Quote: Hear Ye! "And I'm sure Europe is (or would be) embarrassed to have you here!!'"
Ill be totally honest here.
I have travelled pretty extensively around continental Europe. I have enjoyed seeing different cultures, the way different people live their lives and just generally enjoying seeing different sights.
One thing I have noticed without fail is the hostile attitude towards me in european countries such as France Spain and Italy (and to a certain degree Poland and Slovakia) when people think I am English. I do speak a little French, German and Spanish but not well enough to get away with people thinking I am a local. People will always scowl at me and grunt 'English?'
Yet as soon as I explain to people that I am actually NOT English and I am Australian peoples attitudes towards me change instantly. People that claimed not to speak English all of a sudden start chatting away to me in better English than I have heard in a lot of northern British cities. Unhelpful people suddenly become the most helpful people I have ever met. During a recent trip to Turkey the locals couldnt be more helpful to me ...once they realised I was an Aussie and not English. And this is a country that remembers what happened at Gallipoli.
In Belgium a local family near Antwerp actually invited me to dinner AND put me up for the night once they realised I was an Aussie. Their grandfather had assisted a shot down Australian bomber pilot during WW2 and ever since then held Australia and her sons in high esteem.
Thank god for my beautiful blue passport and my southern cross tattoo
'"
