The election came and went and I am a terrible person for only having gotten to it now. You might be (then again, you might not be) surprised at the tremendous shift in attitude toward americans. A few weeks ago we were at the University of Chicago Center (marketing by the study abroad department as our 'safe-haven in Paris') and a friend of mine was trying to print something. One of the directors comes over to help and starts yelling in French about how he has ruined everything. He fixes the printer, gives my friend his picture, my friend says thank you, and his response was "merci pour l'imperialism." Thanks for imperialism? Really FRANCE?
One day, on the train coming back from class a guy gets on who looked borderline homeless and crazy. He was black, and he starts talking to another black guy near us in French. I heard "Black is beautiful" in perfect English and just figured he was a little crazy. When we got off, a friend of mine had been standing closer and heard him basically say "look at this group of kids speaking english. They must be american and wealthy. they are probably going to get murdered."
The day before the election some friends and I went to a pizza place nearby. The election was being covered on the French news station, and although we couldn't understand what was going on, one of us would randomly yell "OBAMA" whenever his face appeared. We were the only customers sitting inside. At one point, one of the owners was nearby fixing something and started asking us about the election. Who we were supporting, if we really thought Obama could win. I told him except in the case of voter fraud, which is a legitimate concern. Then he brought up 2000 and Jeb Bush and we talked about that for a while (all in French, might I add). But, despite being loud and American all night, we left to a pleasant chorus on bon-soirées.
Two nights ago I went out in search of food at about midnight with some friends visiting for the weekend. Outside of a restaurant, another boderline crazy person started talking to us and realized we were american. he asked if we were happy about the election, we said yes, and he took turns shaking our hands. As we walked off he started yelling "HOPE" down the street over and over.
Election night itself was crazy. There were a number of American bars and restaurants that were staying open all night to air the results, but they were all so packed there was no use. We also had our final two days from then, so we were trying to get some pretend studying in. We ended up staying in the dorm and going to the election party they had in the basement. The problem was that they only have French cable, so someone had to bring their computer down and stream MSNBC. Which would hav ebeen fine except that the internet here streams for about five minutes at a time before having to refresh. It was fine though, they had free pizza at 3 and beer for a euro, which actually only served to get spilled everywhere by the unamericans who had shown up. There were three McCain supporters there, out of a hundred. However, now that I think about it, I'm sure they didnt vote at all. They were actually drunk the entire time. By three one girl had wine rolling down her chin, was calling me a bitch for not letting her whisper in my ear, and trying to punch our dorm president because he wouldnt stop hitting on her. He is sleazy and looks like a hobbit.
My friends and I were called the Obama Girls all night. I, having left all of my Obama gear in IL, had to borrow a shirt from my friend. The only extra he had was the Bros Before Hoes shirt, over Hillary's picture I taped one of Palin. My friend Olivia spent all day putting the Obama symbol on a white tshirt, my other friends just dressed in red, white, and blue, and we all painted OBAMA or HOPE across our faces. We had to take so many pictures that night. None of the states were huge surprises, but you should have heard us when Ohio was called. We were planning to go to bed after it was clear, but none of us could. We had to watch to the end. Then at the end, we had to watch the speeches. By the end of the speeches, the group of over a hundred had dwindles to maybe twenty, and all of us were crying. There was one black girl there who was wailing and rolling on the floor screaming "I'm finally free." There were a couple of us there, and the white people kept looking at us and looking at her trying to figure out what she was doing. She was also one of the people who cheered when McCain won states. So don't worry, as much as we can be proud of Obama, we still have those black folks to be ashamed of, i know we were going to miss them...