My dad has been to Paris on business a bit (surprising I know) and said it was OK. I think my favorite city in Euroland was Firenze.
Ehh, it's one thing if you're visiting, but if you live here sometimes you just wanna avoid it. In South Korea me and some people were standing at a crosswalk when some guy walked up to one of my friends and asked him if he was American. When he responded yes the guy started screaming in his face until another guy came up and dragged him away. This was in the second biggest city in the country where there were plenty of other white people, although most were Australian or Kiwis. About a month ago my shop went out for a dinner on a Friday night right after we got out of work, they got out late so they went in uniform (I wasn't since I had the day off). Mind you, the place we went wasn't fancy and is really popular among Americans, and it was in a small city where probably a couple hundred Americans live and the whole area is home to several thousand Americans. There were about 8 of us and we kept to ourselves in a corner and when we went up to the register to pay for the entire time we were up there a table of like 10 German guys ranging from their 20's to probably 60's were talking shit about how they were going to follow us into the parking lot and beat us up, they were doing it in German though so myself and only one other person could figure out what they were saying. You'd think they'd be used to seeing Americans around there. Probably about 3 months back in Cologne we were at some Irish pub and I went up to the bar to buy a round, the bartenders were mostly Irish but they all spoke German too, I ordered drinks in English and the two German guys next to me tapped me on the shoulder and started talking to me in German and I couldn't understand what they were saying. I asked if they spoke English and they said yes but just kept speaking at me in German. I just told them I didn't speak German but they kept talking and all I could make out was a couple of words which didn't sound very friendly. They walked away and I asked the bartender what they were saying and basically the jist of it was that they were going to follow me and my friends home and murder us. Kind of put a damper on my night. The French get a lot of flak, and I've only been into France twice since I've been here but all French people were really nice. We got randomly stopped a little bit past border and the French police were really cool and told us places to check out on the way to Normandy.
In Germany a couple of girls we were with weren't let into a Mexican bar solely because they were American.
The hostel I stayed at in Prague had a Mexican restaurant across the ally. I tried to get a margarita there and instead got tequila with ice cubes. Anyone who says there isn't any anti-American sentiment floating around Europe doesn't know what they're talking about or is naive.
Hell, there's anti-American sentiment floating around America. Sometimes, the false-consensus effect is accurate.
It wasn't an anti-American sentiment, but the only city I had problems in was Prague. Fuck that place.
Funny enough, I hated Prague too. At one point at told my brother "Fuck this city, the commies should've burned it."I always felt on edge, maybe its because there were pickpockets everywhere and you had to beware of skimmers on the atms, etc etc. Pretty city, sure, but I hated it otherwise.
For 90 minutes my wife and I say in that park and watched tourists attempt obscene things with the tower. I hear Old Faithful in Yellowstone gets the same treatment. Need help: I need a creative hiding space for The Elf On The Shelf tonight. Any ideas ?
If so many Americans weren’t huge nozzles while abroad it would go better for the rest of you. The number of times I've cringed overseas while some Americans said stupid shit too loudly is beyond count. Also interestingly I’ve never struck up a casual friendship with an American while overseas, South Africans, Russians, Canadians & Poms yes, Yanks no. Could have something to do with the fact you just don’t see Americans eating at the little off the grid restaurants or drinking in the small local bars where I get chatting to folks. They are invariably at some chain style place sucking down burgers and cheap imported beer. Also, Rant: Speaking loudly and slowly won’t make someone understand “American”, also its called English for fucks sake, yelling at someone “do you speak American” is just so fucking retarded. I've seen people say "No" even though I was speaking English with them moments before.
Shit in China most of the asian men were just pissed that westerners were fucking all of their women. Europeans did seem to have a huge chip on their shoulders about Americans. It was still the tail end of the Bush era when I was in Shanghai (or at least it was in the semi behind the curve expat communities). Mostly bitching about how fucked up it was that we were imposing our will and influence through our military actions yada yada. This coming from Europeans who spent centuries colonially fucking indigenous populations in the ass seemed rather hypocritical. Aside from that Asia, or at least the parts I visited, had very little negative feelings against Americans. If I ever came to the point of claiming I was some mild mannered Canadian syrup sucker I'd know I was as pussified as some French white flag waving bitch.
Not just Europe, most of the world, but many places you really wouldn't know unless you experience it first hand. As a tourist the chances of it happening are close to none. You don't spend enough time with the people for it to happen, and everywhere you go as a tourist people are used to foreigners coming through. And then your experience is heavily dependent on your race, your gender, why you're in that country and all that jazz. I would not want to be a black person in most European countries, or Asian ones for that matter.
I think the fact is its easy to rip on the US and Americans. American policy is visible and easy to criticize, the way some Americans travel can be a bit funny/obnoxious, if you combine those two I think you get the result seen. I think there are many people who resent American foreign policy and vent those frustrations on American travelers. A peeve of mine is when non-Americans rip on us Yanks for only speaking one language. Its no fault of our own, its more a consequence of our geography and history. But hey, its easy to make fun of so why not.
Try visiting them in their own backyard. Since becoming adult I have a habit of getting along great with them in the States. Americans have a hilarious habit of being fascinated by my Canadian-ness at first, the generic "My god, you're just like us!"... like I just stepped off a UFO or something. They always act like they're happy you're there, they think my accent is hilarious and that we over-pronounce everything. Plus, if you have a U.K. or Down Under accent you may as well pack vagina repellent in America. Christ, Scottish accents especially cause spontaneous orgasm in women from the West. It's the only way to explain how we know James McAvoy exists.
Yeah! A superstar came back early from a leg injury to try to help drag his mediocre team into the playoffs.