Love for America

It's kind of ironic that I just had my most patriotic Independence Day and I was as far away from home as ever. What's the saying? "Distance makes the heart grow fonder?" Well that definitely held true for the 15 of us here in Thailand because we showed some serious love for our country on Wednesday. In the photo above I am with my friend Emily and the bottom photo is of all the girls and P'Wit. He is our TA and we would be so lost without him! He is so nice and I think he thought our celebrations Wednesday were comical.

I have always loved the Fourth of July at home but this year it meant so much more to me. I have been away from the states for a little over 6 weeks and for the first time in my life I have been able to look at America through a completely different lens. I never thought about how my country looked to others, but while backpacking I spoke with many foreigners about how they perceived the United States. I now think critically about our history and the roles we have played in international politics and I have a completely different idea of what it means to be "from" a country. It's weird how I spent my whole life living in a place but never really thinking about how it interacted or related to other places in the world. All I knew was the United States. But now I realize it is just a small part in the whole scheme of global interactions. The thoughts I'm trying to convey through this blog post are complex and not fully formed in my brain so it's difficult to put into writing, but I hope everyone can understand the gist of what I am saying. Bottom line: it's been really interesting to talk to peers about what life was like growing up in a different country than the US and learning about how others perceive my country.

Anyways, back to the party! So, Mary Katherine, Emily, and I started planning out what we would do for July 4th about 2 weeks in advance. My creativity meter was at an all time high and we decorated tank tops. Now these weren't just regular tank tops...don't be fooled. We all cut stars out of cardboard and spray painted American flags on these epic tanks. The three of us looked a little silly walking into the party dressed in matching shirts, headbands, jean shorts, and sneakers, but no one doubted our love for America that night. The playlist consisted of classic American tunes and we all sung aloud proudly and and loudly. As I was saying, there is something about NOT being in American on Independence Day that makes you even more emotional about our great country. After gathering at our friends apartment we headed out to a club and danced for hours! The greatest part of the night came when we piled into a cab and on the way home sang the star spangled banner at the top of our lungs. It was a perfect end to the patriotic night and I was happy to celebrate it with my new friends here.