Post 7 (Pictures)

This picture here was taken in Innsbruck, Austria. It is an almost straight shot at the houses across the river. Each house is a different color and this picture shows just a few of them. With this being a straight shot it only allows certain objects to be in the frame. 

This picture was also taken in Innsbruck, Austria. Since it is at a different angle the picture cuts out most of the snow capped mountains that were in the background of the previous picture but shows more houses and clear sky.

This picture also taken in you guessed it... Innsbruck, Austria. I took more photos here than anywhere else because it was the first time in my life that I have seen snow capped mountains. The river was also crystal clear and you could see straight to the bottom when standing on the bridge. This landscape shot captures not only the river but the majestic mountains and beautiful colored houses. It was starting to get dark so the deep shadows give this photo a quaint feel.

This picture is the vertical cousin to previous photo. It shows less of the mountains and slightly more of the house on the right. Taking this vertical shot cropped out some of what could be considered important parts of the previous photo.

This is a photo of Manneken-Pis. Yes, it really is that small. I did not zoom in whatsoever in this picture  so it shows the size of the statue compared to surrounding objects. This picture is one of my favorites because it shows the size of Manneken-Pis and when I heard about it I thought it was going to be a large statue of a boy peeing when in fact it is only about a foot tall.

This is the only zoomed in picture I have because I usually don't zoom in on many object but since the statue was so small I felt that it was necessary. Also this photo may have been filtered through Instagram (I'm sorry, I usually don't filter any pictures.) By zooming in on Manneken-Pis it removes many of the important items surrounding the little statue. Doing so takes away anything that could have been used as a scale to see how big the object really was.

How Facebook Ruins S.A

In the article titled, How Facebook Can Ruin Study Abroad, the author talks about how social media ruins cultural experiences that students could have. He believed that when students listen to music or are engaged in social media that it reduces their knowledge and protects them from culture shock. He also talks about his experiences studying abroad. In 1980 he did his first study abroad in Mexico City and this was before the wave of social media. Robert had a huge culture shock because there was no way for him to branch back to the way of life before entering Mexico.

Without social media communication would have been difficult, taking days to receive mail from friends and family. Now you can stay connected with friends back home within seconds of sending a message. Keeping in touch with your friends may seem like a very important thing but by doing so you are reducing your culture shock. Some people think that culture shock is a bad thing, but I believe that it is very important. Without going through a culture shock you will never become accustomed to the culture. Facebook will always keep you in touch with back home thus eliminating your cultural experience and keeping you from going through a culture shock because you are holding yourself back from the host culture. If you only read about topics that are occurring in your home country you will miss out completely on events happening in your host culture. My first week here I turned my computer on and every page asked me if I wanted to be directed to the French sites, without fully understanding what I was doing helped me get involved with the French culture very fast. All of my advertisements changed from topics I looked up to back home to topics I may be interested in here in Paris. I lost most of my connection to news because I didn't have a T.V. and if I tried to look anything up on my computer it would be translated in French and would only be about the news in Paris. I stopped using my computer because I was tired of seeing French adverts. Then I started walking around Paris and everything came together. There is more advertisements and they were easier to understand with all of the French people walking past. When living in a country you shouldn't rely on the internet to get around but rely more on the citizens of that country. By putting yourself out there and making attempts to get in touch with the host culture makes a huge difference. It helps learn the language and helps you understand the daily grind in your host country.

Exchange Students

Now that I have been living in Paris for some time I have realized things that I neve noticed in my first weeks. Coming in to Paris is knew little about their culture and how they reflect it in everyday life. During the winter months, you will not see a single Parisian wearing any color lighter than navy blue and the first day I went out in Paris I wore an orange sweatshirt. The looks that I got from every person I walked by shocked me because I had no idea what I was doing wrong. Now that I know this I dress to fit in with the rest of Paris. I went shopping and purchased dark clothes just to walk around (I even bought my first scarf.) I never thought that I wouldn't fit in with the majority of people like I do back home. If you are going out to eat in Paris plan on sitting for a long time. The waiters will now come to your table unless you ask them to after you ordered your food. If you get lucky they will ask you if you want coffee for desert (which was strange to me) and then you can ask for the check. Knowing this now I understand why other people have a hard time adjusting to customs of another country.
If I was hosting an exchange student the first thing I would tell them about living in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio would be the obvious places to not go when the sun goes down, much like I was told when coming to Paris. Then, I would tell them what to do in order to adjust to customs in Cincinnati.
Unlike Paris, Cincinnati doesn't care to much about fashion and you may stick out more if you dress with the most up to date fashion advice.
Cincinnati is a sports oriented city, if you don't like sports don't tell people and it may help to know some of the major athletes in Cincy. You can and probably will get in an awkward conversation if someone yells, "free Pete," on Fountain Square and you don't cheer. Another thing I would have to explain to an exchange student coming to Cincinnati would be the food that we eat. Cincinnati is a very German town. Some street signs are still in German and there are a lot of beer houses in the city. If you go in one you will see a lot of sausages and sauerkraut  being consumed and washed down with a liter of beer. Another big food staple in Cincinnati is Skyline Chili. You either love it or hate it and if you hate it you might as well leave Cincinnati...
I noticed the first Sunday I was in Paris that nothing is open. This, however, is the complete opposite in Cincinnati. Everything is open everyday of the week. Restaurants and stores may close earlier on Sundays but they are still open past six o'clock, so don't worry if you go to hard Saturday night you will be able to find food the next day. Cincinnati is a very catholic city but is not as orthodox as Paris or other European cities.

