Kip Ashlynn @Kip Ashlynn - 3d
I gotta say, as much as bureaucracy sucks everywhere, American bureaucracy isn't so bad. I was out of there in about an hour with everything I needed and no extra problems! Compared to Liege, Belgium where it would take weeks and weeks to fill out paperwork and deal with the French disdain for Americans. Multiple times the immigration office randomly closed because it was sunny and I was considered the ridiculous one for expecting their office to be open during business hours 🙄 But what do I know, je suis une Amerloque sans joie de vivre. Anyways, move abroad to like America better. Some folks out here being hating ass bitches unaware of their own privileges. I earned bangers and beer for breakfast for doing my bureaucracy work before noon 🇺🇸🎆😁 https://image.nostr.build/2ef789d17437794fbaf07ca1690b0afe4351d92604441ba79a9aa0711c91c281.jpg
I always called Liege, and the broader Wallonia region, French because that's what they called themselves to me when I lived there. I think they hated the Flanders region even more than they hated America. They celebrate independence on July 14th with France and just pretended the Battle of Waterloo never occurred. It was a bizarre place to live, but maybe I'm just salty because I was accused of inciting a diplomatic incident there. But thanks for correcting my lived experience with a "well actually..." 🙄 I hope it felt good
Sorry if I came in guns blazing then! I was lucky enough to visit Paris and the Normandy coast in actual France, and it was a really beautiful place with lovely people (I like directness and have a respect for folks who will bring the hate upfront 🤣). I come from folks who refuse to even go to French speaking Canada because France (and therefore all French speakers 🙄) wouldn't let us fly over their airspace. I think that's ridiculous, and between that and the gold idk maybe France is not totally incorrect in seeing us as problematic 🤣 Anyways cheers to reaching an international understanding🥂🍻😁
Ok so this is a relatively long story but in the hope of making it brief: the exchange program had an English language requirement because even though it is an international program the coursework is in English to create uniformity. The program (really any cross cultural program) can often come with administrative snafus and typically the students are young and don't know any better and they get frustrated but it all blows over. I went back to school when I was 30, after working in areas touching on contract law and policy enforcement for almost a decade. I have a personality that is best defined as "intense" and approach any problem like an American bulldog. During my time in Belgium, they found themselves unable to schedule an English professor for some of the mandatory coursework. This was not a problem for the native French speaking Belgians but half the class including myself were expecting English coursework. I want to take a moment to say I love learning languages contrary to the ugly American stereotype. In Estonia I took time to learn basic Estonian, I've passed fluency tests in Turkish and Spanish although I don't put either on my resume because I don't practice and have a terrible accent (but to be fair I have a weird accent in English too). I had studied French for three years and I was excited to go to restaurants and grocery stores, but I am not so arrogant as to think I could do master's level course work and I would not have applied to the program had I known it would be in part in French. Yada yada yada I was right and I knew it. I flexed and wouldn't budge on my position. They shouted at me about causing a diplomatic incident and I told them I was just pointing out that they were causing a diplomatic incident. I think they were shocked I didn't back down but I guess they didn't expect this type of true grit 🤷♀️ Eventually the administration built a separate class in English for the students like myself who refused to take the course in French. I became a folk hero to the other exchange students and became greatly reviled by the professors and everyone in the administration 😅 In hindsight, I wish I could have had a bit more diplomatic tact but at the same time I think my natural inclinations had great utility in that situation. I have since had more experience with frustrating situations and better handle myself with more grace. https://youtu.be/X5hrUGFhsXo?feature=shared
It's a blessing and a curse 😅
I've always been like this. Idk. It isn't great to be uncompromising all the time. Now at my big age I can see how most things don't always need to be a big deal. But also now being older, wiser, and richer I win the fights much more often than when I was younger 🤣 Even toddler-me would get in fights with everyone over things I knew were right. It's an exhausting way to live because without status, money, and/or power being right doesn't really matter much 🤷♀️
Sorry to disappoint 😅
Kip Ashlynn @Kip Ashlynn - 2d
Nice 😂
