re: How many poor white trash Americans have been to Europe?

Ive been.

quote:

---

The idea that all Europeans hate Americans is overblown and perpetuated by the media. A disdain for "America" is somewhat common but not as much as you might think.

---

Amen.

I recently spent a week in France (Normandy, Caen, Paris), and was treated very well. The trick is to try, just TRY, to speak French. It's the Americans that don't even put in one ounce of effort to assimilate into the culture that are the embarrasment and get treated poorly.

My French is bad, so I learned "I'm sorry, my French is poor. Do you speak English?" in French, and you can tell the waiter, cab driver, etc, appreciated the effort and was more willing to help.

quote:

---

Never had any issue with paying more for dining outdoors.

---

They charge more to sit in St. Marks square and have a beer. Believe it was about $12 for a bottle back in '99. I could have probably had a drink at Harry's bar for the same price.

quote:

---

My French is bad, so I learned "I'm sorry, my French is poor. Do you speak English?" in French, and you can tell the waiter, cab driver, etc, appreciated the effort and was more willing to help.

---

This is what I did as well. Every french person i interacted with was very friendly and helpful.

quote:

---

Having spent some time in Europe, I could tell the Americans at first sight, even from a distance.

---

I was stationed in Germany for a few years. You could spot an American by shoes alone.

quote:

---

This is what I did as well. Every french person i interacted with was very friendly and helpful.

---

France is the only place I encountered rudeness. It was just some school girls pointing and laughing at me. But I had a stupid army haircut and I dress like shite.

It's not the trash. It's all the super enlightened fresh college grads "trying to find themselves" that backpack across Europe acting like assholes.


I don't have a degree and recently spent 7 months in Europe. Everyone fricking loved me.

quote:

---

This is what I did as well. Every french person i interacted with was very friendly and helpful.

---

Pretty much. I went to Paris in high school and everyone was super nice and helpful. My French was pretty good at the time. Can't remember a damn thing now.

Being American on Rhodes was awesome. My group of 12 were probably the only/few Americans there. Half of us would go out every night so we eventually got perks all over.

I did jump on stage being the dumb american and got kicked off when some Euro band played Highway to Hell but that bar ended up giving us the most perks. My only regret was the next song was Bon Jovi, which is way more enjoyable for a sing along

quote:

---

Whole lot of failure up in here.

---

Yeah 90 percent of the "Americans are obnoxious tourists" thing is completely made up by people that haven't been. Yahoos who wear jorts and sport mullets, shouting ''Merica frick yeah!' aren't exactly the average Americans you meet in Europe. The average American you meet in Europe is probably more like the Europeans you imagine than real Europeans. Lots of people from academia, hippies, the well-traveled and open-minded, etc. People aren't flipping coins between going to Six Flags and Zermatt. The occasional brash New Yorker is about as bad as I found and they fit in perfectly in Italy where that is the norm.