Living in France for 4 months now, and still i am a Canadien. Funny moments with french people

Hello everyone, welcome to my humble abode. I'm a French-Canadian (Québec) and I'm living in France for 4 months now because i am studying abroad. To clarify, i speak french but it is not the same level of difficulty to speak french in a country that speaks french at 99% of the population. I'm gonna give you some story about french people that i find funny to tell you and their reaction when they learn i'm from Canada and can speak french.<br><br># **When you arrive at the airport**<br><br>I was 20 years old when i arrived at the airport, and i was trying to speak french with everyone and i was feeling proud of myself because i can speak french and understand everything that they say. Well, it last for a maximum of 10 minutes. When i arrive at the hotel, the receptionist spoke in french to me but slowly to be sure that i can be able to understand him. I asked why is he speaking slowly and he was surprised and asked where are you from ? I told him that i'm from Canada and he was amazed and told me that i'm very young to travel alone. After explaining why i'm there, he was happy that their language can touch people from around the world.<br><br># **When you try to speak french with an old person**<br><br>During my first week in La Rochelle (The city where i live), i had to buy fresh bread from the bakery. I'm speaking french and the old lady who was at the desk asked me if english was okay for her because i was not speaking clearly. I felt ashamed and tried to speak slowly and less with an accent. She was annoyed at first but when i told her i was from canada, she smiled and told me she's happy to meet someone from another country and told me to work on my accent if i want to stay in France.<br><br># **When you do groceries for the first time**<br><br>I was doing groceries with my 2 roommates who were from Spain (Both from Castillian and Catalonia) and were not speaking french. We were struggling to get the peppers and the cash register didn't work. So the guy behind us was going to get the peppers for us and we were all speaking in english since he spoke english. When it was my turn, i spoke in french and the cashier said : Oh God, i thought you were english. I told him that i'm canadian and the reaction was the same : "At least we can keep our language and share it around the world"<br><br># **When you do your laundry for the first time**<br><br>Since we come from an "third world country", i had to do the laundry for the first time alone. I was used to go to the laundry with my mother or father when i was young but now i'm 20 and i did all by myself. I was kind of proud of myself that i can go at the laundry alone. But the fun began at the end of my laundry session. When i was putting my laundry in the dryer, i saw a lady that was kind of lost (She can't speak french). So she had to use the google translate to speak french. I spoke to her in french and explained to her how to use the laundry and the dryer and she felt safe. She even offered to pay me a beer because she felt sorry for wasting my time. I told her i'm not old enough to drink beer and she offered to pay me a soda instead. We sat and i asked her where she comes from, she told me that she's from California. I asked her if California is in Canada and she told me that Canada is cold and that she can't live there. I told her i'm from Canada and she was surprised and asked why the fuck i'm in france. I told her that i'm studying abroad but i didn't have time to explain to her why before she left after finishing her laundry session. I learned that the dryer can be tricky to use if you are not familiar with it.<br><br>The moral of the story ? French people kind of consider us as english people who can't speak french like them. But when they learn that you are canadian who can speak french, they're extremely happy and will try to speak with you.<br><br>PS : Sorry if the story was a bit long, but can't i tell them all ? Or should i ?<br><br>EDIT: Thanks for the gold, kind stranger<br><br>EDIT 2 : I'd like to add that i'm a french speaking canadian, not english speaking, as i read a lot of comments that are confused about the subject. Also, for the people who were asking where in Canada i'm from, i'm from Québec and more precisely from the city of Québec.<br><br>EDIT 3 : I'd like to add that i'm not calling french people idiots, i'm just saying that they find it weird that we can all speak french in Canada. I will edit all the comments that are calling french people idiots or stupid. Can we please be respectful and keep the conversation going without any insults ? I know that french people can seem a bit arrogant when we meet them for the first time but they're not all jerks, there are good people that are very nice to me.<br><br>EDIT 4 : I just want to clarify that i'm speaking from my point of view. I'm a french speaking canadian student who's here to study abroad and i see things from my point of view and i can't compare with everyone else. Thank you for all the comments and for the awards :)