To stick up for Irish pubs, the one in Amiens where I lived was lovely (although my friend once got sexually harassed in the men's room).

France has a high North African population, but I never experienced any issues. The only thing I can think of that happened to me is when some (white) jerks in a convertible called me a putain while I was cycling home from work. Once a Moroccan guy bought me a coffee and gave me his number while I was in the laundrette, but it was sort of sweet and he let me be after I said that I wasn't looking for dates.

My friends who were in Belgium had slightly different experiences- especially my Muslim friend who told me if I ever wanted to get 5 marriage proposals in a week from strangers, I should be white and wear a hijab.

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Of course it's chock-a-block with class issues. Who said it isn't? We spent a lot of time on that, and on the class/race intersections/confusions/whatever in my group.