This is a link to the thread Learning to love the French as they are:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-they-are.cfm

The reason it did not appear when katkat looked "in the main France list" is that the thread has no tag on it, and appears in the list of threads under Europe. All threads on the Europe board are in one list. If you search for France threads you will get a list of the threads on the Europe board that have been tagged France by the original poster.

Topping only works if you are looking at the whole Europe list or if you are looking under a country with which the thread has been tagged.

Nikki: Thank.you. I didn't know what "topping" meant to begin with, and when I made a guess that cigale was referring me to a specific thread about France, I certainly didn't know that I would not be able to find the thread unless I looked under Europe and not France, since she didn't tell me that.

Topping means adding a reply to a thread so it rises to the top of the list.

The way this board works can be confusing. I believe many if not most people just browse through all the Europe threads without viewing by country. Many people do not realize that there are not separate boards for each country, but that there is just one list for all of Europe. Selecting a country such as France operates as a filter. Cigale probably assumed you were looking at the whole list as she was, and she probably did not notice that the post she topped was not tagged as France.

Well, all's well that ends well. Thanks again, Nikki.

Mama mia. Nikki, my real life friend, thank you.
Trying to help often goes astray.

Had fun reading this whole line. We lived in France many years ago and our children were born there. The French have a different worldview and when you understand and respect it, you do just fine. Personally, we were often embarrassed by demanding Americans in Paris and quickly switched to French to not be lumped in the same category. Clearly many Americans were not demanding and made friends, as did we. A sense of openness, curiosity, flexibility and humor benefits all travelers in any culture.

Rolfene,

I stand corrected. I think it's amazing that you have found a med school where you have time to take a vacation to France. My friends who went to med school were busy almost non-stop, but maybe that was the institution they were at. Given that one of my kids is thinking of med school some day, can you break your vow and tell me what school this is? It sounds far more humane than any I've heard about.

I've been taking French for 3 years in a structured class of from 8-10, a core group of 5 have been at it for the full 3 years. Our instructor said last month, that if we were all in agreement, she thought we could start to use "tu" (tutoyer) as an address instead of "vous".>>

lol, cath - in our italian class we were on familiar terms from Day 1. italians just get there faster, i suppose.

Rolfene, please don't go. we need new blood and a many of us need a psychiatrist too.

kerouac - love the film. do you think that he looked at his back view in those white trousers? definitely the male equivalent of "does my bum look big in this! and where did they get the Sacha Distel lookalike?

French rude? Bien sur IMe - rude to everyone, even their French counterparts - non-discriminatory ruders! c' est la vie en francaise - accept it as a cultural trait to be witnessed much as Americans are considered overly friendly by many Brits and Europeans.

Paris is unlike the provinces where you will see lots of overweight people and smiling is acceptable.
Those who have not traversed France don't see the differences.
I love the French. My only bad experience was a hotel on the west coast in Brittany where a waitress was nasty, dikey and didn't like Americans.

I don't know if rolfene is a troll or not, but she certainly should be complimented for enrolling in med school as a mature student after having raised a family:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...activities.cfm

She is not a troll. She was asking sincere questions and a few people took exception to her requests.

The only time I have ever had a bad experience in France is in Paris. No, they are not as warm as Italians for the most part in my opinion. But, very gracious and polite and a beautiful country.

I was in a lovely restaurant in Honfleur as a solo female diner. There was a French family, old man and woman (70+ years) with a woman who seemed to be their daughter (40 or so years).

Every time I looked up from my reading, eating, etc., at least one of them, if not all three, were staring at me and talking about me. I did hear the word "American" more than once.

When they left the restaurant, they all stared at me while passing my table. What was all that about????


Sorry, but I did find it to be quite rude.

joannyc I can't speak for the family but maybe they were impressed to see a solo American woman brave enough to have dinner on her own in a foreign country. I understand it may seem rude but maybe their English was not good enough to talk to you. I'm sure it was not a negative feeling :)

Every time I looked up from my reading, eating, etc., at least one of them, if not all three, were staring at me and talking about me. I did hear the word "American" more than once.

When they left the restaurant, they all stared at me while passing my table. What was all that about????>>

joannyc - I've been looked at like that in more places than i care to mention, including in the US. we refer to it in our family as the "two heads" look - ie they are looking at us as if we'd got two heads.

it's the natural curiosity of people about someone who is different.

Well, age has its privileges, but if they caught my eye, I'd smile and raise my glass to them.

...or perhaps a finger.

There are people in every country, including our own, who do not like people who are "different". They will not travel outside the U.S. because they will not feel comfortable being in the midst of "different". The thing is, people really are the same, wherever you go. People are people, with all their fears, all their likes, hopes and dreams. My husband and I have traveled in France many times. Once, years ago, when we were cashing travelers' checks in a bank in a small town in Normandy, we asked the teller where we might find a good place for lunch. The assistant manager overheard, came over to advise, then put on his jacket and personally walked us to a lovely restaurant. Another time, when we were unsure of which direction in the Metro in Paris, two elderly ladies personally walked us to the correct platform. Our French was not great, and their English was not great, but they wanted to help and we connected. Since then we have traveled all over the world. People all over really are just like you and me. There are good and bad, positive and negative, wherever you go.

joannyc,, well dining as a solo female was not that unusual, I have done it many times, as have thousands of other female visitors to france, but I am amused that you got defensive and felt the people were being rude or saying hostile or negative things about you.

Perhaps they thought you were attractive looking, or liked your hair do, or admired your solo travel .. and why did you not just smile at them as suggested, even raised your glass, perhaps you missed an opportunity.

Another thing, sometimes people ARE a bit rude, perhaps they were just some of those folks, you have them in America, and we have them in Canada,, so lets stop the stupid race/nationality sterotyping which for some reason always involves thinking the worst of another entire nation based on isolated behaviours of a few people.. like everyone in America is not a gun toting redneck,, but what if I was a tourist and met one or two of them, then would it be fair for me to say all Americans were like that? of course not.

PS I find the Italians so phoney,, lol, so I guess I sterotype a bit too,,