I'm American

For some reason I have felt very American the past couple days.

Last night a few of the other assistants and Marie came over to watch Team America: World Police a highly entertaining and brilliant satire (if potentially offensive).

This afternoon I met Joe, Dan, and Jen for lunch at Buffalo Grill, a chain of American-style restaurants. Before arriving I had been skeptical of the French take on an American restaurant, but as soon as I walked in the door, I wanted to laugh. I'm not sure exactly what it was about the place but it felt like I was back in the U.S., minus the French on the menu. They even gave us a basket of rolls that could be refilled!

After having eaten so much I wound up with a cramp on the five minute walk to Spanish class. Once there, (and after I'd knocked on the bathroom door instead of the classroom door - with several witnesses) we went over the future tense and some other grammar points that came up before doing a translation from French to Spanish. That was hard. At one point someone asked me when and how long I had been in Spain. Of course I began my answer with "ummm" and the teacher thought that was just hilarious - "That's very American!"

I've decided that I can speak okay French and a little better Spanish, but when I try to make transitions between the two, it's a complete mess. And when the others in my class speak, I have to think really hard to decide exactly which language they're speaking, especially difficult when they switch back and forth in the middle of a sentence! Then at times, Marie-Claire (our teacher) or another woman will toss in an English phrase just for kicks. All in all, it's mentally exhausting and thorouhly entertaining.

At the end of the class, we were discussing what we'd do next week. Marie-Claire decided that two women who had been to Spain recently would bring in their photos and tell about their vacations. I, however, am to bring photos of America and talk about Ohio.

Finally, my friend Joe is just fascinated by the U.S., especially country music and cowboy stuff. He and a friend are planning to spend about three weeks this summer traveling around California and to Las Vegas, but after he graduates in another year he wants to take three months to travel around. His plans include Texas and Memphis (because there are a lot of songs about it) and Kentucky for some fried chicken. I've suggested Nashville, Niagara Falls, and Toledo.

Here's your chance to participate: If you were to advise a young English guy where to go on a three-month trip to the U.S., what would you suggest?