'Merika, YEAH!

Before my departure into the land of Chocolate and Fries, it was brought to my attention that perhaps I would be greeted in a foreign land with hostility and disdain due to my American heritage. Every county has the stereotypes that come to mind when the name is mentioned. In the minds and hearts of many Americans that I have had the pleasure of knowing, Belgium is equivalent to chocolate, waffles, and beer. Or, on the contrary, rather unknown to the majority. Being an American, I thought that the image of Americans was not one of high quality around the world. As a culture I was not completely aware of its ubiquitous nature and massive presence in the lives of the everyday citizens.

I took it upon myself several nights before I boarded my plane, to explore some American stereotypes. The subject came around after speaking to another exchange student about stereotypes of Australians (kangaroos, BBQ, boomerangs) and lead to us searching for the opinion of Americans. What we discovered was that the Americans are perceived as being fanatically patriotic, lazy, and obsessed with something that was referred to as "peaunutbutterandjelly." Once we recovered from our boisterous laughter we looked further and found copious contradictions to the view of our country. For example, it was said that Americans are lazy, however they are also work-workaholics. Americans are stupid, but the United States provides all of the worlds innovators/inventions. With this in mind, I had not a clue what to expect when I arrived.

As it turns out, the opinion of Americans has not been as horrible as I had thought it would be. The other day I was engaged in a discussion with members of my Rotary club and their spouses about the competitive nature of sports in America. One of my good friends here in Belgium is a swimmer in Texas. She, like many high school swimmers in the USA, practices every day before and after school and has been participating in said activity for many years now. They people I was sitting with admire the dedication and the excellence that they perceive Americans to have in the field of athletics. High Schools in America practice everyday whereas in Belgium, many activities meet two or three times a week. One of the benefits to this mentality is that anyone can and does play and participate in sports or activities.  A critique of the American way is that if you want to join an activity at a later stage in your life, it can be very difficult to compete with the students who had decided that they wanted to play soccer, for example, at the age of four. If you have not been a participant in soccer from that age, then you cannot be on the team.

I did not know when I arrived that American pop culture would be a prevalent as it is in Belgium. Everyone listens to the newest American songs and watches shows on television that are originally from the United States. Many products from America have made there way to Europe as well. For example Philadelphia Cream cheese is a popular product. As it turns out, I don't have to be quite as embarrassed about being an American as I thought I would have to be.