Euro Culture by Jane Tolbert

Travel used to be an adventure—I went to Europe to experience métros, small hotel rooms, a Taramisu and even Nutella. I regaled family and friends by returning to the States with suitcases brimming with Panettone, the Italian fruit bread, a special Cantal cheese or even a bottle of walnut liqueur. Today, the Euro has homogenized culture, and airplanes have telescoped distances, making foreign travel less of an adventure and certainly caused problems in terms of gifts to take home.

On one hand, the Euro has offered advantages. Before, I used to spend all of my layover in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport waiting in the currency exchange line or trying to deliver American products (e.g., a tennis racket or sports clothing) to Dutch friends. Plus, at the end of a European vacation, I had a sprinkling of coins from numerous countries.



Trashcan on Promenade, Juan-les-Pins

Globalization has also given me access to European clothing stores. Although the French catalogue La Redoute no longer has a U.S. base from which we can order, Mango, a Spanish clothing company, has a mail order business in the States (and a store in South Beach). At least I can order reasonably priced clothes that fit without having to travel to Cannes or the Cap 3000.




Mailbox, France

When we think of globalization, the first thing that comes to mind is the way in which McDo and Disney are embedded in French (and other) culture. You can eat burgers or visit the Magic Kingdom without without a transatlantic trip. Like one American friend pointed out, I can experience international flavor by visiting the Epcot foreign pavilions. There are other examples of blending of cultures. Study abroad programs enable students and their classrooms travel to a foreign setting, follow a similar curriculum and in some cases have their US professors. What a change from the old days when you had to know a language or you lived with a foreign family. Furthermore, it’s even becoming more difficult to distinguish nationalities. The French look less French and more like everyone else.



Taxi, Lime Street Station, Liverpool

With all the blending and merging, some icons remain. The French trashcans and mailboxes remain distinctly French (see photos that compare the French to the British). And the British have kept their currency, square taxis and right-hand drive cars.

The advantages of globalization are offset by my more pressing problems. How to find unique souvenirs! I am baffled. Nutella is in American grocery stores, and French t-shirts carry American expressions. What small trinkets can I bring back to show that “I was there.” Maybe I’ll just check out Epcot to see if those pavilions offer something I overlooked while traveling.



Mailbox in Liverpool

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