Notes from Abroad

'England ... it's in Europe, right?'

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

By Travis Kovaleinen

GVL Study Abroad Columnist

I think most Americans have a general idea of how others stereotypically view them. Of course there is great variance amongst the attributes pegged to us; sometimes we are said to be generous, other times money hungry.

We have been said to be ignorant of international affairs (true all too often), monolingual (also quite sadly too often accurate) and loud.

Oh yeah, and we‘re supposed to be fat. To make matters worse, the eight years of the Georgre Bush Jr. presidency did not seem to have done much good for our general reputation.

President Obama has definitely helped in improving the way others view Americans as evidenced by international polls often cited in the news.

However, beside the stereotypes already all too prevalent, there is something that can influence others´ perceptions of us even more strongly while abroad: our behavior.

On my daily 30 minute commute to the University of Iceland I take “þrysturinn,” the colloquial term for Bus 3, and usually have a pleasant and silent ride while I admire the scenery.

Recently while Bus 3 was stopped at one of the major stations a pair of obvious tourists entered the bus. Their backpacks bulged to the seams, and they were a bit overweight.

I began to play the game with myself that I think most people residing in an area that gets a lot of visitors inevitably tend to find themselves doing- “guess the nationality!”

It did not take long to discern their country of origin when they quickly broke the silence – which is more or less upheld by nearly all Icelanders while on public transit in the daytime – with their mild southern drawl.

One of the guys sat next to a particularly attractive girl and started up a conversation with her after having been semi-loudly discussing something with his friend.

“England…isn’t that in Europe?” he began.

At first I wasn’t eavesdropping too attentively, but then I couldn’t help myself after having noticed this bit of conversation. My stomach tensed in embarrassment. This is not something an American is supposed to say.

I got my notebook out and began transcribing. This appeared to be the realization of American stereotypes I had heard and read of for years unfortunately unfolding before me.

“Ha?” the Icelandic girl blurted. [haː] is the Icelandic way of using an interrogative “what,” though it sounds quite like someone is oddly laughing at you at first.

“England, it’s in Europe, right?” he repeated.

“Yes,” she quipped.

“”Ever been to Europe?” he continued

“Yes.” She said, seeming to be quickly losing her patience after that intellectually-stimulating question about England.

“Ever been ta’ Amsterdam?” he said with an intonation I am sure he meant to be suave.

“Yes,” she said, continuing to display her disinterest by only answering his questions and saying nothing afterward until asked something else.

“They’ve got some cool coffee shops over there I’ve heard,” he said, still using this voice that was an attempt to sound really cool, as if he felt he were sharing some big secret with her about Amsterdam’s infamous – or possibly famous depending on your stance – marijuana cafés.

At any rate, drug usage beyond alcohol is actually quite taboo in Iceland so he was not making a good impression by assuming she liked marijuana and wanted to discuss pot cafés.

Furthermore, she had already traveled there so I think it is likely she already knew about the nature of some of the cafés, but this is beside the point.

He went on to ask her some more questions about Iceland, which were overly general. For example, he asked her what kind of music Icelandic people listen to and if they have “shopping malls, ya´ know, big stores?’’

This is behavior which I hope none of us will repeat.

After all, whenever we leave the country we are essentially ambassadors. It goes without saying that we should always be on good behavior and polite to others, you know, basic pre-school stuff.

I believe we should also have some basic geography skills, don't you? While we are abroad let's try just a bit harder. I think discussions about drugs and assuming developed countries don´t have “big stores” or that everyone in that country, despite age differences for one, listen to the same music and so on should be reconsidered.

Well, I hope this story is at the very least somewhat entertaining and perhaps helps a few people who might otherwise repeat this behavior, though I’d like to think that unlikely.

Oh, and enjoy you the cold weather in Michigan! It’s actually significantly warmer here during the winter due to something called the Gulf Stream. Happy holidays from Iceland!

Posted 9:26 PM