When in Rome...

Ok. I will readily acknowledge that I am an arrogant jerk that needs his ass kicked... but I really need to vent a little.

Friends at Pourtalès. You're in France. You're in a different country, on a different continent. You've spent hours in a metal tube traveling to a distant land... and you know? The rules of changed. The kind of social and public behavior that's ignored, accepted or even encouraged in Atlanta or Morgantown are NOT the norm here. You need to learn to adapt. This is a very important skill to have because one day you're going to be in the real work where your paycheck determines the kind of house and car you have, and walking around with your head in the clouds completely oblivious to the world around you will NOT play out well for you in the long-run.

When you're in a restaurant, on a bus, in a shopping mall or elsewhere, and everyone around you is looking at you completely aghast, that should be a sign that something isn't right. When someone corrects you about something you've proposed or something you're doing, it's not necessarily at attack that needs reporting; maybe they're just trying to help you fit in. When you come to the EU, you're in a confederation of 500+ million people with their own traditions, customs, social norms and mores... Sitting and saying, "This is how I'm going to do it!" is just not cool. I would imagine if someone came to your homeland and did something totally counter to what you find acceptable, you'd be upset. How do you think the people around you feel when you make a spectacle of our group in Brussels, Frankfurt or downtown Strasbourg?

Yes, you're young. You're old. You're not hurting anyone. You're having fun. Whatever. Learn to adapt. There's absolutely no reason you can't have fun or sit at a lunchtable without completely embarrassing everyone around you. This is a study abroad program. Hence you're supposed to be learning. Not just what you get in the classroom, but what you get in life. Expecting 500+ million Europeans to accomodate our group of 16 really isn't realistic... or proper.

Take a look around you. See the environment you're in. And evolve.