What Does it Mean to be French?

"What does is mean to be French?" This is the question we've been attempting to answer while on this seminar. Yesterday we had a lecture with an Australian PhD student at Sciences Po--a pretty famous political sciences school in Paris. The topic was French identity, what it means to be French, and how immigrants assimilate into French culture. Most of the students were appauled and angry with the main message of the lecture.

Since the banning of the hijab Muslim headscarf in schools, and well before, the French have been firm in establishing a singular French "culture." Diversity and difference are words that are not usually viewed in a positive light in France. The idea is that everyone is equal not by giving handouts or subsidies to minorities or make exceptions for those who practice different religions. Everyone is "French" and everyone must act "French."

Most everyone scoffed at this idea. Coming from the US where uniqueness and differences are praised and encouraged, this apparently came as quite a shock. I felt weird because I actually agreed with the French definition of "equality" but I wasn't about to say it out loud.

I mean, it's a really refreshing when you think about it. The French aren't saying that everyone has to be identical and robotic. Essentially, it's more like "I really don't care what religion you practice, what your ethnicity, or sexual orientation is." There's no room for excuses. That's how I operate.

Anyway, it was a pretty enlightening lecture. Some more updates on the trip...

Wednesday night nearly everyone in our program decided to head out together. Yes, 40 loud, annoying Americans running through the Metro. We certainly do the ugly American stereotype justice. We ended up at a small bar. Not surprisingly the waitress told us there was not enough room for all of us, so we split up.

I went with Kelly, Alexis, Sue and Maia to a wine bar on the same street and ended up having a ridiculous night. A French woman, Noame, came over to us and was eager to talk. She was heading to Milwalkee in a few months to work and improve her French. She was a little intoxicated, which made it all the more hilarious. She would speak to us in English and we would respond in French. She offered us a few words of wisdom, which actually were pretty appropriate for our third day in Paris.

"Go out every night. Drink! Have fun! Meet French boys, but don't...how do you say...have one night stand?"

It was so refreshing to have a conversation with a native because most of the time as an American in a big group it's so difficult not to feel like a tourist and isolated from the "real" Parisians.

Yesterday we toured the National Assembly and then went to the Shoah Memorial Museum commemorating French lives lost during the Holocaust. As you enter the museum there’s a series of marble walls with the names of the Jews deported from France from 1942 to 1944. Sort of haphazardly I walked over to the 1944 wall and saw the “L’s.” Listed there were three people with my last name. It was a strange feeling.

For lunch I headed over to Notre Dame with a few girls and then went to a restaurant. True to my anal, type A self, I started freaking out because we were cutting it close on making it to our next lecture at the Sciences Po.

Came back to the hotel for dinner then headed out with Alexis and Sue to meet one of their brothers/sisters? From Phi Sigma Pi. She lives in Paris so she took us to a great crêperie in her neighborhood.

Chocolat et bananes all the way. Holla!

Went to Versailles early today. I’ve been twice before but this time I walked all the way down to the Grand et Petit Trianon with Kelly and Wes. It was freezing, but so worth it. Took some epic pics with Otto. (See above, and soon Facebook)

Probably headed to the Champs Elysées and the Eiffel Tower tonight. Pumped!