Cultural Literate

Growing up in a strong household surrounded by intelligent people has helped me become culturally literate in my own culture. Not only did I have to learn about new cultures when coming to Paris but I had to learn about the culture in Clemson, South Carolina. The culture is completely different living in Cincinnati than it is living in Clemson. The hardest thing that I had to adjust to was people being "gentlemen" and "ladies." In Cincinnati it is not common for someone to hold the door for the person after them, in fact, I would say that you are more likely to get the door slammed in your face rather than having the door held open for you. I, however, was always told to hold the door, to say please and thank you, and help out people who are in need. Making the transformation from Cincinnati to Clemson was difficult enough for me but then to go from Clemson where everyone is nice to Paris where everyone basically hates everyone else and they only care about their own lives. 

When arriving in Paris, France the first thing I did was hold the door open for the lady behind me. She didn't say thank you, in fact she didn't say anything at all as she walked past me giving me the death stare. I thought it was a little much for holding the door but after a couple of weeks in Paris I noticed that hardly anyone  holds the door for another person. One of my teachers who is from Europe told us one day that girls think of people differently when someone holds the door for them. If it's an elderly man than he is just being nice but if it is a young man like myself then I must be hitting on her. I still always hold the door for the person behind me but I have been noticing that younger girls react differently than older women. So, what has made me culturally literate in one culture doesn't necessarily make me culturally literate in another culture. I am still trying to get used to all of the cultural differences and trying to act more like the norm than an outsider. Every Sunday I still wake up and try to do things that I could normally do back in the U.S. such as grocery shopping. It is impossible to go grocery shopping in Paris on a Sunday because all grocery stores are closed. Going from Sunday equals grocery day to Sunday equals day of rest and seventy-five percent of the city is closed will be hard for me to get used to.

I feel like the amount of gaps to make me completely culturally literate in Paris will decrease but it will never fully disappear. This isn't because I am not trying hard enough but because I will always fall back on what I was taught growing up and what is now instinct. I still say words or phrases that you will only hear people in Cincinnati say, even in Paris when half of the conversation is in French. This is because you will never completely lose yourself or be able to change all of the ways that you normally act. You may be able to take me out of the city but you will never be able to take the city out of me.

Social Media

Wow, it has been a while since I have been on because of my extensive traveling.
Making an adjustment from American culture to the culture in France has been very difficult. To me, Facebook and Twitter have made France look like the place to be and everything is all good. As it turns out I find my self on Facebook and Twitter just so I can connect with the ones that I left behind. I feel like I am shying away from other French people because I don't fit in and they let me know everyday. Being laughed at for struggling to speak their language is just one thing that is making this an awful experience. The one thing that has made my study abroad trip worth it thus far has been traveling and that is why I am slacking on this blog. Visiting new countries and not having wifi (or as the call it wee-fee) or anyway to connect with other people has been amazing, so maybe being on Facebook everyday is hurting my cultural experience because I am still trying to live the life that I left in America.

Culture Shock

Now that I have been in Paris for close to two weeks I have noticed a lot of things that I am not used to. For example, the amount of people who smoke in Paris is outstanding and how they live so long is amazing. I was shocked to see how many people dressed in black when I am walking around in bright colors. Since everyone is hourly, service here is extremely slow and they really don't care as much as the customer as they do back home which I found out to be frustrating. Anyway, that is just some things that have shocked me so far and I'm sure many more things will pop up during my stay.

A little about me

Hey, my name is Eddie Smith and I am a sophomore accounting major at Clemson University.  I am from Cincinnati, Ohio and I transferred to Clemson this past year. After finally adjusting to life in the south I decided to study abroad in Europe where I will be spending the next 4.5 months.