Nations DO Have Personalities

I have come to the conclusion that France and Sweden are total opposites. There are tooo many reasons to name, but just take my word for it. Yeah, tons of people say that "Marseille is not France" but that is just where I am so some of my comparisons are just Marseille-specific. Some obvious points are the weather, the drinking water (still having a hard time accepting that change), new vs. old, dirty vs. clean, elevators working vs. broken, availability of postage stamps, I could go on, but those are boring and whiny. Here are two interesting differences I have been noticing, without sounding like a bratty tourist!

Babies on busses
France: on almost every bus and tram ride I have been on here so far, strangers talk to the babies in their vicinity. It starts with one old person saying funny stuff to the baby, then some laughing comments about how the baby doesn't want to talk to him/her, then others chime in laughing and commenting, smiling at the mom, trying to get the baby to react...

Sweden: Sometimes the babies interact with each other, then the parents do too, but generally, pretty kept to themselves.



Strangers asking me where I'm from
France: people in the grocery store line, the pharmacist, the doctor, the other doctor, the other doctor (I will explain that story later)... "vous êtes de quelle origine?" :)


Sweden: Nobody. Though sometimes they used to speak English back to me, their way of saying, "I know you're a foreigner!"


Other interesting tidbits just about life in Marseille:


The Honking Ritual
Did you know that honking is effective in reducing city traffic?

My window

This is a very watered-down version, because they usually do not let up on the horn and just play one long HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO(NKeventually)! I just caught the tail end of it when most of the honkers had stopped. This goes on twice a day for about 5 minutes each.   I  a m  n o t  e x a g g e r a t i n g ! ! !

I Am a Robot
Is what I say to myself when walking down the street.

No eye-contact. No emotion. No smiling, not even to yourself. Do not speak, to anybody. Do not look at any humans. Nothing gets your attention, not even somebody yelling pretending like they know you, or making very loud and unusual noises.

Using this strategy just makes it easier to forget about the people on the streets raping you with their eyes.


Next time you get a doctor story! It is not as juicy as being in a third-world country so don't get too excited but it was interesting...