photo: ronch willner
I have a Canadian flag on my backpack, I won’t lie.
I also have a Greek, Mexican, UK, and California seal on my backpack. I don’t pose as a Canadian; but have definitely been tempted to in the previous years of travel.
When people guess where I am from- usually England due to the transparency of my skin – I respond with “I’m from California!”.
I used to be greeted with “ohhh American… Bush” and a stern/disinterested face. It made for a few tense moments when I explained that just because I am of the country does not mean I support the actions of our government, and that I am traveling to see the world for myself- typically people warm to that response and do their best to show me JUST how great their country is.
Now, when people ask where I am from (yup, England and Ireland are still the top guesses) and find that I am from USA, they say “OBAMA!” and usually high five me or play “Barack Obama” songs from their phones for me to listen to. I am continually surprised at how many versions of songs about Barack there are in the world, and how many people support the USA as having this leader.
Whether you’re democratic, republican, liberal, green party, purple party (is there a purple party?) or plain old don’t care- what have been your experiences abroad when greeted as a person from the USA? I’m curious to know how many “Barack Obama” songs you have heard- or maybe you’ve had negative reactions? Let me know below!
* I use the term American to describe solely residents of USA here, and completely respect that “American” can be anyone from North or South America.
'World Travel As An American*' have 6 comments
August 8, 2010 @ 9:35 am Matt
I’m not sure I ever have really felt unwelcome or uncomfortable being an American traveling abroad. I can notice a shift in the feedback after having Obama elected as President. I’ll never forget the time I was in Athens in the workup to the election. As I walked down a side street with shopkeepers out tending to their products, I came across an elderly woman sat in front of her shop with an Obama badge on her shirt. I knew something had changed when a Greek woman who couldn’t speak English was supported Obama for President.
August 8, 2010 @ 12:57 pm Adam
Generally it’s very positive. And the first word usually out of people’s mouths is “Obama!” But in Egypt they definitely like Obama less and less. A lot of them were excited about him (remember his big speech in Cairo?) but are
Now feeling like he hasn’t done enough. That’s the general Egyptian sentiment which I guess matches some people’sfeelings in the US as well. Crazy considering the amount of stuff
He’s done but some people just don’t see it.
August 8, 2010 @ 1:34 pm Ant Stone
“…incorrectly guessing English due to my extreme pale color.”
Why’s that then 😉
August 8, 2010 @ 2:00 pm Drew Meyers
I definitely noticed a huge change in international perception of “us Americans” as well between when I backpacked Europe in 2005 and the next time I was in Europe in 2010. Bush really led to a bad perception for us during his term in office.
August 17, 2010 @ 3:19 pm livevicuriously
agreed. better take advantage of the time we have and start traveling! 😉
October 7, 2010 @ 5:38 am Top 150 travel blogs for students ~ Blog ~ CollegeScholarships.org
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