Breaking Down Barriers

For the past few weeks, my English class has been discussing French, British, and American stereotypes. We recently finished the unit, and I figured it would make an interesting blog post. Because I'm an American living in France, I'll stick to the French and American stereotypes. Plus I only know one British citizen really well (my best friend) and she's practically American, so those stereotypes don't really apply...

I'll guess I'll start with American stereotypes. To keep this post from becoming a novel, I'm not going to write about all the stereotypes we spoke about in class, because the list is goes on and on and on... Anyway, when people think of Americans, they usually picture fat, stupid, lazy, and ignorant people that eat McDonalds and t.v. dinners every day. I'm here to tell you, it's not all true! (Although considering the fact that most everyone who reads this blog is American, I guess you already knew that!) Yes, obesity is a problem in America. Yes, our public school system have been going down the tubes in recent years. Yes, McDonalds was invented in America and people do eat here.

However, there's always a different side to the story. I know more Americans that break every single one of these stereotypes than the Americans that fit them. My family and friends are some of the most intelligent people I know (I mean, my mom's a librarian; you can't beat that), and besides that, they are all healthy, beautiful, and compassionate people that are intrigued by other viewpoints and cultures.

The same irony holds true for the French. General stereotypes of the French: dirty, smelly, stuck-up, and rude. Sure, they're not all charmers and yes, I've met some people who, at first glance, fit right into these stereotypes. On the other hand, the people that have really impacted my exchange have been among the kindest, most welcoming people I've ever met in my life. The obvious people that come to mind are my host families. This exchange has been the most difficult year of my life; when you leave your home for a year and arrive in a country unaware of the language and not knowing a soul, life certainly presents its challenges. On difficult days of my exchange, the depression kicks in and I've never felt more alone in my life, but there always comes a moment when I remember that my new families have done so much to make me comfortable and happy. It's moments like these when I realize just how lucky I am. Most kids only have one family; I have 4!

This post actually took me forever to write because it was really difficult to find a focus. I wrote and rewrote so many times, and now that I look back, I probably did write a novel before I cut it down to this reasonably-sized entry. There are so many things I left unsaid...so many more stereotypes that got cut out and an even greater number of arguments against them. This post is just the bare minimum and I haven't decided whether or not I'll follow through with this subject in following entries. Frankly, this post made me realize just how stupid stereotyping actually is. Stereotypes create barriers, and I guess it's kind of an exchange student's job to break them down. For every stereotype, there is an exception, and it's up to all of us to find the exception and look at people for what they really are: individuals.