Update #42

Since my last post I haven’t done a whole lot. I was doing a lot of homework the whole week. It wasn’t as bad as last week though. I’ll probably end up spending another 5 or so hours on it today.

Whenever I go out with my roommates and their friends I always have a blast. I will occasionally see something that is slightly different and it makes me happy. For example people count on their fingers with their thumb for 1. Small differences like this ensure me that I am in fact in a different culture (or at least hanging out with a different culture). In the last few weeks it has been pointed out to me twice in two different ways that the U.S. is different from many places in the world when it comes to guns and gun control. A few weeks ago one of my Canadian teachers was telling us how they have much lower murder rates in their cities than in the U.S. and he guessed the fact that no one was allowed to carry a weapon was the reason why. Then a German girl asked me if I knew anyone who owned a gun. I said of course. I had never thought that it would be such an odd thing to people. I explained the second amendment and how the reason we are allowed to goes back to revolutionary war time ideas of how if needed the people could form a militia.

Another thing that has come up a lot is what people see from the American culture. I have heard a few times references to MTV shows such as my super sweet 16. I am assured by people that this is not what they think of America and that they know not all Americans are like this. However, it still makes me wonder what effect it has. I will always try to make it clear that most people are not like that at all.