French people: rude or not?

Before coming to Paris I had heard a couple stereotypes that I was a little worried about.  The biggest one I kept hearing from people was that French people are very rude and snooty people especially towards Americans or to people who don’t speak French. I was worried about this because my French was not that good when I arrived in Paris and I didn’t know if people would help me if I got lost or needed anything.  I heard this stereotype from people who had traveled here previously and they were telling me this as a warning.

Once I got to Paris I realized quickly that this stereotype is not true at all.  I think that if you are a loud and obnoxious American coming in high season with all of the other tourists then French people may not want to help you or even acknowledge you, but even I don’t want to interact with most American tourists that I run in to here.  I also think that being a young girl mostly anyone will be nice and willing to help you.  Since I have been here I have met a lot of people and made a lot of French friends and when I first met them they were very excited to meet an American and speak English.  Most of the people I meet that are my age know English and they are very eager to practice.  The only people that are harder to interact with are elderly people that don’t really know any English, but they are not rude there is just a language barrier.

I have also noticed that French people are not very warm and affectionate people, unless it is to family or longtime friends.  This is perfectly fine to me as I am not a touchy feely person and I understand that they really value friendships here.  I have learned that most French people have a couple close friends that they have had since childhood and it takes a long time to become someone’s close friend, unlike in America where people have thousands of friends on Facebook and become best friends with someone over night.

All in all I have come to the conclusion that French people are not rude, I know way more rude people in the US in fact, and I would love to stay here longer and meet even more French people!