RelaX

oh oh oh! It's prejudice time!
Every country has it's own. Personally I'm dutch, so I must be cheap and annoying. And soon I will meet my American sweetheart, but she must be stupid and stubborn, right?

I think the problem lies in that too many people go somewhere and treat everything as if they own it... if you're a tourist, then you're a GUEST in the country and should treat everything with respect, in return you should be treated with kindness and generosity.

And guess what, if you act like you're a guest, 9 times out of 10, you actually WILL be treated with kindness and generosity. If you at least TRY to speak the countries language, most natives will look kind on you and help you. If you flat out refuse and try to talk to the natives like you talk to your fellows back home.... then I don't blame him for giving you directions to Timboktoe instead of the local tourists office.
Americans just have this more often because the majority have never been outside their own country.

The only exception to this is if you are a tourist in your own country, and even then it's always to good idea to respect and be humble.

My $0.02 anyway.

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Nancy

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Latch

Didn't take too long for this thread to go South. If this isn't just flamebait, you should realise you seem to be taking the attitude that most of the world resents America for (the "I'm better than you, you're stupid" view).

apeman

i think sargeman must be right, they must have thought Norway is in a different solar system ... maybe they did ok on astronomy but really badly on geography

i'm afraid that americans aren't any stupider than any other developed nation; i think we just get to hear about it more ... i wonder if they export the particularly stupid ones to get em out of the country for a while?

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Hanabal

i hear that what they do, but america isnt the only country to export the not so nice ones.

china seems to be doing the same. most of the chinese i meet are horrible rude prats, but according to my chinese g/f, the ones that stayed behind to study in chinese varsities are actually quite good. I wonder why they do that.

and i feel i must apologise for my last posts,
im just getting a little frustrated by the american exchange students living in my apartment building keeping me up all night, getting in my way and basically annoy me.

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Latch

Ahhh.. American Exchange students.. I feel your pain... if all you do is judge off them, then no wonder you have a bad view of America in general. There are good Americans out there hehe.

Cervantes

The internet, The surest way to learn there are idiots everywhere in the world. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

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MSD

That's some stupid shit. In Nova Scotia, my friends and I just asked where we could find the beer store (which, as I have been led to believe, is separate from the wine and liquor store.)

Chiuey

I wonder if they morgaged their trailer for that trip......

Journeyman

Dude, they're jetlagged. Give them a couple weeks to get on track

Chiuey

I think the problem with stereo types is that people who travel abroad to study of visit forgets or disregards that there are different customs and traditions to the places that one visits. Hence they acts as if they would in their home country, which pisses off the locals, and then the resentment starts.

Growing up in Thailand, and going to an international school, I met tonnes of kids with whom I went to school with, what simply didn't know any better. That really pissed me off, and it still does. But I learnt very quickly when I went to the states for college, that everyone is at risk at making those mistakes when you first arrive. The difference is that I leant my lesson very quickly, and adapted to the way of life in the US , and people didn't see me as any different to themselves.

I ended up having a ball in college, and the friends I made there are true friends that you can't find anywhere else.

Glava

I'm pretty sure that it's either a fake news story to echo the sentiments toward Americans by most Europeans or a not-so-clever ploy by Americans to get money. Maybe I'm naive, but I know Americans are not <i>that</i> stupid. However, we are quite lawsuit-happy and always want to make a quick buck.

omega2K4

I thought the midnight sun was the moon.

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Seaver

Dont base an entire country on one person. My best friend in HS had a French foreign exchange student, he never said anything positive, only "it's hot". Mind you he ELECTED to go to Texas, and the dumbass only brought long pants and sweaters... in the summer. Then complained because everything here had too much meat (mind you he ordered a 24 oz. steak). Then complained that it's not fair that the driving age here is only 16. Then complained that gas here is too cheap and we should be paying the $5/gallon they are. Then complained that we dont play football here (tried to teach him American Football), and refused to play soccer cause it was too hot (who would have thought... texas... summer... in jeans/sweater). So we took him to Schliterbaughn (ranked #1 waterpark in the US) and he refused to go on the rides because they weren't on tracks and were dangerous. Seriously, it took me meeting dozens of Frenchies before I started not liking them.