If it's any consolation, I've often been asked the same questions, with the same suspicion bordering on hostility, when I traveled to Europe, including France (

If it's any consolation, I've often been asked the same questions, with the same suspicion bordering on hostility, when I traveled to Europe, including France (and I also speak French with almost no foreign accent -- was working as an interpreter at the time). This is the job of the customs agents. I don't think it's something unique to the US. I will say that Canada for the most part has unusually welcoming customs agents (my wife is Canadian). So you may be "spoiled" by living in Canada. Unfortunately, even Canada's openness seems to be changing a bit now, based on my experiences over the past several years. I'm guessing that you are too young to remember traveling through Europe before the Schengen treaty took effect and opened up the borders in 1995, but as someone who studied in France and traveled across Europe in 1991-1992, I can assure you that you would have been subject to the same treatment back then at the German, Spanish, or Belgian borders. The job of the borders guards is to be suspicious, and 9/11 has only solidified those tendencies.