By Lena Wilking
Special to LIVE!
March 7, 2008Scott Kiman gets out his pack of cigarettes, removes one, and throws the pack on the table in the courtyard of his residence hall. His frizzy brown hair, his dark eyes, the glasses, and the cigarette, which he holds so sophisticated between his fingers, all make him look like some confused intellectual. While he lights the cigarette he smirks and says, “What I really miss is bread and real cheese.” He blows out smoke. “And croissants maybe. The baked ones are really good.”
It’s no secret that the French are known for their delicious food. Yet, Kiman has learned to appreciate American food. Just as he has learned to appreciate San Angelo for what it is—a completely different world. Similarities between Paris, France, and San Angelo, Texas, are easy to detect. There are none.
There’s Paris on the one hand: The City of Love, wine, cheese, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, street cafés, and Haute Couture. On the other hand, there’s San Angelo. Between cowboys and country music, there are two Wal-Marts and a Walgreens. At least this is what Kiman expected from San Angelo when he arrived here this past August from France. The young man from Paris decided to leave his beloved metropolis to come out to the desert and study at Angelo State University for almost an entire year.
He had known he wanted to come to the United States to study. One of his primary goals was to improve his English. He’s doing well on this count. Still, his distinct French accent gives him away with every word. Talking to him feels like watching an old Gérard Depardieu movie.
The 23-year-old finance major believes that an American university education will enhance his opportunities in the business world.
But why San Angelo?
Kiman came to ASU on scholarship. “My university in Paris has a partnership with ASU. I applied and got accepted,” he says. “It was more a coincidence, though. I didn’t plan on coming here.” Before he heard of the partnership, he admits that he didn’t even know San Angelo existed. It was hard for him to picture the town he would live in for the ten months.
He was mindful of typical Texas stereotypes, though: It was the Wild West, with people dressed as cowboys, lots of ranches, and desert land. To some extent, that’s exactly what Kiman got.
“I like to say to my friends at home that no matter where you look you can be sure to see a person wearing a cowboy hat,” Kiman says. He knows, though, that just as not every French person puts on a beret before he goes out to eat a baguette and frog legs, not all Texans are cowboys.
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When he got on his Air France flight at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, Kiman was looking forward to the new experience. But he had concerns. He wasn’t sure how he would manage the cultural gap. Would he be accepted and would he be able to understand the Texan accent?
That was six months ago. Now Kiman looks back on his time in West Texas positively. When asked when he “realized” he was in Texas, he leans back and laughs. Local classmates of Kiman who had been to Paris kept complaining about “French” driving: too fast, too hectic, and too aggressive. Those who have ridden with Kiman in his blue, slightly demolished ’94 Chrysler can vouch for that observation first-hand. When on a road trip to San Antonio, Kiman got pulled over twice for the aforementioned reasons. “His driving style definitely takes getting used to,” says Simon, a friend Kiman has made at ASU.
“Suddenly being yelled at by a Texas state trooper really made me realize where I am,” Kiman says.
C’est la vie, the French would say. Despite this little negative intermezzo, Kiman quickly discovered that there is more to San Angelo than gigantic grocery stores. Lifestyle, hospitality, and the cultural life have become major positive attributes. But adapting to Texan peculiarities wasn’t without its difficulties.
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Kiman thinks people are generally laid back in Texas. This attitude calms him down, too. But it was hard to adapt to. He was stressed out coming from Paris. It’s a hectic city. Life is much more fast-paced. Sometimes he still struggles, wondering how some things can take locals what seems like forever.
While he sits outside in 60-degree temperatures with a grayish t-shirt, he talks about another adjustment issue. He shared an apartment with an international student from Germany and two Texans his first semester. One of the biggest problems they had was with the air conditioner. Kiman and the German didn’t take to it like the two Texans. Northern and Central Europeans don’t use air conditioning like Americans. “So,” Kiman says, “we ended up freezing in our rooms in the middle of August. In fact, most of the international students from Europe got sick.”
