Until January 1 of 2000, I had never lived outside the United States of America. Spring of 2000, I chose to take a semester abroad at ESIEE, an electrical engineering school in Paris, France.

The most striking events during my cultural immersion were the reactions of my French friends to some of my very peculiar American habits. They stared with curiosity as I dipped bananas in nutella (a chocolate-hazelnut flavored spread) and laughed knowingly when I told them that I had already eaten dinner at 5pm. During my time abroad, I realized that I rely heavily on my uniquely formed, culture-based expectations to predict the behavior and reactions of those around me. Having formed my own baseline of behavioral expectations, I have always enjoyed pushing the boundaries of normalcy in my own country. I have worn trash bags to the supermarket, I will place almost any sticker on my forehead and wear it pretty much anywhere, and I have dressed as a table for Halloween and paraded around the halls of my High School. Yet, when I went to France, I started dressing respectfully and drawing on the reserves of politeness I had saved up for so many years. However, no amount of effort was enough to avoid embarrassing circumstances. For instance, after a lot of hard work keeping my food confined to my plate during a sumptuous dinner at the house of a gracious French woman, I was told it was considered more polite to keep your bread on the tablecloth and not on the plate! ...Of course they put whipped cream on the cornbread I made for them later... but I was still stressed out after working hard for the past twenty years determining what was ordinary, and then having to throw that research out the door the minute I stepped onto French soil.

Since then, I have realized just how relative my assessment of normalcy has been. In a way, this is relieving. I find some of the confinements we put on human behavior to be nothing but a hindrance to creativity. Why should I switch my knife and fork between my hands every time I put a piece of meat into my mouth? Why should we put bumpers on vehicles if we do not plan to make good use of them? Why should I spend time every day removing the hair from every part of my body except my head? During my stay abroad, I found that the definition of the absurd and the unusual is significantly affected by societal attitudes.

Differences in cultural perspectives are increasingly pertinent as our world community becomes smaller and smaller. When people of different backgrounds interact with each other, there is ample opportunity for misunderstanding. For instance, the President of the United States once flashed the peace sign at Australian Nationals while boarding his plane, a gesture equivalent to the middle finger in the United States. Our sense of humor is also dependent on the evaluation of the absurd. Often we laugh simply because something is out of the scope of normal events, such as a friend wearing mismatched socks or an eccentric hat. Cultural experiences are a large factor determining what events are ordinary, and hence helping to create our sense of humor. Obviously, differing perspectives on the ridiculous help determine the way in which all humans interact with the world around them.

With this in mind, I must say the most stunning discoveries of my trip to France were the international students. ESIEE always has a number of students of different nationalities studying at their institution. During my stay I made nearly thirty new friends from all around the globe including the Czech Republic, South Africa, India, Japan, Spain, Germany, England, and Italy. We had an extra special bond because we were able to rejoice in the strange random customs we all had. Just as unicycling, juggling, and the Five-Class Competition bring students of Mudd together under the banner of absurdity, our ridiculous foreign habits provided us exchange students hours of entertainment and fun. I wholeheartedly recommend a semester of study abroad to any student interested in opening up their eyes to all the totally amusing ways in which people behave and exist. It helped me put my experiences at Mudd in a more global perspective and has given me a much better idea of the wide variety of fascinating perspectives and opinions that exist in the world.