Adrien Topalian

Q1) How does it feel to represent your country in some other country? Can you describe a situation in which you felt it necessary to be an ambassador for your country? For example, has there been a situation in which you needed to clarify erroneous stereotypes or assumptions about your home culture? How did you handle that situation?

I don't really feel like an ambassador of my country. I mean it's hard to judge french people, just on the behaviour of one french guy. Most of people have a lot of stereotypes about France, some of them are true. For example I talked to someone who told me :

  • -Is that true that french people smoke a lot?
    -Yeah sure, they smoke way more than Indian people.
  • -And what about the french girls, is it true that they are pretty and love having sex only for one night
    - Euh, I suppose it depends on each girl but I don't think it's quite different from other countries"
This kind of situation are really funny, but most of the stereotypes are quite true

Q2) What is the general perception of India in your home country? Are those perceptions correct? In your opinion, what are India's greatest strengths?

  • Before coming here, people warned me a lot about what can happen there. Actually, I think that people see India as a dangerous country (diseases, poverty) but on the other side, people who have already been there talk more about the diversity, the people, the monuments. I suppose that ignorance is making people afraid due to the unknown. So people who have never been there talk about the negative points and people who have already been there, the positive points. India is great foods, great monuments (Taj Mahal, Golden Temple), amazing traditions and friendly people.
  • The greatest strengths of India are the hospitality of indians, the diversity of the people and the different cultures. The weaknesses are the way women are considered in the society and the individualism of some indians.

Q3) Has your experience here helped you gain an appreciation of how the world is interconnected on all levels (environmental, socio-cultural and geopolitical)? If so, can you cite specific examples? 

I have discussed a lot about the connections between India and others countries (Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Canada) and it's interesting to have a different point of view than the occidental one. I don't really change my point of view about how relations between the countries are important.

Q4) What are the biggest differences you see between the college experience here and in your home country? 

The biggest difference is that here, we are learning more theory and not enough practical here. For example in my university, during the exams you usually have the right to use one sheet of paper where you can write every formulas or other stuff. The exam is not about your pure knowledge but how you will use it in a practical case. So I have to admit that I like more the french way. The good thing here is the number of hours of classes per week. I usually have two times more in France. Some teachers don't really get involved in their task and one or two have a really bad level of english so it's hard to understand them. But at the end, the education is correct.