the statue of liberty is also a big symbol of liberty here too, but i think that it is common with immigrants to associate it with america. i just associate it with new york. and btw, i have never actually seen a true cowboy other than in old western movies.

I think that for the most part the responses about America are very similar.

Capitalism, Politics and Fast Food are the stereotypes of America, and they're all represented here.

It seems like perhaps we have some of the same ideas about what United States (Etats-Unis) means. We both agree that United States means money and capitalism, but the American answers actually tend in my opinion to be less flattering. This is an interesting phenomenon. Perhaps we are more familiar with the "ugly American" image because we live here. Do you think that perhaps that is the case?

It looks to me as if both the students from the US and the students from France feel that this is a rich country.  Something else that occurs on both our ends is the hamburger (or a hamburger store at least).  I find it funny that different foods can now make one think of a certain country, like hamburgers (US), spaghetti (Italy) and/or baguette (France).

In general, the Etats-Unis responses are a lot more positive than those of the United States, although there are a few similarities.

In light of the recent economic crisis I find it strange that "riche" came up. Living in America I certianly don't feel rich, and I bet many Americans feel the same. What about America seems "riche" to the rest of the world?

I'm interested in the French opinion of "McDonalds" and "hamburgers", which came up a few times. Is fast food viewed as good aspects of American culture or bad?

I agree with Reilly although I think that in many ways politics are going to be important no matter where you are and fast food has now become global althugh Americans do consume the most I would assume.

Ya it seems like most of our answers were very similar. I also think that taylor's point about the answers from us being less flattering is an interesting observation.

Many our comments are similar, especially those that emphasize the strength of the United States.  Some of the French responses seemed to be more focused on American locations and landmarks though.   I agree with the rest of you guys that our comments were a lot more negative.

Je pense que la plupart des francais ont peut etre trop de cliché sur les pays qu'ils ne connaissent pas.