Cultural Adjustments, or How to Survive
Without Ice Cubes and Air Conditioning
9:00 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

The “other,” especially if he or she is foreign, is always strange. We tend to judge foreigners in terms of good, bad, right, or wrong rather than simply different. Adjusting to another culture is, therefore, difficult because it’s all about learning to accept people for what they are on their own terms as opposed to what we want them to be, which generally is just like us! Harriet Welty Rochefort knows this isn’t an easy task, which is why she wrote her first book, French Toast, a tale of Franco-American cultural differences, which are legion. Living in another culture forced her to examine her own prejudices and discover that all societies have their strong points and their weak ones. For instance, when it comes to customer service and convenience and nice people and starting a business, Ms. Rochefort would rather live in the States any day. But when it comes to health care, wonderful food, “chic” and style and the quality of life, France for her is number one. Her conclusion, as an American who has lived for three decades in France: Vive la France! Vive l’Amérique!.

Iowa native Harriet Welty Rochefort has lived in France since 1971. A freelance journalist and speaker, Ms. Rochefort is the author of two books about the French, French Toast, a humorous tale of Franco-American cultural differences based on her life in France, and French Fried, a memoir of French cuisine in which she divulges some of her French family’s favorite recipes. Both books were published by St. Martin’s Press. She is currently working on a third book about the French. Rochefort’s hobbies include reading, gardening, wine tasting, cooking, and yoga. Her favorite places are her own little garden in Paris and the terrace of any Paris café where she can watch the world go by.