MONTPELLIER, France-The place in which Jessica Pothering has felt most uncomfortable talking about the war in Iraq happens to be her class comprised solely of other American students, who, like her, are studying abroad in Montpellier.
Once, she said, a classmate became angry with her and cut her off when she was trying to explain why a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden was improbable.
\I don't really say much in that class because most people aren't as engrossed in the politics as I am, or they're on the other side,"" said Pothering, a sophomore at George Washington University.
Pothering does discuss the situation in Iraq on a regular basis, but more often with French citizens than Americans.
""In general, the culture here is so much more liberal and I feel like I fit into that much better,"" said Pothering, who has been opposed to the war since it was first proposed. ""It's easier to detach myself from what's going on in the U.S. because I have access to so many other things over here.""
For other students, living in France has meant a change in political opinions and an adoption of French political convictions.
Before arriving in France for his semester abroad in Montpellier, Jeff Ochs, a junior at the University of Minnesota, said his feelings regarding the then-impending war in Iraq were neutral but leaning toward opposition.
He said he had not found the words to express his opinions when he was in the United States.
After less than a month in France, Ochs said he found what he had been thinking on the opinion pages of the national newspapers.
After two weeks in Montpellier, Ochs and Pothering attended a large anti-war rally with a group of other American students. Initially nervous as to how the French would react to having Americans in their rally, Ochs said everything went well.
""People were excited to have Americans marching in their anti-war protest,"" Pothering said. ""Once the French learn that you're against the war, they're usually pretty receptive to you.""
Before military action began, anti-war rallies were organized on a weekly basis, usually taking place on Saturdays with attendance in the hundreds.
Since military action in Iraq began, anti-war rallies have become sparse in Montpellier. Instead of the signs posted outside of the college campuses announcing when and where the next peace rally is, there are postings for discussions in the auditorium concerning the current events.
Regardless of one's opinion concerning the war, being abroad is often the first time an American student can see his country from a different angle. Whether it makes him more critical or more proud of his country, students tend to recognize a sort of isolationism existent in American society.
""In the United States, you never had any reason to learn any language other than English,"" said Bryan Kuzel, a senior at the University of Minnesota studying in Montpellier who supports the war in Iraq. ""We were never raised with this idea that we had to cooperate with everyone.""
Pothering said she began to educate herself on current events in high school after talking with a Jordanian student.
""Listening to him talk, I felt like a really ignorant asshole,"" she said. ""International students are exposed to so much that Americans are sheltered from.""
Pothering said for her, the war has become a means to learn about American society and people by examining the reactions to the situation.
""American society is too overridden with fear to look at anything in any sort of critical perspective,"" Pothering said. ""[Americans are] so ready to believe whatever anyone tells them; they're just dying for a leader so badly, someone that's going to guide them through all this, that they lose their ability to think for themselves. What really concerns me most is ... how a war like this demonstrates how vulnerable the American mentality is and how easy it is for the American public to be manipulated. That's scary.""
