Editor's Note: This term, The Mirror will feature select staffers' thoughts on life abroad, everything from the day-to-day to how their experiences overseas affect their perspectives on life at home and at Dartmouth.
I'm embarrassed to say this, but I arrived in Toulouse, France on the LSA+ expecting to be inundated with a different species of human -- the French -- that constantly smokes, drinks wine and feeds me baguettes for lunch. And, well, I have found that. But what startled me, and really shouldn't have, was how much America has influenced the culture here with regard to media and entertainment.
I heard Britney Spears on the radio as I took the bus to class. Turning on the television in my host family's house, I found the Virgin Top 50 Music Videos countdown; sprinkled in were some French songs, but it was the same Kanye and Beyonce (and Solange Knowles? Who knew?) that I'd just left in the States.
France is turning out to be more a mlange with America, rather than something different altogether. My host family and I sit down after dinner, which is at 8:30 p.m., and watch "Les Experts: New York" -- "CSI: New York," dubbed in French. Today, my professor said people are starting to call the news "le news," -- a phrase that he looked down on because the French love their language to sound French and remain pure. However, while the influx of American media styles seems to be overpowering, there are some French media styles that remain separate.
For example, I prefer the way the news is shown here; there are fewer graphs, charts and meaningless blabber than are featured on CNN and MSNBC nowadays. It's distracting to watch American news, and some of the commentary sensationalizes stories that might not be so important otherwise.
On Monday, the French also passed a law that bans commercials on public television. This caters to the viewers' convenience, but I wonder if the French government will start taxing people to make up for the public stations' resulting profit losses.
Ultimately, how does one balance French styles with the seemingly inevitable mixture of worldwide media? Is it important to keep identities separate, to keep foreign things foreign and not mix in some CSI with Toulouse?
I've yet to find the answer. It is comforting to be able to chat with my host family about Bernard Madoff or Barack Obama at the dinner table. I kind of like how small the world is. But at the same time, if we keep mixing cultures, will there even be study abroad in the years to come or will there simply be a global homogenization of cultures? On verra.
