I’m an American. Hello my friends! 👋
The British in Ibiza were great. The waiter in Venice shouted at me when I asked for cream in my coffee. Latvians were the friendliest. The worst place I lived was Toronto. I hear the rest of Canada is pretty friendly though.
Anyways, I’ve found that *everyone* from *every country* had a **strong** opinion about Americans.
(I had more to say but ran out of characters).
TL;DR
**What we’re your interactions like with people from the country you either lived in or visited?**
33 comments
I’ve never experienced anyone who had a “strong opinion” about America when visiting another country. People have been nothing but extremely friendly anywhere I have been. I’ve never been treated rudely, I’ve never been castigated because of our political decisions. Nothing but cool people and good times.
Every country I have been to, the people were mostly awesome.
I did experience the stereotypical Parisian rudeness. But plenty of Parisians were also really great.
I’ve mostly had positive interactions – only thing that stands out to me is in Italy a man came out of his shop and yelled at my sister when she was looking in the window. It was weird, I assume there was some sort of misunderstanding going on.
One of my favorite places to visit that always calls me back is Guatemala. The people I’ve met are so warm and welcoming, there’s so much beauty and history and art. Obviously that can be said of so many places but it’s one that whenever I leave, I’m always thinking of when next I can return.
Last time I was overseas I was in 8th grade and everyone seemed nice.
I have been to the Cayman Islands, lovely people who very very friendly. I was also went to Jamaica on the same trip and it was the same experience, lovely people even if they were trying to get me to buy things constantly.
I only had positive experiences, though of lot of my vacation time is spent with my family who live outside the country. Even when it’s not, it’s still has really only been positive experiences. The worst I really got were scammers trying to highball me the second they here my American accent lol.
I had a pretty telling experience in Paris. We had an American couple in front of us who was being the “typical American tourist” the bar tender wasn’t speaking any English and they weren’t being served. They ended up walking out and we took their spot at the bar asking in terrrrrrible French for wine. The guy asked us in perfect English what kind of wine we liked and literally winked at us.
The only country I have ever had anyone be mean to me or my family was in France. It was my 1st trip there, in the 90s. Some guy was blowing his cigarette in my sisters face while we were in line for some museum, my dad asked if he minded since my sister has asthma and he spit on the ground and called my dad a filthy American.
But I also had one of the most fun experiences with a local, also on that trip. Our taxi driver learned we were from Chicago and that my dad had met Michael Jordan (we had bulls season tickets). He ended up turning off his meter and took us on a tour of Paris for fun and ended up at a cab driver Cafe where he introduced us as Michael Jordans friends.
When me and the SO went to Thailand with some friends we were walking through a farmers market kind of thing but the people were selling everything under the sun. We went to an artist booth to check out his paintings because they were awesome. We talked with him for like an hour and my girlfriend told him that she was like obsessed with elephants. Like very much obsessed. He walked back to his van and got one of the coolest elephant painting I’ve ever seen and just gave it to her because it hadn’t sold for a long time. We tried to pay him because I mean it was his work and we wanted to support it. Refused to take the money because it made her so happy to have art of something she really liked. So I bought a different painting and a belt lol
Some very friendly awesome people we met on that trip. Another guy just offered to show our group around the city we went to one day because hes done it a lot. We asked how long he’s been a guide for. He wasn’t a guide. He had just got off work and wanted to show us what he thought as the coolest part of the city because we couldn’t make up our mind. Dude stayed with us until it was dark and we went back to the place we were staying.
I have no interest in going back to Rome. Because of the locals, gypsies and people forcing flowers into my hands and then trying to get me to pay for them
a waiter in geneva almost had an aneurysm when i asked for a ‘cafe’ at the beginning of my breakfast instead of at the end. I was hungover and needed the caffeine immediately. Other than that I had a nice time there.
Many of the Germans i spoke with were snippy and curt. I enjoyed my time in Germany however.
Australians are much nicer than Canadians. They’re louder and more outspoken like we are.
