A confession
Two of my closest friends in Italy...are American.
There. I said it. And it feels good to off-load such a weighted statement. For me anyway.
Before moving to Pescara I was not an America fan. All the movies, all the loud shouty hip-hop music or the Diva culture, and then there's Jersey Shore, and Southpark, and other things that, in my eyes, tinged my view of "America". Sure. I love loads of the American series that make it out of America, you know, Friends, New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, oh and my all time fave, Monk. But I moved to Pescara with the stereotype that Americans are crass, white teethed, loudly spoken, normally correct and therefore stubborn, either completely dumb or ridiculously nerdy, weight-obsessed on either end of the paradigm, who go on holiday with cameras round there necks and baseball caps glued to their head with massive sunglasses asking silly questions to tourists guides which annoys everyone else. Yeaaaaah. My actual personal experience of "America" is pretty limited and therefore...stereotypical.
Anyway. I'm not saying that my American friends here don't have amazing teeth...they do...and as a result I now floss regularly(ish). But everything else sort of doesn't match. This proves, yet again, that stereotyping is always something can close doors and not open them. I say this because by befriending some, once dreaded, "Americans" I will not go to England next August, but go on a three week American adventure. If the parents can do it, I can.
My plan is to city hop (well, state hop) to visit the friends I've made as they'll all be in America in August too. That way I'll experience "their" Americas that they talk about on nights out here. It means I'll pop into Colorado, bumble around Chicago and hopefully celebrate my "golden" birthday (my 28th birthday on the 28th) in New York. Plus, with all the influence from my American friends here, by then I'll be calling jumpers-sweaters, trousers-pants and may have even finally acknowledged what top a tank top is...
Just got to complete the Masters and save money...
There. I said it. And it feels good to off-load such a weighted statement. For me anyway.
Before moving to Pescara I was not an America fan. All the movies, all the loud shouty hip-hop music or the Diva culture, and then there's Jersey Shore, and Southpark, and other things that, in my eyes, tinged my view of "America". Sure. I love loads of the American series that make it out of America, you know, Friends, New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, oh and my all time fave, Monk. But I moved to Pescara with the stereotype that Americans are crass, white teethed, loudly spoken, normally correct and therefore stubborn, either completely dumb or ridiculously nerdy, weight-obsessed on either end of the paradigm, who go on holiday with cameras round there necks and baseball caps glued to their head with massive sunglasses asking silly questions to tourists guides which annoys everyone else. Yeaaaaah. My actual personal experience of "America" is pretty limited and therefore...stereotypical.
Anyway. I'm not saying that my American friends here don't have amazing teeth...they do...and as a result I now floss regularly(ish). But everything else sort of doesn't match. This proves, yet again, that stereotyping is always something can close doors and not open them. I say this because by befriending some, once dreaded, "Americans" I will not go to England next August, but go on a three week American adventure. If the parents can do it, I can.
My plan is to city hop (well, state hop) to visit the friends I've made as they'll all be in America in August too. That way I'll experience "their" Americas that they talk about on nights out here. It means I'll pop into Colorado, bumble around Chicago and hopefully celebrate my "golden" birthday (my 28th birthday on the 28th) in New York. Plus, with all the influence from my American friends here, by then I'll be calling jumpers-sweaters, trousers-pants and may have even finally acknowledged what top a tank top is...
Just got to complete the Masters and save money...
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