Of the large percentage of Tufts students who study abroad, those who opt to study in Europe may find themselves returning home with enhanced cultural knowledge, fluency in a foreign language - and a tobacco smoking habit.
While recent smoking bans have permeated American cities and discouraged students from smoking in bars and restaurants, American students abroad have found that the popularity of cigarette smoking in Europe can make it more likely for them to pick up the habit.
Senior Jonah Peppiatt, who went to Paris through a Boston University internship program, said he smoked occasionally before living in France. Prepared for the social popularity of what had only been an occasional habit, Peppaitt had realistic expectations of how much he would potentially smoke while abroad.
"[My] first night in Paris, the first thing I did was I bought three packs [of cigarettes]. From the minute I was there to the minute I left, [I was] smoking."
Peppiatt went from occasionally smoking a single cigarette to sometimes smoking 20 over the course of five or six hours.
Peppiatt is not the only student whose smoking habits increased during a stay abroad. The senior said he watched many of his peers who had never smoked before go abroad and pick up the habit.
"Some people ... didn't smoke at all before they left, and then [while in Paris started smoking] a pack a week," Peppiatt said.
Tufts Professor of French Gerard Gasarian, a native Parisian, compared the French attitude toward cigarettes to that of Americans. "First I smoked because I was in France and everyone around me smoked ... You just smoked like you breathed [in Paris]," he said. "Here, it feels like smokers often are ostracized, victimized."
Pepiatt agreed with this sentiment, citing guilt as a reason for not smoking as much in the United States. "It felt natural in a social setting," he said. "You are always more guilty in America than you are in Paris."
Senior Maia Leppo, who spent last year studying in London, said she also recognized the stigma associated with smoking in the United States. "In America, people look at you weird [when you smoke]," Leppo said.
But while many students pick up smoking while abroad, those who abstain can feel the effects of the smokers around them. Leppo, who was once a social smoker in the United States but quit before going to London, noticed the negative effects of the more lenient European smoking laws. "You come home and smell of smoke," she said.
But Leppo, who saw two of her friends become smokers while abroad in Europe, said there was no social pressure to take up the habit.
Grace Edinger, a senior and non smoker who was in Paris last spring, said she would wake up in the morning after a night out in the clubs and bars in Paris and reek of cigarettes.
But like Leppo, Edinger also resisted any temptation to smoke.
"I went into it very aware that there is a risk I would pick up smoking, so I consciously tried not to," she said.
One of Edinger's motivations for not smoking was a threat from her roommates, who threatened to stop living with her if she started smoking cigarettes.
Edinger said she understands why students turn to smoking. "Café culture lends itself to smoking," she said. "Sipping espressos, spending hours chain smoking cigarettes, talking to friends."
But the Parisian café culture may be permanently changing. In January, anti-smoking legislation was passed in France, making it illegal to smoke in any public places except for designated smoking rooms. This legislation will reach its extent within the next year, banning smoking from all cafés and bars. Recent years have also seen increased anti-smoking legislation in Spain, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Germany.
Edinger, who had heard about the new legislation in France from friends, said she expects the ban to have widespread implications. "Paris' glory days are over," she said.
But Gasarian said smoking bans may not achieve their desired effect if they are not strictly enforced. "I don't know if this smoking ban will achieve its purpose," he said. "On the quest for individualism, many refuse to sacrifice for a law they don't believe in ... If a person smokes in a non-smoking area, most people will not interfere."
