You've Got Dirt on Your Face.

That’s not dirt – it’s Ash Wednesday! Last night the topic of Lent led to a discussion in Apartment 19, my home here in Ireland, of what people would be giving up for the Lenten season this year. Lindsay jokingly declared that she would be giving up being American. Even if we attempted to seriously do that though, I doubt either of us would achieve much success. It did not take very long here in Ireland and especially on the UCC campus for me to realize that my “Americanism” is innate and not easily hidden.

I have come to see that people of all age groups who are not American tend to generalize and stereotype the red, white, and blue in a few different, and pretty simple ways: dress, political beliefs, and lifestyle. I know, these three categories seem dreadfully vague but I will explain them further to help you see what I mean. I would also like to note that not every person I have met here has held false, stereotypical views of Americans. There have been enough however, that I feel like this topic deserves some attention in my blog.

I make my comments about American clothing styles with a few limitations that cannot be avoided. One, I am a female, therefore I only feel qualified to address the way American girls dress here at UCC and how we are viewed by those who are not American, both male and female. Two, although I like to believe I have some fashion-sense, you will most often find me in jeans and friends have described my sense of style as “mom-ish.” I know, they’re so kind, but it’s true – I love a nice cardigan and this morning I wore loafers to church, they were red patent leather though and I think they are quite stylish.

If someone had informed that it is common for Irish girls to wear dresses and heels to class, I may have thought differently about what to pack in my suitcase. At Mary Washington, jeans and sweatpants are what I would say a majority of students wear on a day-to-day basis. At UCC, I have gotten strange looks for wearing sweatpants to class. There is also one item that screams “American” – a North Face jacket. The effect of this jacket is multiplied even further when it is worn with a North Face backpack. One Irish boy told me that he does not understand why all the Americans have North Face jackets and backpacks because there is no way everyone who has one is also an avid rock climber or hiker. While he is correct with the assumption that not everyone who wears a North Face is outdoorsy, the jackets are warm! I honestly think that if the girls who walk to class in skirts and sweaters when the temperature is below freezing tried one on, they would start wearing them all the time too! As a creature of comfort, I stubbornly refuse to put away my North Face until it has warmed up here, no matter how American I look when I wear it!

My comments here on political beliefs here will be brief. Unfortunately, my grasp on politics is weak and I am not qualified to do too much in-depth analysis. What I would like to say is, not every American is a liberal Democrat. That seems to be what every person here assumes Americans are though. While not every North Face wearer hikes every weekend, not everyone with a US-issued passport voted for Barack Obama.

A few weeks ago, Lindsay and I ate dinner with two German students and two Irish students. After dinner we watched the movie “Juno.” During the movie one of the German girls commented on the housing development in one of the scenes and asked if that was what all of America looked like. Lindsay and I did our best to explain that not every home in America looks like a cookie-cutter replica of the others. When we got back home we discussed how both of us could not believe that people might actually watch an American film and be led to believe that it was an accurate depiction of what all of America is like. I shudder to think about what Europeans might believe the American college experience is like after seeing a movie like “Animal House”…