It's a lot different if you're a woman too, especially in regards to night life. I've been out in cities that are nowhere near military bases and people are openly hostile because of my nationality and while not common it isn't an exceedingly rare occurrence, I've had it happen a couple of times in 6 months. If I'm out by myself Germans assume I'm German until I talk, I keep my hair long enough to where most people wouldn't associate me with the military. At the very least they buy that I'm a Canadian student as long as I'm not near a military base. I know guys stationed in Italy, they say it's the same way down there. It was the same way in Korea too. Then again, most of the time we've had a problem I've been out with some of my friends who are black and they seem to get singled out pretty often so the race thing might factor in too. It was definitely a huge factor in Korea but they are horribly racist over there.
Oh fuck that. If you can't go to a friendly foreign country without pretending to not be American because "what if they won't like meeeee", you're a pussy.
I spent a month in Europe in '06 and I never encountered any anti-American bullshit. There was moment on a train in France where a couple guys who learned that we were American, asked us if we liked Bush. When we said no, they were cool with us. Besides that, as long as you attempt the language when you meet people or go for food, ask for the restroom and maybe even ask if they speak English in their language, you will rarely get shit on. I think a lot of people traveling abroad that give us a bad name are people that treat their cities like Disney World and expect people to be as friendly as them as well. Go and enjoy and show respect to them, not as novelties, but as regular people and you will be hard-pressed to find someone who will be outwardly rude.
The only time I experienced anything is when my buddy's French girlfriend visited us and we were casually talking about going hunting the following weekend. She went apeshit about guns, absolutely berserk about how scary and dangerous they are. My other buddy just piped up and and said "Yea, we expect that cowardice from the French." She was speechless.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in calling the French "cowards" when the number one reason most people in America give for gun ownership is "to protect me from threats." Seems like a fear-based reason to me. Note: I have nothing against those who own guns. It's absolutely your right as an American. Just an observation.
The time I experienced the most obvious anti-American sentiment was when I was in Zurich and went to a party at the school. People poured beer on my brother and I, and I almost got in a fight because of it. Not fun. And no, we weren't be the loud obnoxious American's all Euros hate, we were talking to our friends minding our own business when a couple of guys overheard our accent and decided to be dicks.
I know what youre sayin, and youre right. It was just to troll her a little bit for buying into some preconceived stereotype she read about with another one.
Americans like guns because we're a violence-based culture and having a gun allows us to live out that fantasy in our heads even though it'll never happen in real life. French are cowards because they're a pacifist-based culture and waving a white flag in everything ever allows them to live out the butt fucking fantasy in their heads even though it'll never happen in real life because the other french dude is too much of a coward to bring up the topic in conversation. There, that make sense for you?
Translation: "They surrendered to the Germans when my grandfather was in grade school so I hate them." You guys hate them because you're told to by your parents. You think all French are girlie-fags in berets you can't stand their girlie-fag accents so stop fucking around with the "pacifist" bullshit.
Fact: The Statue of Liberty is French. She totally has unshaved legs and pits under that robe. Fact: The French bailed us out during the Revolutionary War. They helped us defeat those bloody redcoats, in much the same way a middle child teams up with the youngest child to fuck up the oldest child's shit. If it weren't for the French, you'd be sipping tea and bitching about the taxes we pay to the queen rather than drinking beer and bitching about our President. Fact: It is called "French" kissing. I'd say they get a win there, no? Fact: Montreal and Quebec in general suck, but they're French Canadian, so they don't count.
I don't get the appeal of France. The whole country is kind of meh in my mind. There are parts of it I think I may like, I hear the country side is pretty cool, and I know Chamonix must be awesome. But as for the cities, I hear they're all kind of unspectacular. Obviously I'm not a wine drinker, but I think if you were that could be fun.