Ireland Loves You! And you should all know that!

There is a general misconception amongst Americans that everyone outside of the states think we are all fat, dumb, and lazy. US Citizens often think that foreigners hate us and that when you find yourself in a European bar you should say you're Canadian and they'll be more receptive (they can't really tell the difference in the accents anyway). All of that is rubbish and if you find yourself visiting Ireland forget all of that nonsense... well except that they do really love Canadians.

Since being in Ireland I have noticed that far from being looked down upon as an American, that more frequently they love you for being one. Here is some evidence to that point. I first felt the love in Galway. The first night I was talking to a group of international students that came to Ireland to learn english. When they heard I was from Philly their eyes lit up and one of them put his hands in the air and said, "FLYERS!!!" while another did a Rocky impersonation. The band subsequently played all American tunes as all the Irish screamed along to the songs. The following evening in Galway, as a group of us were walking to the pub, a group of young Irish people over heard us speaking to each other with an American "twang" and subsequently turned around and yelled, "Americans!!! WE LOVE YOU!" to which of course being the only one who heard them yelling turned around and returned in kind that we loved them also. It was nice that even though they are fed MTV and all of our crap sitcoms that make us look bad, that they still love us... maybe Dr. Phil swayed their opinion with some soothing conflict management approaches.

The next evidence came at the Callaghan wedding. Now I know it's family so they are innately more receptive, but I had some very interesting conversations. Politically, the world looks to the US, and generally aren't as critical of it as people seem to think. Even when the US government does something that is viewed upon as the world as bad, the general disdain will be directed at the government and not at the US citizens. The one conversation that adds to the love came late in evening when I was speaking with some of the young men. One had traveled to America for a time of short study and business. He told me that he found the most intelligent people in the world were in America. He said he was floored by the amount of, what he perceived as, the brightest minds in all the world that America has. We spoke for a long while of politics and the global economic situation. The Irish are highly supportive of Barack Obama and follow our elections very closely. My teacher even stopped class to show the inauguration and we had a short discussion of it.

The last bit of evidence for you comes from last night. I was out on my own because my two roommates left for an 11 day trip to Italy while I have a trip to Northern Ireland on Tuesday. I went to Fitsimons in the Temple Bar area and went all the way up top to the open air part of it (5th floor, big place). I had a great time talking to Terry the barman. He was ragging on some American girls just to wind them up a bit and when he was done I mentioned that us Americans aren't all that bad. He responded, "Of course, I was only messin with them. I LOVE America. I've been there 18 times to all different parts NY, Boston, Philly, Miami, Texas, California... Absolutely love it, truly the greatest place on the face of the earth." We spoke all night, he was quite the showman up there and was very funny. He loves 2pac and has multiple tattoos showing so... like Outlaw on this back. He also told me he was one of the only ones in Ireland that could tell the difference between an American and Canadian accent... that the Canadians say, "eh" a lot.

It is hard to realize the influence of the US until you get outside of it. Half of the programing on my TV is American, the majority of the movies they see are produced in America and the music follows the same trend as well. Also, the Irish credit America with greatly helping the Northern Ireland peace process and they also give credit to the Irish-American community for helping keep their culture alive (e.g. Irish music was first recorded in America and helped to preserve it). In many ways, the strength of the Irish-American community has made them more Irish than the Irish themselves. To wrap it all up here is another piece of evidence that I had forgotten. My roommates met an old man traveling around Dublin who was American born and since has moved all around the world, staying for years in Italy, Africa, and now Ireland. He said, "Never lose your accent." The accent shows you're American and being American is something you should be proud of. I am proud of where I was born and raised as well as my heritage in Ireland. One thing I am very happy to have learned since being here is that it truly is a misconception that the world hates Americans... well except the French, they really DO hate everyone.

P.S.
Oh and I have to add to the sayings I hear all the time. The younger generation often says, "That's so class" when speaking of something cool. How was it? "It was sooo class"
I like it!