> I'm sorry for your experience in France. French people are not really friendly to strangers (not in a racist way, more in a "i don't even know what language this stranger is talking"). I'm 50% sure the locker staff didn't even understand what you wanted from them and just reacted with stress.
To be clear, I was speaking French, and by that time my French pronunciation was good enough that everyone could understand me without extra effort (probably no longer true). In my experience, the French were quite warm when they weren't "on the job". For example, my French classmates (even those I didn't know well) were happy to help me navigate campus and answer questions and so on.
> But Paris have the reputation to be pretty hostile, even to the rest of french population. Our other cities are much more open and friendly.
It could definitely be regional, but most of my experiences were actually in Rennes and Nantes (not Paris)--although on one visit to Nantes, there was a big protest by farmers over the construction of an airport which probably had people a little more aggravated than normal: the farmers were deliberately blocking traffic with their tractors, including dumping large piles of dirt in certain intersections which was an interesting sight to behold until some anarchists came and started setting fires and otherwise behaving dangerously.
> Our countryside is also pretty friendly but don't expect anyone there to understand you but at least they'll friendly try to fake that they can.
My school was actually in rural Rennes (ENSAI) near the village of Bruz--I only spoke French because I had quite a few experiences where people would be angry or annoyed if I asked if they spoke English. Almost every time I tried to call and order a taxi in English (when I first arrived, before my French was very good), we would make the appointment, but the taxi wouldn't show up (very stressful because I was poor and very worried that I would miss a train or flight because the taxi didn't show up). One of my English classmates suggested I start making the appointments in French, and then the taxi showed up every time!
But in general I didn't mind having to speak French--I know if you walked up to an American and started speaking French they would probably be annoyed as well, and generally I feel like if you're living in a country you should make every effort to speak the language (and I wanted to learn the language better anyway--that was one of my goals for studying abroad).
Even though I had bad experiences, I still like France and the French, and my wife and I have since gone back and visited Paris once because we now have "fuck you" money (which is to say, we don't have to beg and plead for help, we can afford to miss a flight here and there). We also ate breakfast at a charming little cafe near our AirBnB in the 17th every morning, and contrary to my other anecdotes, the staff were very friendly. :)