One thing about the United States is that most people are unabashedly patriotic. We’ll fly the flag on our front porches. We’ll wear Old Glory t-shirts. We’re proud to Americans and we’ll pray that God blesses America. But what about patriotism en France?

An interesting event transpired this week that first brought to our attention the difference in patriotism between France and America. On Monday, as with the first Monday of each month, we change classes at our French language school and the professors host workshops. Our workshop explored French culture and the icons with which La France identifies herself. This naturally lead to discussing the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise.” But, of course, who can discuss an anthem without actually singing it? So, our professor sang the first stanza:

Allons enfants de la Patrie,	Arise, children of the Fatherland,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !	The day of glory has arrived!
Contre nous de la tyrannie,	Against us stands tyranny
L’étendard sanglant est levé	The bloody banner is raised

So far so good, right? It’s just a French professor singing the French national anthem in French to her expatriate students. Well, our school shares a building with a business school which is made up entirely of French students. As it turns out, the business class meeting in the room next door could hear our professor singing the “La Marseillaise.” And the chatter must have made its way to management because later in the week our professor told us that the French students were a little unsettled by the singing of the national anthem. Really?!

Apparently, the French really only demonstrate love for country during the Olympics or the World Cup or other national events. Otherwise you’re branded a nationalist, racist, right-winger, etc., etc., etc. That’s what our professor had to say anyways. Oh dear. That doesn’t sound quite like America, does it?