I've grown up hearing how much people hate France. I never understood it really. A lot of Americans kind of roll their eyes when the country's name gets mentioned simply because "they're just SO rude." My grandma always talked about how Paris was her least favorite place she ever visited because they were "mean and not helpful." As sweet as the woman is, she also used to refer to Japanese people as those "treacherous slant eyes" because of World War II, so I took what she said with a grain of salt. Maybe it was because Vichy is a small town, but everyone was really nice. The people at the grocery store always asked how we were doing. All of my teachers were sweet. The guys at the kebab place always gave us free tea, and they didn't even get mad when I spilled an entire plate of fries on their floor. Oops! We even got free shots on my birthday from the French dude that owned the bar we were at in Geneva. And, when we all dressed up like obnoxious Americans and painted stars and flags on our bodies, no one even said anything rude.
You know, I went almost an entire month without encountering a single rude French person. Almost. Then we decided to go to Versailles. I've talked about the old douche at Versailles a little before, but let me tell you how this went down. It was Jon, Travis, Diana, Lauren and me. We were, obviously, taking pictures because how many times do you get to see the greatest palace ever built in the history of forever? Not very often. I was walking around like a dumbstruck idiot, getting distracted by all the sparkly chandeliers and gold crap. Out of nowhere, this crazy ass wrinkly trick just starts screaming in English at Diana.
"Hey! I told you to turn off that flash an hour ago! HEY! YOU!"
Keep in mind we had literally been inside maybe three minutes. This old hag thought that Diana was part of the group of high school students, who were predominately Asian, that she was giving a tour to.
Diana tried to explain to her that she was mistaken but this fool wasn't having it.
Diana tried to explain to her that she was mistaken but this fool wasn't having it.
"HEY! I know you speak more than one language! TURN OFF THAT FLASH. Quit disrespecting my country! You are in FRANCE!"
Wow.. thanks for the update, captain. I had no idea I wasn't at home!
Then Travis, who is usually quiet and polite, yells at the woman and tells her to lay off Diana. I don't think she understood this expression, but it left her mumbling and even more cranky. So, it was a success. It really pissed me off because a) her yelling made everyone stare at us b) we didn't know we couldn't use the flash c) I almost made it out of Europe without encountering a douchebag
All in all, I guess one rude ass out of how many ever people we were around isn't that bad. I'd probably be mean too if I were 65 and giving tourists tours of Versailles. Oh well.
I still love France.
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