The mysticism surrounding l'etranger

I've been engaged in numerous discussions recently about French people, what France is like, how Paris was, what Europe is like, etc. ad nauseum. A friend of mine told me that France holds this kind of mystical quality now after having talked to several people about it, because it seems like such an interesting place to go live. But it becomes dangerous to make too many generalizations, because, really, it's just Harvard that has issues, and non-Harvard places that seem to have so many less.

An obvious example is work load: exists at Harvard, less when you're visiting at an educational institution that is not your own and impress people just by using the subjunctive. i.e. French students study a lot, I just…didn't. And there is work to be done in France (gasp), I just had less projects since all of my involvements are at Harvard.

More complicated examples involve differences that are somewhat based in culture, such as small talk. In my last blog, I talked about the culture shock of coming back to many quick, shallow hellos. “How was France? Good? Great! Gotta run!” While Americans are known for this variety of friend-making, it does exist in France too, I just didn’t notice because I had so few French acquaintances.

It is also related to a pace of life that is particular to Harvard. (Why is 300+ student organizations something to brag about? It means students are ridiculously busy, not getting much sleep, and not collaborating with each other enough.) Harvard is a particular place. One day I counted four potential free meals at different events throughout the day, which happen at a break-neck speed and are funded by Harvard's endowment. It always surprises others to find out that our parties are funded too.

There is a culture here that has nothing to do with America vs. the exotic land that is France. We are surrounded by impressive people (how you get in with a now-6% admissions rate) doing amazing things—starting companies, working for/with powerful world actors, having access to incredible opportunities. To encourage this culture, Harvard’s pedagogical philosophy is to not hold our hand so that we will be independent. Add in the insular nature of the college campus, and Harvard becomes a potentially explosive pressure cooker. We lose sight of what really matters and start to think that every little thing happening on campus is part of an all-important career path that, at the end of the day, we're not even sure of. We don't realize how incredibly young we still are: at a career panel last month, I met a freshman who was frustrated with internship opportunities looking for sophomores and juniors, and I remember thinking that I used to be that impatient freshman as well.

In short, France has overachievers too, I just wasn't constantly surrounded by them.

This doesn't mean that Paris isn't a particularly great place to go to get away from Harvard. There's a lot to be said there, so don't let me dispel the mysticism completely. At the end of the day, I take the pros with me, so I remember that there can be another way, and remember that maybe the pros have more to do with taking a break from the Harvard bubble than anything special about France/Paris/French people/French food.

No offense.