Being an American in a foreign country has definitely given me insight into US culture and given me new eyes with which I look at myself and our culture more critically. The differences (while neither \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d are definitely present, and it is really fascinating to observe them.<\/p>\n
The election in the US has certainly been an interesting one, and is sure to be historically important in years to come. Like the US, the UK recently voted to leave the European Union (\u201cBrexit\u201d), a surprising political development that will undoubtedly have plenty of repercussions. Being American and a college-aged student in particular, people don\u2019t usually ask my opinion about politics. I grew up in a culture where talking about things like politics and religion openly were frowned upon. In the UK, I\u2019ve enjoyed having a chance to talk about both US and UK politics with my colleagues, professors, and other people I encounter. Sometimes, though, people do have a negative impression of Americans based on some of the things that are happening in our country. I\u2019ve heard a lot of people make remarks about political candidates that reveal a negative opinion of America as a whole. I\u2019ve definitely noticed a conscious effort from my peers to not add to stereotypes surrounding our current political situation.<\/p>\n
There is also a stereotype that American tourists are \u201cloud and obnoxious\u201d which I find to be humorous, but also true at times. My friends and I are almost always the loudest people on the tube whenever we\u2019re going somewhere in a group. There are times when we\u2019ll be in a group and stop to say, \u201cwe don\u2019t want to be those Americans\u201d and try to be quieter in volume. A friend and I were having lunch at Pret one afternoon and a man seated beside us asked me if I was American, stating he could tell because I said \u201clike\u201d every few words. Initially, the encounter made me laugh, but I thought about just how true the statement was. I\u2019m sure hearing my snippets of conversation, riddled with fillers and excited hand gesturing added to this man\u2019s preconceptions of Americans. Since arriving in London, I\u2019ve noticed subtle shifts in the way my friends and I behave to try to seem less like the \u201cobnoxious Americans\u201d that so many people overseas expect to see.
\nWhen I arrived in London, I also had some misconceptions about my host culture, thinking Brits would all be \u201cproper and uptight.\u201d In reality, British culture can actually be a lot more relaxed than American, particularly in the workplace. When I visited France, I was concerned about the stereotype that all French people were rude and hated Americans. While not all of them were overly warm, I never encountered a single rude Frenchman. My eyes have really been opened and I\u2019m overly conscious now about keeping an open mind wherever I go.
\nWith this in mind, I was able to fully enjoy my fall break trips to Italy and Spain. I did my best to embrace each culture and fully experience a new place. I did my best to speak the languages and appreciate the customs without questioning why everything was so \u201cdifferent.\u201d Even though at times I was surprised and confused by some cultural differences, the biggest thing I learned was that neither culture is \u201cright\u201d or \u201cwrong,\u201d and it\u2019s actually a lot of fun to learn about the differences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being an American in a foreign country has definitely given me insight into US culture and given me new eyes with which I look at myself and our culture more critically. The differences (while neither \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d are definitely present, and it is really fascinating to observe them. The election in the US has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15762,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6723\/revisions\/15762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}