Yes, I've spent a couple of weeks in France, and several months in other parts of Europe, and routinely got into such discussions. The French can be a bit more difficult sometimes because they are more reluctant to use their English, and maybe a bit more anti-American, than other Europeans, but that just makes the conquest all the sweeter when they realize you aren't the standard-issue brain-dead, loutish American. Towards the end of my last sojourn in Europe I started approaching women by getting the US counter-cultural cred up front. First question: "Do you speak English?" Second question: "And do you speak to Americans, or are you a little more discriminating that that?"YoucancallmeAl wrote:
Hmmm, you make the French option sound enticing. Do you speak from experience there?
But I've already bought my flight to Philippines for Jan.17, so I've committed to trying that first.
The best part of western Europe to me is being able to follow a grown-up politics, that often results in functional public policy, and discuss it readily with intelligent people of all ages. The smokescreen cover for kleptocracy that passes for a public discourse over here would be -- is -- considered a joke over there.
