There is one thing you can always count on my friend Angela to say when someone from the north part of States does something she doesn’t like, especially if they live in Texas. “DAMN YANKEES!” Well, traveling in Europe, I was afraid that it was going to be pretty much the same, except instead of Yankees, it would be Americans. I am happy to say that for the most part that isn’t really true. When I’ve met anyone and they ask where I’m from and I tell them America, they don’t seem to harbor any ill will toward me. It was interesting that my first night here I was in a dorm with a couple of girls from Sweden (no, not part of the bikini team). We got to talking and when asked where I was from I replied “As long as no one is going to be upset with me, I’m from America”. Later on they asked why I said that and I replied that I know many people aren’t happy with the US right now and I didn’t want to get into any big political debates. We talked for awhile and they told me that in Sweden it is socially acceptable to act American. In fact most of the TV commercials are in English and they have taken on many American customs. I must say that I was quite shocked to find this out. They were extremely well informed about American politics as well. More so than me in fact, but that’s not too difficult since I don’t read the news much and rely on my friends and coworkers to keep me informed.
I said that it was mostly true that America wasn’t hated. My first day of walking, I was going down the street and passing building with tons of graffiti on them. I saw one that looked like President Bush’s face with a slogan that said “Luck Bush”. I was a bit off on that one 🙂 I won’t write what it said here (because I know my parents will read this, but the first word wasn’t luck, but does rhyme with it). There were many other slogans, like “No War for Oil” and “Stop War Now”. Pictures of these are available on my website.
Overall, there hasn’t been a problem being an American abroad and I think most people realize that not 100% of the people were in on recent decisions.