The Awkward Moment I Tried To Greet An American “French Style”

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The Awkward Moment I tried to Greet an American “French Style”

I see you thinking it now… No, I did not try to french kiss the poor man!

But seriously, it was incredibly awkward for everyone involved and even those watching.

I’m cringing just thinking about it. Ready?

So this story happened in September 2010. I had just moved out from my native France to Holland to do my Erasmus, a European school exchange for 6 months, and the little Frenchie I was did not know much about the outside world and other cultures.

The first day of school, I met these two awesome American dudes, and we started to chat, despite my awful English skills at the time. Sure, they haven't improve THAT much, but hey, I was really bad. French people don’t speak English, you should know that.

Culture Shock - American French
Culture Shock - American French

So we hung out all day, listened to music, chilled, sang Eminem, ate SANDWICHES, the usual.

I could barely speak English and the little I did probably made no sense so it was mostly language signs, awkwards nods and inventing words, which was actually quite fun.

Anyway, the day passes, and I go home.

The morning after, I ran into one of the dudes at school.

So, to put in context so you don’t think I’m a little nympho, in France, we greet everyone the same way.

Basically, unless the person is your boss, you greet them by giving two kisses on the cheeks. Some parts of France do three, Dutch people as well.

So, the clueless Frenchie that I was saw my buddy, came to him and was about to give him two kisses on the cheek, when… he suddenly looked like I just attacked him with a saw.

Culture Shock- American French
Culture Shock- American French

Well, that was awkward. He has NO IDEA what I was doing and looked like I just tried to molest him.

Talk about a culture shock! He must have thought French are real teases haha.

He was trying to give me a hug while I was way too close to him. He was like “Ermm, What are you DOING?”

I still cringe to this day, thinking about it.

Culture Shock - French american
Culture Shock - French american

Anyway, we ended up leaving awkwardly, and only talked again after a few days.

Luckily, my English got a bit better and we ended up laughing about it!

What was your most awkward culture shock story? Let us know in the comments below!