It’s true, I had a whirlwind week in France the beginning of April. The company I work for puts on large conferences all around the world and although International trips are typically not on my travel plan, I lucked out and my boss asked me to join her for our European Conference. It was mostly work and very little play but I can reassure you that I learned a lot about International travel, communicating with people despite their lack of English and my lack of French, as well as what people think or assume about Americans. Fascinating, here it goes…
I knew that travel was going to be long. But 25 hours was a bit more than I anticipated and I will plan better in the future. Those 25 hours included three airports, long flights, waiting for trains, a taxi, and eventually making it to my cozy hotel in Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is on the border of France and Germany, the town has a healthy mix of French and Bavarian history which makes it unique in it’s architecture and culture. The most memorable parts of my travel were learning that public restrooms cost a euro to use in the airport train station in Paris, finding coins is harder than you’d think so I recommend you have a few with you before you travel, and pack more snacks than you think you’ll need. I learned all three things the hard way. It was easy enough to use the ATM and get cash out but the real trick was finding a place to get coins, especially so that I could use the restroom. Which in fact was really nice and taken care of and worthy of costing a euro, however, trickier than I was prepared for after nearly 17 hours into my travel with very little sleep. Some random girl was kind enough to exchange my bills for change and it worked out perfectly. Also snacks… they didn’t have great options for food at the train station and I immediately wished I had packed more than just granola bars and trail mix as my snacks. Noted for the future.
The language barrier. Most people spoke fairly good English but I did run in with several people who looked at me like a crazy person when I said something in English. I got very good at saying “Pardon, English?” Throughout the week I worked closely with our temporary staff that is hired locally for the event. At the beginning of the week they all spoke slowly and deliberately in English. By the end of the week they were almost all speaking quickly and predominantly in French, I guess they just got comfortable around me and thought my French had improved over the 5 days I was with them, ha! Regardless of the language barrier, everyone was far more friendly than I anticipated. I learned a lot from my the local ladies I was working with and they even gave me some history information on the town since they realized I wasn’t going to be able to explore or be a tourist. It was fun learning about them, their culture and the history of the place I was in. I cannot wait to go back and be a tourist!
The other part of the trip that was fascinating to me was what people think or assume about Americans. Unprompted and probably the most French thing that could have happened to me my first day in France; I was seated on the train from Paris to Strasbourg next to ‘Pierre who works for a company that makes croissants’. I mean, I couldn’t make that up even if I tried. Pierre and I talked about a lot on the train… from politics to social media to our thoughts on covid. We had a great conversation and it was interesting to hear his thoughts and opinions on various topics. He was respectful in the way he depicted Americans as hypocritical, he also said as much about French and their politics too. The context of his accusations were spot on, there was hardly anything I could say other than nod in agreement. Pierre didn’t idolize Americans like a few of my younger local girls that I worked with throughout the week. One girl told me that when she thinks of the United States, she thinks of abundance and access to anything. Her context was romanticized a bit but I understood where she was coming from. It’s as if the only thing I knew about France was from movies that romanticize Paris, then that is all I would assume too. The United States is a lot of things but seeing it from the eyes of a young girl in France was very interesting and something that I can now appreciate. America is beautiful but like France, we have our highs and our lows. Honestly, like anywhere in the world there are great parts and not so great. The reality of it all really comes down to what perspective you want to take.
It’s fitting that this post is being published on Earth Day because this trip to France made me acutely aware of what a beautiful planet we live on. How much energy and effort goes into each day, in so many places across the globe. I know I love to travel but this trip, albeit for work, made me want to hop on a plane again in the near future to explore another part of this huge planet.
Salut 🙂
The Salty Exchange 