The Barometer Online

Issue date: 5/8/07 Section: Forum

Over the last five weeks that I have spent studying abroad I have consistently discussed, both through these articles and to those close to me, the constant differences that I have witnessed while living in Italy. Yet, the topic I want to address today, which has been on the top of mind really since arriving here has nothing to do with Italian culture directly, but rather deals with what I have come to realize about our own culture, and what it really means to be an American abroad.

I feel, without a shred of a doubt, the biggest things you come to realize while abroad have absolutely nothing to do with the country you happen to find yourself in, but instead are to do with the place that you call home. In my case, the things that I have come realize about America have been drastically more important than what I have learned about Italy.

To state it rather bluntly, I am a liberal, a fact which I am not in anyway ashamed to admit. On top of that, most of the other Americans that I find myself here with also classify themselves as liberal. I suppose this was to be expected - it is the unfortunate truth that being liberal generally dictates a more, say, accepting view of various cultures and lifestyles. Yet, I am not in any mood to bring up politics at a time like this, indeed the only reason I gave you such insight into my personal life is to prove my point.

What point?

Merely this, my dearest reader, when you find yourself representing your country in a foreign land, whether politics come up or not, who you voted for in the last election or what party you are in simply does not mean a damn thing.

I will admit, as most Americans would, that our country has more than a few problems. Yet, the thought that other countries - in particular European nations - are sorts of utopian civilizations is one of the most ridiculous concepts I have come across, and one that I must admit many of my left-leaning peers have.

Every nation on this planet has their own problems - maybe they do not have to do with war, or with crazy presidential administrations, but they all have problems. The difference that arises, though, with our nation and the rest, is that the problems we have are known world wide, not simply by our own people. This can probably be associated with the fact that aspects of our culture have spread at such an amazing rate that, for better or worse, our nation is seen as one of the most influential powers on the globe.

Of course, the fact that aspects of our culture have spread in such a way also equates to many of the positive aspects of American life being a very real part of foreign countries.

Our music is played in every club and bar you go into, our movies are publicized around every corner and our television shows have gathered followings as large as in the states. Although our government may have some pretty interesting policies, especially in regards to foreign relations, there are always plenty of instances where America is actually seen in a good light.

Still, though, to someone disgruntled about how our country is led and in which way it is heading, these truths are often times hard to see. We can not witness the actual respectable impacts we have on other nations when all we see on the news is American flags being burned. We can not come to respect the people we call our countrymen and the values we all hold when we have no context in which to judge them.

There was quite some time in the recent part of my life when I actually listened to those people who felt that it was somehow embarrassing to be an American. Maybe it is because of the stereotypes labeling us as fat, loud, rude slugs, or because of our misguided government, but there are certainly those who are, if not embarrassed, at least not proud to be from our nation.

But what I have slowly realized both here, and shortly before I came here, is that there are things I can not escape, and simply should not even try. The food that I eat is American, the movies I watch are American, I go to an American university and belong to an especially American fraternity, when I listen to music it is most likely American, and most importantly of all: the friends and family that I hold closest to me are American.

There are many parts of our lives that we unfortunately come to forget, there are many things in life that deserve to be forgot. Yet where we have come from is more important than all of those things, because whether we like it or not where we are from dictates who we are. I am an American, and it is going to take a hell of a lot worse of a president than this, and a lot more fat and obnoxious countrymen of mine running around the world to ever make me forget that.

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Jonathan Boydston is a junior in fisheries and wildlife sciences and English. Boydston is currently studying abroad in Siena, Italy. The opinions expressed in his columns, which appear every other Tuesday, do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Boydston can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.

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