Is it really jingoistic Canadians who go around Europe flaunting big red maple leafs/leaves?
I ask because, for years, I’ve seen articles advising tourists from the U.S. to put Maple Leaf stickers and labels on everything, when they travel abroad, so that nasty terrorists and anti-American types would think they were Canadian and leave them alone.
So… when you see a guy in Italy or Greece wearing lots of Canadian gear, he MAY well be a cowardly Yank!
Don’t worry…it can happen to the best of us. Most Europeans wouldn’t know to place Georgia or Kansas north, south, east or west on a map… unfortunately the Europeans have yet not realized that the EU states are pretty much as insignificantly significant as the US states with the exeption that they have a little more sovereignity and until recently were indeed very significant as nation states at odds with each other. My hope is that we’ll get over it and one day it won’t matter if you say Danish or Dutch. Granted that most Americans except wanna be Angelinos wouldn’t like being called Californian without being so, this might never happen… well it’s enough that we’re not gasing each other to death or dropping bomb carpets all over the place to make me glad that the Union exists.
Well,
This was fun. 
Sparculees I agree with a lot of what you said. especially the part of Amsterdam being Dutch- not Danish. *giggle * Don’t worry about it ; ** ummmm yeah… ** happens all the time. 
As for me, personally; I disagree with a lot of things American [abortion, death penalty, environment], but I LOVE the American spirit, the kindness of it’s people and their brightness.
I hope you’ll have a lovely time in Paris ** ummmm yeah… ** if not, come visit the Netherlands [Holland…capitol Amsterdam. We’re Dutch ;)] again.
Ok… Ok… I deserve the ribbing. But I’ll tell you what, you guys in Holland have some great food. Your bacon is outstanding! And I think they are called “stroopwaffles”? Wow, I could eat those all day. I was a big fan of Amsterdam though your street names are way too long!
What do you guys think of the “Euro”. Too many coins and the different size bills were weird. I think I had over 30 euros worth of change at one point.
Well… I think your average European might have issues with same size bills much along the same lines you do about the Euro. All I can say is that we are blessed to finally almost have only one currency. Imagine the same situation but with four or five different national currencies in your wallet, exchange rates and what not. Being a somewhat frequent traveller this was my reality for the better part of my life.
Long live the Euro…even if it isn’t perfect yet.
And the Brits and Swedes are idjits for not going for it!
ah noooooooo Sparculees Now you’ve spoiled it.
I want my guilder back. Ugly money that euro. Ugly little coins and stupid notes. Looks like monopoly money.
LOL @ our great food. That’s not what I would call our food. You need to be in France, Belgium or even England for great food. [maybe Denmark]
“American film and television…More importantly it gives the intellectual elite a powerful sword to wield in the debate of ‘better and worse’ culture.”
I’d have to agree with them there.
But about the military, the US and Europe, doesn’t it make sense for Europe to feel that way when after WW2, they really had nothing for fear but the Soviet Union. Not that they could fight off an invasion themselves, but they had the vigilance of the US for protection. So a sort of impotence developed in Europe.
some European countries think they can win a war on their own… blush
Oh, the food!; when travelling anywhere abroad, don’t expect to find your favourite foods from home, or at least don’t expect them to be the same as at home; often they will be poor imitations or just different interpretations of the theme; find out what the local specialities are and try them.
ummm… yeah…: I’m not a European, but I play one on TV. Okay, first off you’ll probably not find anyone who identifies himself as European except in a very broad concept. People in Europe are French, German, Dutch, Danes (giggle), Swedes, Italians, etc. If you remain polite and somewhat removed in discussions on America (and right or wrong, you will be viewed as “the American”, which means that you are responsible for everything that comes out of America from politics to McDonalds to Backstreet Boys, BTW). What I mean by that is don’t get defensive on things. If people attack McDonald’s for instance you might point out that it’s hardly considered the pinnacle of American cuisine, but “I like it/don’t like it (all the time/when I’m in a rush/when I get homesick)”.
Most Europeans I met had a pretty strong set of beliefs on the United States which they brought into conversations with me. They tended to think that all Americans think and believe the same thing, which as most elections prove is about half wrong. They also had strong feelings about things that had never really occurred to me, like how the French feel about the Brits, the Brits feel about everyone, the Germans toward the French, the Swiss French toward the Swiss Germans, vice versa, all the Swiss think the Valaisanes are weird, etc.
So listen, learn, stay impartial as possible, try not to screw up the geography too much, if you don’t know don’t shoot off your mouth, don’t talk to loud, wear something besides blue jeans, baseball caps and sneakers, try the local cuisine, learn and attempt to speak the language, don’t act like you’re best friends with someone you just met, etc, and you’ll be just fine. Got that?
Oj oj oj…
A) So sorry about the Guilder Käse…but it had to go. It just wasn’t practical.
B) No one feels European??? Well that might be true in a way…until anyone European is faced with what is not European i.e. American, Asian, African or Australian. Then, PRESTO we’re very European. This is an age old feeling that created some seriously derranged concepts like Caucasian vs. the rest of the world. I might also take issue with the statement on a personal note, like many others (15% of the European population or approx. 45 million people if you like) I am first and foremost European and I feel so, maybe as a result of having been moved around. Granted that few will denote themselves as European within Europe…then again if asked were you are from in The States you’ll answer with a state or a city and not ‘The US’.
