I'm VERY aware of the type of Americans you're referring to, and I've seen them on 4 continents acting the exact same way. It is extremely embarrasing, and on several occasions I've even felt like claiming Canadian heritage after seeing a particularly obnoxious American act just moments before. However, in every other place I've experienced, if you approach people respectfully, you have NO problems, reguardless of where you are from. In Paris, I CONTINUOUSLY got snubbed after being as polite as I could possibly be in broken French. Two friends of mine, who I consider to be extremely cool people, not the oblivious beer-guzzling neo-Fraternity Jerry Springer is quality entertainment types you mentioned, also got continuosly slammed by rudeness. My girlfriend, who is VERY worldly, and an absolute sweetheart, spent a long time in Greece, where they seeminlgly hate Americans, and had the time of her life, meeting many great friends, but on her way home got caught in the Paris airport, and nearly burst into tears at how awfully she was treated by everyone there. I agree that hordes of "bad" Americans ruin it for everyone else, but I also think hordes of Parisians are dealing with that situation in the wrong way. Bigotry is bigotry, no matter how you justify it, and it seems that Paris is crawling with it.
The problem with Paris is that it's full of Parisians! It's as though the entire population has a 'Chemical Rudeness Disorder', especially toward Americans. FIRSTLY, they go on and on about disgusting American culture (and I agree, McDonalds IS disgusting), but they're the ones with their mouths crammed full of LE BIG MAC!!! (If tourists where the only ones responsible for eating at McDonalds in Paris, they would each have to eat 86 hamburgers a day!) Here's an insider tip for those new to capitalism... if you don't buy it, it'll go away, just like magic! SECONDLY, the fact of the matter is the U.S. had thousands upon thousands of it's soldiers put through a meat-grinder to give France it's country back... TWICE!!! No other country has ever done that for France, and no other country do they despise worse. Maybe the country is having "penis issues", I don't know. I don't expect them to be rolling around naked in our flag or anything, but at LEAST enough gratitude to not look past you for 20 minutes giving everyone else in line their coffee first, just because you're American. In summary, I'd rather pay double and live in London.
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I'm VERY aware of the type of Americans you're referring to, and I've seen them on 4 continents acting the exact same way. It is extremely embarrasing, and on several occasions I've even felt like claiming Canadian heritage after seeing a particularly obnoxious American act just moments before. However, in every other place I've experienced, if you approach people respectfully, you have NO problems, reguardless of where you are from. In Paris, I CONTINUOUSLY got snubbed after being as polite as I could possibly be in broken French. Two friends of mine, who I consider to be extremely cool people, not the oblivious beer-guzzling neo-Fraternity Jerry Springer is quality entertainment types you mentioned, also got continuosly slammed by rudeness. My girlfriend, who is VERY worldly, and an absolute sweetheart, spent a long time in Greece, where they seeminlgly hate Americans, and had the time of her life, meeting many great friends, but on her way home got caught in the Paris airport, and nearly burst into tears at how awfully she was treated by everyone there. I agree that hordes of "bad" Americans ruin it for everyone else, but I also think hordes of Parisians are dealing with that situation in the wrong way. Bigotry is bigotry, no matter how you justify it, and it seems that Paris is crawling with it.
The problem with Paris is that it's full of Parisians! It's as though the entire population has a 'Chemical Rudeness Disorder', especially toward Americans. FIRSTLY, they go on and on about disgusting American culture (and I agree, McDonalds IS disgusting), but they're the ones with their mouths crammed full of LE BIG MAC!!! (If tourists where the only ones responsible for eating at McDonalds in Paris, they would each have to eat 86 hamburgers a day!) Here's an insider tip for those new to capitalism... if you don't buy it, it'll go away, just like magic! SECONDLY, the fact of the matter is the U.S. had thousands upon thousands of it's soldiers put through a meat-grinder to give France it's country back... TWICE!!! No other country has ever done that for France, and no other country do they despise worse. Maybe the country is having "penis issues", I don't know. I don't expect them to be rolling around naked in our flag or anything, but at LEAST enough gratitude to not look past you for 20 minutes giving everyone else in line their coffee first, just because you're American. In summary, I'd rather pay double and live in London.