Peruvian people were great, though they take a long time to come through on their “let’s hang out tomorrow” plans. Peruvian vendors, taxis, etc were all about that grind. Chinese students were great, funnily enough many were happy to share how they got past fire walls and all the stuff they did to circumvent the Chinese gov, but I suppose being American we attracted that kind of person. Germans are wonderful, great friendships there, incredibly welcoming. Was absolute hell trying to practice my German there, when I tried people immediately started speaking in English if they knew it, which was many where I was. This is no exaggeration, I made it 30 seconds in my hostel in Scotland before a couple of scots invited me to a pub with them, and that weekend never slowed down. The Wa in Ghana were incredible, though a bit over protective of guest for the amount of time I was there. Friendly, called out to us, wanted conversations, but wouldn’t let us do anything. It laxed up eventually but that took work. Burkina Faso, Morocco, and Italy were places where I can really only speak about the service either because I spent too little time there or was with a group that we didn’t really venture out from, but I loved the chill night life in parts of Italy. Florence late at night and there was a street performer playing quite songs with people sitting around listening, that was beautiful. The Malteses were great too, but I felt like I didn’t get to know people really. There was so much tourism on the islands and it never felt like I could get past that layer and meet Maltese in day to day life.
All in all, people are awesome. Very different and very similar. Customs vary, personalities vary, but few people I’ve met in this world are openly hateful. Travel is still such a rarity in much of the world and for most people that curiosity often caries a certain amount of kindness. But everywhere that I stayed for a decent bit of time, it was easy to make friends.
Scotland. My experiences were great. Most everyone we met was very friendly. The guy who manned the train station in the last town we stayed was especially cool. Dude was probably 60-70 and had this amazing garden that he took care of around his little small town station and would talk about all the different stuff he planted in it until our train arrived each day.
I went to mainland China about four years ago, visiting the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, and Xi’an (a historic dynastic capital on the Silk Road) for vacation. The Chinese people I saw were generally very interested in learning about Western culture and often went out of their way to interact with foreigners. Often this manifested in funny exchanges where a Chinese family would ask a black or white individual if their kid could get a photo with them.
The language barrier was definitely an obstacle to overcome because Mandarin Chinese is completely different from English with lots of tones and unfamiliar characters. As someone who doesn’t speak Mandarin, I had to learn the local finger gestures to point at menus and order food. The service employees I interacted with were generally patient with me as I tried to navigate the language barrier, and occasionally a Chinese citizen who knew English would help out and translate for me.
The people in Iceland were unreasonably nice. I felt immediately at home, and had the most fun trying to learn the language… Everyone spoke English, but totally humored my butchering icelandic.
Americans are so sweet, friendly and quite frankly neive sometimes. I feel that way when i greet people. We really are. We wave. We say hello, ask how you are. And we actually care, i hope you get a good answer. I’m from the Midwest. We hope you well. We really do. Scary world right now. Tomorrow is another day.
I spent a semester in Greece in college. Most people were very kind. I was there long enough to find the off the beaten path restaurants the locals would hang out at, rather than the expensive places in the tourist parts of towns.
They’d usually be excited that I found their restaurant. They’d bring raki and wine and plates of olives and bread before I’d even see a menu. They always appreciated my attempts at Greek, and I was there just long enough to read a menu and muddle through ordering and paying if I wandered into a place where no one spoke English.
Gotta say people have been generally nice. Ive never really experienced people being rude cause I was an american or foreigner. Lived in barelona and argentina for a bit. Travelled rural tanzania some too. Will say that people in Belgium were by far the most extraverted and friendliest out of all the places ive visited.
Ultimately, I always just take odd interactions with a grain of salt cause Ive met some real assholes in the states too.
The French thought I talked too loud. They were right of course, but they didn’t have to be so fucking passive aggressive about it. They also wanted to know what steroids were like.
Canadian wedding customs are strange. It seems to be part of the Canadian religion that once the bride says I do the friends of the family decide to remove their ties, put on shades and carry a beer with their collar undone so you know they CAN dress appropriately when needed, but don’t cause they’re good an reddy fer a rip and givin the balls a tug, eh or whatever.
Canadians are a mixed bag and the only Germans I met were very nice
Visited France as a tween girl. Provence was beautiful & the locals were not necessarily friendly but very courteous and helpful. Paris was beautiful & the locals were mean & very sexually aggressive
When I was in Berlin in the early 2000’s I was lost and looking for this bar known to play American music. I asked this person on the street if he knows this bar. He is Russian, and told asked me, “Are you American?”. I responded, yes. He then said, “Russia fucks America in the ass!”. And thats the only encounter I had with a Russian in my lifetime
Never had any problems and we travelled all over Europe and lived in Germany. Probably helped that we were always mistaken for other Europeans…but never the same nationality twice it seems lol.