Kiman didn’t have great problems getting used to his new environment otherwise. Sometimes, though, he misses Europe’s density. Most major cities are at least three hours away from San Angelo, sometimes giving him the feeling of being far from civilization. And apart from missing bread and cheese, Kiman also misses his family and friends. “I’m very close to my family,” he says. “Not being able to see them can be hard sometimes, but thanks to the Internet I can keep in touch.” As a substitution for the support and closeness of family and friends, Kiman and other international students feel a strong need to gather as often as possible. Being in the same situation connects them.
But Kiman has also made a lot of Texan friends. “They might not necessarily share the same priorities as the internationals, but if you make the effort to see them often, they will never reject you,” he says. “They accept you easily and are great friends.” Apparently, this is part of the Southern hospitality Kiman gushes about.
He experienced tremendous hospitality from his first days in San Angelo. “I had heard about the Southern hospitality. But here I understand what it really means,” Kiman says. He talks about how Texans take the time to “get to know you, to understand you, and to figure out who you are.” For example, as an international student, he was assigned to a host family. These families help the students to adapt and feel at home more rapidly.
“I didn’t know these people,” Kiman says. “Neither did they know me. We had only exchanged one e-mail. But when they picked me up at Mathis Field, they welcomed me as if they had known me forever. They would let me stay with them, drive their truck, and they helped me to settle in my dorm.” He doesn’t know this kind of hospitality from Paris. “I‘m not sure if people in big European cities would welcome a stranger like this.” He pauses and thinks for a moment. “I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t.”
Despite the great hospitality, Kiman went home during the winter break. He had been homesick. Once back in Paris, he didn’t know how he would feel about coming back to San Angelo in only four weeks. But after only three weeks, he was looking forward to coming back more and more. He points at the doors where his friends live. “I was missing the people I have met here,” he says. “Also I was missing my independence.”
In Paris he had been living with his family. The San Angelo experience helped him to grow up. Now he can imagine how it will be once he leaves San Angelo for good, with his new friends on the other side of the world. In Paris, Kiman likes the idea that he has the opportunity to rediscover his city every day. The home to uncountable artists, fashion designers, star cooks, and philosophers offers such great diversion that one can never be sure to have seen and done everything. But small-town San Angelo still tries to provide its inhabitants and visitors with a rich cultural program, which Kiman didn’t expect. He’s been to painting exhibits, the civic theater, and rock concerts several times here. And he can pursue his passion for classical music: Kiman has not missed a single symphony concert.
“My favorite composer is Beethoven,” he says. Before Christmas he watched the San Angelo Civic Ballet perform Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.” The local community’s involvement in such productions astonished him—how so many people volunteered for the various events as costume makers, painters, or cooks. “It seems to me as if people here consider [volunteering for the arts] their duty, and they really enjoy it.”
Of course, there are dozens of symphonies, museums, and theaters in Paris. But, Kiman explains, “In Paris it would cost me fortune to go. I tried once to see the “Nutcracker” for example, but tickets are rare and extremely expensive.” With the euro being so strong, life in San Angelo becomes quite cheap. “I can go out more often and enjoy the cultural offer as well as bars, clubs, and restaurants.” His favorite restaurant so far is Red Lobster. He has a penchant for seafood.
About ‘going-out’ in San Angelo he has just one tiff: “Europeans are used to really amazing parties, which do not end at 2 a.m. but rather start [then]. Here I have the feeling that people like to have everything under control, which usually involves the police.” Kiman knows what he is talking about. He has already been asked to leave a club. To this day he couldn’t figure out why.
So is San Angelo anything like Paris? The answer is no, according to Kiman. “But you know what? I was looking for something completely different and that is what I found here,” he says. “I regret nothing.” Kiman also had the choice to go to places like New York City or San Francisco. But those are just other big cities. “Probably these places have more similarities with Paris than differences. For me it would have been less valuable to go to either of these.”
He enjoyed going to the rodeo. He would also like to attend a political debate, since it is election year. “Maybe a candidate will come to San Angelo. You never know,” he says, knowing that the chances are relatively small. Again, San Angelo is not Paris.