Ah to be an American - Rant Warning

In the experiences I have had, especially on this trip, there are a few tell tale signs that apply to being an American abroad. While these could also apply to other groups, my view as an insider to the “Mericn” crowd has led me to see several interesting things.

  

Volume – We are not necessarily the loudest people, but groups of Americans are loud and distinctive. I think there is a multiplying effect of volume; each additional person in the group increased the volume two-, three-, even four-fold. Having taken the students on tours and visits, it is interesting to see the reaction of others and how quickly they recognize them as Americans. Possibly the loudest locale on this tour was the Parlementarium since they had several hundred students of all sorts of ages descend on them all at the same time, our group seemed more boisterous. I say seemed as I can’t say that I wasn’t being conscious of it as we were getting things wrapped up there.

Trust – This is not just about the students; this is about all the wonderful “ugly” Americans I encountered at Belgium National Airport this morning. In what world can you possibly think it is safe to leave your laptop, purses and carry-ons unattended at a table? They were nowhere near their stuff and I sure as hell wasn’t about to assume any guardianship duties over it. They just all took off and it was several minutes before they returned. I saw this on several occasions throughout my travels and it seemed to regularly be Americans most likely to take such a haphazard approach to their belongings. Again, I won’t say it was just Americans, but the most egregious examples of having way too much trust that people won’t wander off with your stuff. In Brussels there were regularly signs in public places warning of pickpockets and theft, yet people paid little attention.

Water – It is time to get over yourselves, you will not die from drinking tap water in Germany or Belgium or the U.K. It is amazing how long people hang on to the idea that the water isn’t of enough quality to just drink from the tap. I have even seen Americans buying bottled water and then emptying it into their re-usable water bottles. Come now, you aren’t fooling anyone and don’t dare say you are being environmentally friendly. First, do you even know what the water source is – hell it could be coming out of the tap in some cute sounding locale? Second, you may be recycling the plastic, but did you really need to buy it in plastic, just to transfer it to something else. Somebody ought to open a water bar where you can go in with your re-usable bottle and have it filled from a tap just like you would get for a beer.

Whining – I am quite jaded about this one as I encountered way too many Americans just whining and complaining at the airport about everything. It just seemed to be an extension of those same grievances most places I’ve gone. It often comes with the “it wouldn’t happen like this back home in America.” I make a point not to say anything back but if you want it only to be like America, stay in America; maybe Disney is a better place for you. There is a wonderful few that disprove this, but all too often there are at least a few. My favorites this trip “ewww there is horse poop, that wouldn’t happen back home,” “why don’t they pave over these cobble stone streets, it would be nicer to walk on, especially in my heels,” and “I need you to say it in English, I am tired of hearing things in French.” The reality check is that you aren’t in the U.S., you’ve chosen to travel abroad and you are the visitor, be nice, be gracious, be patient. The air of superiority just doesn’t suit. Even when I’ve encountered people who haven’t spoken the same language, we’ve found a way to accomplish our interactions with relative ease, ending with a smile and a knowing nod of recognition that we made it work. The students have been pretty good, but they have their moments of this and I think it has more to do with the fact that they are with their fellow students for the whole semester than with an continued overall orientation. I also was blessed by the fact that I caught up with them after they had been over in London, Berlin, and Verona already.

Need versus Want or Would Like - I am very attuned to how much we, as Americans, use the word need inappropriately and unnecessarily. It is funny that what I have come to find that almost always when traveling the start of the sentence "I need . . ." is accompanied by an American accent. I have started to hear it a bit more from younger Brits and Aussies, but it is such a clear give away that you are the foreigner. It could only be more stereotypically American if you started pouting and crossed your arms in front of you as you said it. Maslow's hierarchy of needs identify what is necessary for life and your "need" for a tourist waffle or frites or to have someone speak English is not a dire thing that you will die without having happen. Time to take a bit of a chill pill here, it goes back to being nice and friendly. It is amazing how much better response you receive when you use a phrase like "I would like...".

Merci, danke, s'il vous plait, bitte, bonjour, guten tag, au revoir, and tschuss - Even if not fluent in the native language, it will never be a bad thing to learn at least some basics. I will be the first to admit that I didn't do that well enough my first time in Paris, but have since learned a lot about just how far it gets you to put forth a little effort. While you may not be able to say anything else in the language, I have always gotten a positive response by just providing a greeting in their language. They typically know just from the way you pronounce it that it isn't your language and often they were simply kind enough to switch to English. At worst you ask if they can say it in English. If not they can't it becomes fun to try and navigate the interaction. My German is more rusty than the ancient fence gate that hasn't moved in decades, but over the course of my time there it slowly came back to me in fragments, more being able to understand what they were saying and being able to provide simple replies. Being in these countries should be all the motivation we need to consider freshening up any language skills we may have. I can easily identify that my biggest struggle was switching countries and languages. Day one in new places has led me to speak in the wrong language so often. Even arriving in the UK yesterday I was still slipping into using merci and bonjour without thinking about it. We'll see if that has abated today.

Starbucks - I know Starbucks is comfortable, it is familiar, and often has wifi freely available, but there are many great independent coffee shops in Europe that would love to have your business. Truth be told, it has to be the wireless being freely available that keeps people going there. I will admit that when I first landed I stopped at one because it was the only coffeeshop I could find at the Frankfurt Airport train terminal. I wanted to ensure Steph that I was on the ground safe and was on my way to Freiburg and I didn't have phone service so that became my conduit. Students in the program often went to the Starbucks and bought things just to be able to justify using their wifi for a while. If they had simply spent that money for wifi at the hostel they would have had continual access without riding the tram for half an hour. I searched for coffee shops based on quality rather than wifi so Ken and I spent several afternoons in Freiburg at a place called Ruf's that had been around since about 1900. They had very nice Italian style coffee. In Brussels it was a place right on the Grot Markt and it always had just a small smattering of people, never very full at all called Aroma. They were very kind at both places and had no problems with us just hanging out and talking.