I got drunk every night I was in Australia for a military shooting competition. They even cooked us some roo and emu. Best place ever.
When I was in Africa it was not uncommon where I lived that small children had never seen a white person before. So more than a few times as I was walking by, a little group of children would gather in front of their house and start shouting “White man, white man” in their local language, with a mixture of curiosity and seeming fear.
Fear meaning, if you tried to talk to them, they would run away.
We showed to a BnB in Ireland early so we could drop off our bags. The lady running the place was eating lunch and was annoyed we were a bit early. We said we just wanted to drop bags, she then proceeded to have a chat for about an hour. Super nice people.
Aussies were great, I’m an East coaster and I loved how much they liked to joke/poke fun at each other. However, I saw more racism there than I’ve ever experienced in the US.
I lived in Mexico for about a year taking a boat all over the country, and found Mexicans to be really friendly. Met a lot of good people I would still call my friends. They were very patient with my shitty spanish and seemed to appreciate that I was trying, except one time I was told by a new mexibuddy that the word for “deodorant” was “chocha fresca” and I didn’t think to question it. I offended a pharmacy employee greatly.
I’ve lived in Portugal and Spain. I’m Anglo-American so I stood out. My wife is from Mexico and my in-laws are there. I have Canadian family. I’ve travelled extensively.
I’ll say this:
Latin Americans **usually** are the most open-minded about Americans. They tend to be curious about North Americans and Western Europeans with a generally positive bias.
The Portuguese and Spanish are lovely. I got very little hate specifically for being American. It actually seemed they were somewhat nuanced about it.
Canadians seem either to see the US as just a really similar neighbor or they complain/shit on it the way states around California look down on but are jealous of California.
Of the many places I’ve traveled the only people who rubbed me the wrong way were French tourists visiting other countries. Insanely rude and arrogant. There were a lot where I lived in Portugal.
Italians are without a doubt, the snobbiest, most elitist, closed-minded people I’ve ever met. I have some awesome Italian friends, but man, they’re just so full of themselves sometimes.
Very mixed experiences…as a female, the difference between how I was treated when traveling alone, or more specifically, without a male companion versus how I am treated when I’m with my husband is night and day!
This is from my personal experiences….
European men and the way they approached and interacted with me was- very aggressive and intimidating. Not saying that American men are gentlemen all of the time, but in Europe that shit was On. Another. Level! I’ve been grabbed, hugged, kissed, pushed, groped, followed, and had the most vile things said to me.
At a club in Paris I had a guy push me into a table because I wouldn’t take a drink from him. In Rome a man grabbed my friend and I around the waist and basically wouldn’t let us go until I yelled at him and made enough of a scene. In Ibiza my friends and I were followed by 5 men who catcalled us the whole time, fucking terrifying! My friend had a drink thrown in her face because she said she didn’t want to dance. My sister was called a wh0re because she was wearing… eyeliner. My experiences in Europe as a married woman have been mostly great, with the exception of being ogled and approached at the beach while walking with my 2 year old son and was very obviously pregnant- still makes my skin crawl.
Ladies, if you travel without a male companion, be very, very careful. It’s a shame but it’s unfortunately true.
I live in Taiwan. People here are very hospitable if you’re a westerner. They’ll bend over backwards to do you the smallest favor.
Unfortunately they’re not the same way with migrant workers from other parts of SE Asia.
When you live here long term and they get use to you, they mostly ignore you unless you make a serious effort to integrate into their community. It helps to know Chinese. They’re still friendly and polite and hospitable, but the novelty wears off.
Dating is weird. People fetishize you. They project their unconscious bias on you. They build a dream in their minds, based on American movies where the girls are very forward and willing to have a lot of casual sex. Or, they romanticize you. They like the idea of a cross cultural love story. Or, they’re painfully shy and won’t speak on the first date, and it makes me feel really weird.
The dating experience is way different for the lads. Many Taiwanese girls want a half white kid, or a western husband, or both. Sometimes it works out. I know a few couples who started a family. Other times it’s a trainwreck. Girls poking holes in condoms, being dishonest about their feelings because they *really* want to marry a foreigner and won’t admit that the culture clash is too much and the relationship isn’t working. Sometimes the amount of female attention turns a western guy into a prick because his ego gets inflated overnight without having to actually better himself.
Cross cultural dating can be a minefield.