Racism

So this guy today did my head in. I have two days training at Caffe Nero; one thing I love about Caffe Nero is that it employes lots of different nationalities, so my training possee are made up of 2 Brits (4 if you include the trainer and me), 1 Czech girl, 1 Polish, 1 Italian and 1 Portugese guy. As people know I love different cultures and countries and I love being German/British. I love both the country of my birth and the country of my passport. And I don't get offended easily when people make fun of the Brits or the Germans but today I really had my patience tested. I call it educated, undercover racism. You know not the kind where people just blatantly say they hate a country/a person of a country but a subtle criticism of a country and it's people tarnishing every single person of said country with one brush. So according to the Portugese guy all Brits are thick, the British education system is rubbish, the Portugese and German systems superior and no Brit knows anything about any other country in the world. Oh he made me mad. I mean why move to a country when you don't like the weather, the people, the education system, the economy- well pretty much everything about !? I said as much to him, rather articulately setting him straight that those kind of statements are rather stupid. I don't think I have ever been that offended before. I mean yeah I have met people who have made fun of both my cultures and complained about the British weather or made comparisons between the two education systems, but something in the way he said all the things set me off in a rage inside. I think it showed and I don't think I was the only person who felt it. All got rather deep and tense. The thing is I have another training day with this guy tomorrow and I'm not sure whether I can be as articulate tomorrow as I was today.
Made me think of what racism is though. I always thought of it as only when people outrightly slag off a country or it is just against blacks, asians- in other words minority groups. But I'm beginning to think about the fact that it can be so much more subtle and be between all groups that we see as different to us. I know that there are things that I prefer about Germany but it works vice versa. Also made me realise how easily I can make sweeping statements about a country and how wrong that is. No one German/Brit/Italian is the same as another. There are so many regional variances in every country I have ever visited and as for education systems...... No two people's experience is the same. I know Germans who couldn't care less about learning foreign languages or ever visiting another country as in the same way I know Brits who speak 2-3 languages and love to travel.
In conclusion I hate racism in all it's forms and general sweeping comments. They are just so wrong and arrogant. It's a note to self to try and avoid making those statements as I know I am guilty of doing myself.