. Frequently people would have to speak very slowly for me to get the idea of what they were saying, and if they had spoken quickly my buffering time was almost laughable. Gradually, though, I have found myself able to grasp their ideas faster. That ability has also allowed me to actually speak with people. And boy do they have some thoughts.

Obviously a pretty common talking point among people from different countries is going to be the differences between those countries. I will say, though, that discussing French ideas of Americans has been pretty entertaining for me. Interestingly enough, one of the most straightforward conversations I’ve had about “typical Americans” was an offhanded one with a saleswoman in a store. I had walked in just to peruse the skirt/dress selection and ended up striking up a chat with the woman working there (in French, for reference). Mid-conversation, she looked at me and remarked, “You guys are all friendly. You smile so much! None of us really do that.”

Though that’s something I’ve heard from other Europeans (exhibit A: my Georgian uncle telling me not to smile with teeth in a family picture because, “Nobody does that, Maya! There’s nothing right now to be that happy about.”) the fact that I was in fact smiling when she said that kind of hit me across the face. I don’t think that smiling is a bad thing at all, but the whole “American picture” kind of came together for me, I think. Later that week, my host mom described it in full. Generally, the French idea of an American is as follows:

Imagine that you’re walking down the street. You’re minding your own business, probably wearing black and carrying a tote bag with some sort of bread product in it, when someone loudly says “excuse me!” as they pass you. Observing them, they smile at people as they walk down the street, are generally social and talkative, speak at an unnecessary volume, probably only speak english, and are distinctly unafraid to take up space. You, a French person, also assume that they’re probably good at math, bad at geography, and don’t know what year the French Revolution started.

What French people as a whole think Americans are like was pretty interesting for me to learn. This is mostly because I am a lot like they think we are in some ways and completely different in others. For starters, I most certainly am overtly friendly, social, and loud. In the US, this wouldn’t be considered a bad thing, but French people generally think of these traits as obnoxious. Also, I know plenty of people who are terrible at geography and history, so they’re not completely off about that either.

Though I think that these heterostereotypes aren’t necessarily all bad, they can be detrimental. An impulse I’ve noticed amongst Americans when they travel is the feeling that they have to mask the things that make them stand out. To a degree I understand this desire. Being perceived, especially negatively, is never something we want. But I’ve also noticed that the mental instinct to stereotype tends to fade when considering individuals. It’s unlikely that whole groups can alter their heterostereotypes, but it is worth noting internally when we are doing that and trying to supress our urges to treat people according to them. After all, we Americans aren’t all hollywood bimbos or people who gorge themselves on fast food constantly, and French people aren’t all holed up wine-drunkenly at a cafe with four lovers, a beret, and a cigarette (though so many people smoke). A lot of my French heterostereotypes have been diminished in their caricature-like quality since coming here, even though individual parts of them have proven very true. And I hope that the French people I’ve interacted with have taken my smily loudness in stride and realized that individual traits which happen to coincide with the stereotype don’t define a whole country of people.

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Fifth Post

This last post comes from an airport between France and California…all good things must finally come to an end. I’m so grateful for everything I have learned and all the wonderful memories I’m bringing home with me.

On my last night in Tours, I had the opportunity to chat with two American students I became friends with over the past few weeks. While most college students optimize the night life when they are abroad, all of us tried to use our time in France to explore the culture, visit historical sites, and have meaningful conversations with people. We shared our experiences with our host family, the other students, our travels, and our classes. All of us really enjoyed getting to know French traditions and lifestyle through the locals we met at the restaurant by the river and the random, unique occurrences that happen to foreigners living abroad. It’s been such a special time in our lives, and I’m so thankful that I found people with a similar mindset that were open to swapping stories and reflecting together.

Before heading to the airport, I spent the night in Le Mans to visit the Shrine of Basil Moreau. I was welcomed by a lady who works there, and she arranged for me to stay at La Solitude, a house kept by the Marianite Sisters where Basil Moreau would often go to step back from all his projects and worries in the world. She graciously invited me to have dinner with her family and two Notre Dame MTS students spending a month in Le Mans to learn the language. Maria and Katherine had just arrived that week, with only self-taught French. It was interesting to see them at the level that I was at when I arrived as I was preparing to head back home. Reflecting on it now, I think this gave me a better appreciation for all the progress I made and helped me realize just how far I’ve come.

My last night in France was spent in the airport, so I called a friend who just started a similar structured German program in Munich. Our conversation was a fitting end to my trip, because we talked about the aspects of life in Europe that we loved. Both of us agreed that we would like to integrate the leisurely pace to counter the fast, functional rhythm of life in the United States. There is something very valuable in eating meals slowly, casually walking around one’s neighborhood, and simply taking the time to live well.

I’m hopeful that all the lessons learned will continue impacting my life, and I’m excited to see if there will be even more benefits from this experience that I have yet to discover.