Not Any Better Chania Rene-Corail
A few weeks ago, I received a pretty weird text from a friend —let’s call her Laura. I talked to her pretty often, most of the time to discuss the latest gossip and drama going on at our schools. Nothing important. She always texted me about, you know, who was dating whom, if it was going to last and what people thought of it. Teenage stuff. Well, this day, the message said something along the lines of: “Girl, be careful, Americans are all cray-cray.” Wow. What a nice way to start a conversation. Still, I have to admit, coming from her, that kind of text did not surprise me. Laura had been born and raised in France and did not seem to know a lot about other cultures. To put it simply, she had no filter. I had tried to talk to her about some things that she said that could be offensive or hurtful, but every time I said something, she would get upset. So, one day, I just stopped trying. I had known Laura for about seven years. We had met at a friend’s birthday party in second grade and she seemed approachable. You know the kind, short blond girl with glasses, a bit shy but still friendly, does great at school, and so forth. Our personalities were pretty similar, but on the outside, it was a completely different story. Our eyes, our hair, our skin… We could not have been more different. Laura is definitely one of my closest friends. I miss her a lot and try to call her as much as possible since I moved. And don’t get me wrong, she’s not racist, just a bit insensitive. Ish. She’s a good person overall. Doesn’t stop her from being obnoxious. It lowkey bothered me that my French friends always focused on the BAD things that happened in the U.S., like capital punishment and such. I mean, all my American friends see France as this perfect, beautiful and progressive country. And 20
