who are all these young americans in paris anyway?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

they seem rich, and they all talk loudly in valley accents.

the phrase "____ is SO hot" has been uttered by these creatures literally 50 times in the past 15 minutes. just now one of them said "bite me." and just now: "the columbia program would be...like, barnard girls spitting out, like, feminist bullshit." "oh...*barnard* chicks."

do they all go to the sciences po? explain the sciences po to me. there was an article about it in the economist this week that alluded to americans going to the school and basically having a vacation.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:27 (twenty-one years ago)

the guys are funny too.

"hey, steve, cool haircut."

"yeah" (no irony) "the chicks think it's hot."

"cool dude."

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

not that i'm contemptuous mind, this is strictly an anthropological inquiry.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG one of them is named "rhonda"

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Must be delightful having parents who can just trot one off to study overseas. So glad they be representin'. Really, don't most exchange students tend to be skimmed from the local 'pain in the ass' demographic? Not my idea of a way to promote international understanding.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:36 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously though

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

(that was to nod in agreement, ann)

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

a new variation: "he's SO ugly"

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

how do you disguise your American-ness around them? A scarf?

― hstencil, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The truth of the matter?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

ba-doomp! What are they up to now? This is perversely fun...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:40 (twenty-one years ago)

hahahahahaha

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry ann i put my headphones on

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

"like seriously though, see you later"

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Amt. you're refering to Paris Hilton yes?

― Leee Trevino (Leee), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:46 (twenty-one years ago)

In which case one of them is Shannen Doherty's ex, and another is the cutest boy in Arkansas.

― Leee Trevino (Leee), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 23:46 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha! you are a young american in paris also, amateur!st!

i'm sad i couldn't meet ya when i wz there a few days ago : (

back in NYC now!

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"sorry ann i put my headphones on "

Can't blame him, folks.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i know geeta that is the irony DO YOU SEE?!?!

yeah it sucks that we couldn't meet up, oh well

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:11 (twenty-one years ago)

when are you getting back to the US, dude? or are you living in paris forever and ever?

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

probably NYU. i was in that program in paris. there's the nyu campus on rue de passy in the 16th. i remember that by the end of the first weekend, all the girls had already at least 2 of those herve chapelier bags they had bought at le printemps.

― phil-two (phil-two), Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Plus Barnard girls are sorta strange.

― nabiscothingy, Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe not strange but just very "oh yes this is definitely a Barnard girl I'm speaking with."

― nabiscothingy, Thursday, 4 December 2003 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

*sigh*

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 4 December 2003 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Some days a nice, bloody class war doesn't sound too bad.

Bring back the guillotine - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 4 December 2003 01:51 (twenty-one years ago)

my first real girlfriend was a Barnard girl.

― hstencil, Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never met a Barnard girl.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmmm... actually, maybe they have some rusty old guillotines lying around under the Bastille or something that you could dig out, Amateurist...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

My mother's 90 year old great-aunt was a Barnard girl.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

And I can't stop thinking "Barnyard" (I am so sorry.)

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't the Real World just wrap in Paris? That's yr explanation, kid.

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

oh god, i watched a few episodes of that show and was so embarrassed for my countrymen. not that they were behaving differently than any other recent batch of real worlders, just that the fact of their being oblivious to their surroundings, hopelessly self-involved and selfish, and provincial was thrown into greater focus by the strangeness (and might i add awesomeness) of their surroundings.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

i really dont like these "haha lets kill them" sort of jokes, i have no hard feelings towards them (i reserve those for people like paul wolfowitz or blount),it really is mostly a curiosity at where they come from and why they're here and what they do while they're here and how they fit in in this city.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't really like this whole thread. A) people in the 18-20 year old demographic act like this. Including, I would be willing to bet, 90% or more of ILX. B) Not all exchange students are wealthy AT ALL; for example, my sister is receiving a scholarship to go study in Japan which is not something that would be remotely affordable to her otherwise. I know for a fact that Columbia also offers a lot of assistance to study-abroad students because I looked into the German program when I first started. C) If I recall several other threads correctly there are certain people on this thread (not you amateur!st) who have no right to talk and not just for reason A above.

