Today we had two more orientation sessions in the morning; cultural differences and academic policies. In the cultural differences discussion we learned some really interesting reasons behind the behaviors and attitudes of the French versus the Americans. For an analogy, our teacher compared French people to coconuts (hard on the outside but soft on the inside) and Americans to Peaches (soft on the outside but hard on the inside). What this means is that in America we are taught to be super friendly and to accumulate as many friends as possible. We have a very easy time striking up conversations with complete strangers and we are supposed to be really friendly and often fake nice to everyone. As a result, we have several "friends" or acquaintances, but not as many close friends. We have no problem "making friends," but we keep them at bay. We don't let most people in all the way, we hold them at arms length.
The French, however, are much more closed off to people they don't know. They will not strike up a casual conversation with a person waiting in line at the grocery store, for example. They will say hello, or bonjour, to a stranger and that is all. This seems rude to Americans, but to them it is not necessary to act like they are friends with someone whom they do not know. Once they do become friends with someone though, they become very friendly. They open up very easily to friends and every friend that they do have is a close friend. The difference is that in America we may have many more people that we consider friends than French people do, but the amount of close friends that we have is usually less. It is also easier for us to lose friends and gain new ones where as the French are friends for life. I found this very interesting and it has helped me to understand the French culture more and the behaviors of people on the streets.
Peaches and coconuts may seem very different, but both are delicious in their own way :)
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