One of the biggest adjustments that I had to make when living in France after a while was to not smile at others. Although it may seem small and silly, I think smiling and making eye contact with those around you in public is a big part of American culture. It isn’t like that in France – in fact, they would give you a confused stern look if you were to smile at them. At first, it was hard to adjust as I was so used to being friendly and smiley with others. Not that French people aren’t nice or friendly (they’ve actually helped me out quite a few times) but their way of showing it is just different. It made me uncomfortable to not be able to smile at others. For some reason, it made me feel like I was weird and that it was unnatural to keep a straight face at everyone. I didn’t want it to seem like I was angry at them. But if a French person were to share their opinion on this topic, I would say that they wouldn’t think that it’s a big deal. In America, we tend to fake smile at strangers a lot out of politeness, but for French culture, I think that it’s just unnecessary for them to do so. I don’t think it’s rude of them but for others, this would would explain why French people have been given the reputation as “rude” or “unkind”. I think that it’s actually impolite of us to judge them so quickly just by the words of others. Only after a semester of living in Paris did I realize that French people are so kind and genuine. One time on the train, I got light-headed and a man immediately got up from his seat to let me sit down. I said “merci beaucoup” to him multiple times but for him it was no big deal. While I’ve had many not smile at at me, I’ve also had many Parisians smile happily in interactions with me. I think it really depends on how you go with it and hold yourself to others. If you go and hold the same mindset that all French people are rude, you’ll just see everything that they do as rude. After spending a semester abroad, I learned that this applies to everyone. Not every person has to smile at you all the time – they made have came from different backgrounds and customs that aren’t the same as yours. But that doesn’t mean that they’re impolite or mean, it just means that their values are different. You shouldn’t judge them so quickly unless you really know them and who they are as a person. With a new mindset like this one, it makes you think about others in their aspect and not just from your own. It makes you more open and caring towards other people. Even if it was challenging at first, I think it the experience made me become less selfish and opinionated. I think about how others background, culture, customs, and traditions before I let their actions affect me.