I mean yeah what you posted was pretty funny but some of the responses are just gross and really it's not THAT funny a topic. "Look! Kids acting fairly normally!"

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i agree actually

i actually am interested in answering the thread question, apart from my ridicule of these kids upthread which was inspired by being annoyed at their talking really loudly while i was in the cybercafe.

i just sort of wonder how these kids are faring in paris.. what this place is like for them, what their priorities are... since i'm in such a different spot. or perhaps i only imagine myself to be?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

That disgusted me too. They had the opportunity to live in Paris for free and had the means to do pretty much whatever they wanted to do, but they just ended up hanging out in bars where other Americans hung out and ordered Dominos pizza every night. They displayed no curiosity about their surroundings whatsoever.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

they might as well have been in the latin quarter of disneyland

of course this could just be their lives as portrayed in the show, perhaps the reality was different

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I don't know this all first hand, only secondhand, but my ex went on a similar program to Paris with his school. He spoke barely any French though. The theory is to learn French properly and get "culture" but in his case he ended up bagging out early and giving up on it, though that is more to say about him than it is about the program in general. I imagine they're all there for a similar reason, they're French language or cultural majors and they've been sent by some university. If they are new arrivals I am sure they think it is quite glamorous; however what with the time of year and all I imagine they've been there for quite some time now and are probably heading home soon, so their priority is probably getting souveniers.

xpost the people on the Real World were there to be on tv, they don't display curiousity about anywhere they go.

Phil is right, they're definitely from NYU, btw (the Barnard comment seals it)

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i should just ask them but i'd feel like lech or something

"hehe where you kids from?"

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

amateur!st, If you are speaking of a female American, about 6' tall with blonde hair, age 21, then you must mean my youngest sister as she was in Paris last week. ha ha. But actually, she is there quite a bit. She first went on a summer school program which involved taking lots of classes and mingling with locals. That's where she met her fiancee. Thus, she's been back a million times and will move there upon graduation in the spring.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Are they all running around going 'WHERE'S JIM MARRISON'S GRAVE?' That's what I remember.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

amtrst appears to be living the life of the bloke in Shampoo planet

― chris (chris), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

????????

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Certainly the Real World London kids were never interested in leaving their beds, let alone the house. They could DRINk faer Chrissake, in a pub and they stayed in BED!

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Well the Lars guy was interested in deejaying ("Everybody love one another . . . ").

― felicity (felicity), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

what is shampoo planet?!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

a douglas coupland book. a fair amount set in Paris.

― chris (chris), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i agree who are they to corrupt our youth with their
decadent ways

― theparisian, Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I am a Barnard girl.

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I went on study abroad in Paris and no doubt had my fair share of faux pas and prob will have more whenever I find the money to go back. But still, I tried to fit in as best I could and especially not to talk super loud in English, as this annoys people.

― daria g (daria g), Friday, 5 December 2003 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, they're probably not studying at sciences po. A few of my friends spent a semester there and the screening process for who actually got in seemed fairly intense.

― liar, Friday, 5 December 2003 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I know one almost-Barnard girl. But I don't know where it is - suburban or rural New York, I presume?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:01 (twenty-one years ago)

nope, it's in Manhattan.

― hstencil, Friday, 5 December 2003 06:01 (twenty-one years ago)

o amateurist, post us some more pictures of Paris! oh do!

― Orbit (Orbit), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey Amateurist, I'm a Sciences Po alumni myself and honestly as Liar said upthread, you don't really get that crowd (if only because fluency in French is a requirement).
Most US kids in Paris hover around the American College in the 16th arr. or the Council office at Odeon (which is a sort of liaison office for university placements).
Have you been to the Lizard Lounge in the Marais? In my days, the cooler American kids would usually be found there.

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Friday, 5 December 2003 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

But hey, you should come here to Prague to see daily, real life 'Real World' characters...

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Friday, 5 December 2003 09:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Barnard

pronounced BAR nerd

― Mary (Mary), Friday, 5 December 2003 09:14 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.