C) “A sort of impotence developed in Europe”. I’d have to agree, except that the threat from the Soviet Union goes only halfway to explain the phenomena. To begin with, the Soviet Union was never as feared in Europe as in the States, the relationship to the Big Bear was always somewhat split. Even in some western countries the feeling towards the old superpowers was not even ambivalent but downright pro-communist, Sweden and Finland being obvious…Italy and France perhaps being somewhat more unexpected. Please do note that the US was also viewed as threat at the time…I know, I was around!
The impotence, I would rather attribute to two other phenomena. Firstly we managed to not sort out our own conflicts twice…The US (twice) and the USSR (once) had to do it for us. (Both nations could arguably be denoted as European but in Europe both were and still are viewed as ‘over there’). Secondly, it wasn’t the external threat as much as the fact that Europe was terminally broken after WW II that made us feel impotent. If it hadn’t been for serious support to rebuild from both sides we would have been pretty badly off. Now as it turned out the Marshal plan, NATO and market economy worked a hell of a lot better than plan economy and Comecon…but who would have known?
D) Inter-European cultural conflict should not be exagerated these days. The resentment between European peoples is a rather innocent vestige of something much more serious of the past. View European slandering of other regional or national entities the same way the you view a Brooklynites disdain for a New Jersyian and you’ll be closer to reality. There is already too much value loaded on this…most people don;t really give a damn anymore. However, the Europeans like anybody else love talking about themseleves and how better to identify who you are than by saying what you are not… I’ll put it another way; the English and French might have fought wars in the past, but these days it’s no more serious than Yankees vs. Southerners.
E) Allthough ShiBoleth’s advice is solid…Europeans actually often enough appreciate the openess (however shallow) of Americans and what you wear will have little impact. Europeans also wear jeans and sneaker type fashion these days…just be yourself while enjoying the culture as much as you can from a native perspective ‘When in Rome do as the Romans’ as Cervantes put it!
One very generalized point to add to all the above… On the whole…
People in the US tend to be optimistic and idealistic and see political and personal issues in relatively simple moral terms. To Europeans, this can seem naive.
People in Europe tend to be more cynical - about their countries, about the future, about their personal prospects.
So …
And so on and so on. (Yes, I know I’m over-generalizing.)
BTW Käse…
What drugs are you on (many of them are after all legal in Holland) ENGLISH food??? The word English and food don’t fit in the same sentence!
A good friend of mine once said ‘Well…Swedish food ain’t that bad, its just bland and pretty tasteless…English food on the other hand is both bland and disgusting, I wish it didn’t taste anything, that would help!’
So there! I was just VERY European and quite prejudiced… ha ha ha (bashing The English for their poor food culture is somewhat of a well favoured European passtime)
That being said, London has some of the most exquisite international cuisines you’ll ever find these days…
I love the Euro. It’s close enough to a US dollar that it’s not worth making a distinction between the two of 'em in everyday life, and you come out ahead (if you’re American) by doing so… Woo!
I’ve enjoyed, as well as learned a lot from, this thread. The last of May, I am vacationing in Brittany. Besides what has been said so far, is there anything I should know? Should we fly into Paris and rent a car or take a train? Or should we fly to London and take a flight directly to Brittany?
One thing for sure, I wouldn’t be going to France to eat at McD.
Also English food isn’t all bad. We had some wonderful food in Guernsey, but then it is so near France, something had to rub off.
kniz:
Any of your transport alternatives are fine…there are really cheap flights from London to Rennes these days.
From Paris: there is an ultra-rapid train connection directly from the airport that goes all the way to the western sea border (check with your travel agent though since the trains don’t always fit the international arrivals that well).
A car would mean some hassle when getting out of Paris…the freeways are worse than in LA plus you’d have to spend the night in Paris due to Jetlag (I’d hope you would in all cases). On the other hand you could drive the scenic route south-west and up the coast which is really beautiful.
Brittany is gorgeous…I lived in St. Malo, an old pirate town just next to Mont St. Michel for six months a couple of years ago and it was fab!
Have fun!
I don’t know if it would be more convenient/cheaper to fly into London then to Brittanny or into Paris. But if you fly into Paris, I wouldn’t rent a car in Paris, nor I would fly from Paris to Brittany. The train is convenient and quick (around 2 hours from Paris to Rennes). There are some TGVs leaving directly from CDG airport to several french towns, but I’m not positive about Rennes. You should check that.
Not to denigrate this board, but if your questions are about travel, I would advise you to check a travel board, like for instance the europe travel board on www.fodors.com, which is heavily trafficked.
My link doesn’t work (I added a period). Trying again :
Well put Hemlock! I realize wile reading your list why I am so infernally schizo, what-with living with the two cultures in my head and what-not. (that would be four when I count more precisely, but still)
When I speak in the tongue of Moliere I tend to transform into a cynical bastard and when communicating in the language of Mark Twain I tend towards quixotic let’s-do it-ism.
I am a melting pot!