What is American?

         

         June 22^nd 2008, as we pass through the security gate of the airport (in New York), after having to take off our shoes, jackets and belts, without understanding a word of what those “foreigners” were saying and why they were searching our clothes,  13 Brazilian girls and I did not know what to expect next, while we waited for my coordinator (international student advisor) to pick us up to go to St. John’s University .  As I cannot find her, I decide to go get a kart to put my suitcases on, because I am not the “wait patiently” type of girl, but the “do it yourself” one. After a couple of minutes trying to get the kart that was “stuck”, I am surprised by a cop who started speaking to me meaningless foreigner words that I was almost able to translate by his gestures and face expression, it was probably something like : “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”, or something similar. As I tried to grab my passport from my purse to show him, my LCC (coordinator) arrives and …well, let’s just say that I did not leave a good first impression, because you were suppose to pay 5 dollars to use the kart.

            Just like the Europeans that came to America hundreds of years ago, my feelings when I arrived were mixed; I was excited for the adventurous awaiting for me, a little concerned of what to expect from such different culture, full of hope and surprised with so many new things that did not fit my imagination.

            What do I remember that I knew about America before I came to live here? I remember my trip to Disney World (my 14^th birthday present), I remember the afternoon movies that portrayed an old fashion America from the 70ths and 80ths, when woman used to wear high jeans and big hair, I certainly remember my missionary friends that did not know how to dance and unfortunately, I remembered about the Middle East war. Four years have passed since I first came and I learned to love this country and this people, I am never going to feel part of it, but I can understand it better, I can help my friends and family from different countries to have a different perspective from this place that they would not have unless they had the opportunity to live here. I still have much to learn and I know that some things I will never understand, although, for you that never came to the USA and that the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of this country is the “M” of the Mc Donald’s logo, allow me to give you a brief review.

            In general, Americans are very patriots; they love their country, their history, their people and their flag. You care for what you love, that is probably where their care for their cities comes from. You probably heard something about that they have more than 10 fast-food restaurants per square mile, what you might not have heard is that their moms like to cook apple pie, meatloaf, double eggs, macaroni and cheese, green beans casserole (for thanksgiving Dinner while they watch football on tv) and that in the south, there is never too much sugar in their tea.

            You might have heard that they are the most consumerist society in the world and I am not here to disagree, although, you might have never heard of this brilliant thing called coupon. They give discount for everything in every store that helps you to believe that you need something that you did not know it existed for 20 plus years of your life. Did you know also that 90% of their products are made in China including many of their so loved flags, just like many other countries all over the globe?!

            Some might know that Americans have a great life expectancy but, did you know that they always celebrate their birthdays with cake and ice cream mixed together? There might be the secret of their youth.

            I always heard how the United States was an individualist society but I learned soon that you must learn here to be independent at a young age; many young Americans are out of their houses supporting themselves at the early age of 18, and yes, they are allowed to have a driver’s license as young as 16 years old, although, there are few cities with the convenience of a broad public transportation.  They also are taught to serve themselves, they fill it up their own cars with gas, contrary of many countries where there is someone at the gas station to do that for you; they also have the option to scan their own grocery and pay for it without having someone else to help them.

            Who have never heard of Disney and their fantastic animation movies? Although, as many other people, you might have never heard that Pocahontas was a real person later known as Rebecca Rolfe. Also, there are great chances that you have watched a television show or movie from the United States, It is no news that their movie market is immense and the best in the world, the curiosity that I was taught  is that in this modern first country society, for every 4 Americans, one have already been seen on television.

            If your first language is not English, it might be very difficult to learn it, you might study it for years and arrive in this country and do not know how to communicate. This is because Americans are very practical and they put effort into making things as practical as possible, and that applies to their languages as well. The language spoken is much shortened than the written English.

            It is true that 32% of the American territory belongs to their government, although, if there is one thing that I “ learned with” their former President Theodore Roosevelt  is that leisure is serious business. Here you can find beautiful parks and all kinds of festivals and attractions, at low or no costs.

            You can be African American, Republican or Democrat, Cowboys or Giants, you can be born in the North or in the South, in a different country or in the middle of the ocean and still be considered an American, what makes someone an American is when they proud themselves for being one; To learn it, you must live it.