Reverse Culture Shock
I was talking to my friend Evan the other day on the phone. Evan was in Moscow with me on the Midd program, and is now spending the semester in Paris on the Brown program. When Evan and I finally received our French visas back sometime in December, we said how much easier France was going to seem after being in Russia. The worst part of culture shock in France, we decided, was the smell of fresh bread every morning. And the other night on the phone we decided that we were absolutely correct.Evan said the other people on the Brown program keep complaining about how rude Parisians are - how they never smile or say excuse me or anything. But Evan, on the other hand, thinks everyone's so friendly. And the other day, when someone bumped into him on the Metro and apologized, he actually gave them a dirty look, just cause he was so surprised. Stephanie, another Middkid in Poitiers, was complaining the other day about how grey it always is here. But everytime the sun comes out, even for a part of the day, I get so happy that it just decided to shine at all, and can't help but walk around in it for a bit. I have a complex about giving people a 20 euro bill when I'm buying anything for less than 15 euros. You see, I just can't do it. And if I'm forced to, I first apologize and explain that I don't have anything smaller. Not that they care, of course.
They told us that we'd probably get reverse culture shock when we left the Motherland, that we'd carry a plastic bag around with us for a few weeks, or marvel at how small the keys are. But seeing as the change went from grey skies to blue skies and frowns to smiles, I'm pretty much okay with it.
posted by Becky @ 10:53 AM
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