November 5th, 2008 by Rachel | Country: France | 5 Comments »
“I’m so jealous that you’re going to be away during the election hype,” my mother told me shortly before I left for my travels in Europe. Well, I actually didn’t really get to escape the election hype at all. Every time I walked into a newspaper shop, I saw Obama or McCain on the cover of many of the newspapers and magazine. During my stays with my French friends and host families, we watched the news, and the U.S. election was always on the air. My host families and French friends asked my opinions about the election, and they expressed theirs. When I went into stores and if the cashiers knew that I was American, he/she would say, “I hope Obama wins!” My newsfeed page on Facebook was filled with political debates and status from other people saying to “Vote for….” and people proudly showing pictures of their preferred candidate as their profile picture. My e-mail inbox was flooded with e-mails from families and friends on various election topics. My mother sent me an Obama t-shirt. A journalist from a radio station in France interviewed me and a few other SCAD-Lacoste students about the election. One of the top conversations at the table in the dinning hall was the election. I voted on an absentee ballot. The only thing that I missed was the television ads, something that I would still have missed if I were still in US as I hardly watch TV. All of this hype ended last night.
I was in the computer lab ALL night long with another SCAD student watching the election coverage on CNN and ABC. I was also glued to Facebook as I was communicating with other people on there about the elections. At 1 PM in France’s time, I saw that Obama got New Hampshire. Awesome! Let the time fly so that I hear the winner!
Two and a half hours later, I posted this message on Facebook: “It’s 3:25 AM in France, and I’m still glued to the internet…GObama!!!!!!
At 4:30 PM, I saw that Obama had just more than 300 electorate votes. “COME ON! CLOSE THE POLLS IN CALIFORNIA AND DECLARE OBAMA AS THE WINNER!” I said. The minute the clock striked 5 AM, I typed on Facebook, “Rachel is saying “WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I never felt so excited on a historic moment. I couldn’t go to bed…
I had to watch Obama’s speech! Watching his speech was like watching fireworks popping into the air!
Let me tell you something as someone who has been traveling abroad frequently -
On my first trip to France, I was treated like a crap as an American in Paris. Cashiers were unbelievably rude. I was in a store, and I asked a cashier how much the item cost, and she yelled at me as a mean witch. Other students in the group were treated in the same way.
On my second trip to France, my French host families talked nothing but how dirty and selfish Americans are. The weather was so freakin’ hot that they jokingly blamed on me for causing the global warming and allowing big fat cars to pollute in US.
Last summer, when I was in Rome, I experienced a massive riot depicting hatred towards Bush who happened to be in Rome on that day to meet the pope. Almost all streets in Rome were blocked. Gas poured everywhere. There were screams. Read the whole story here.
When I was in Florence, a waiter at a restaurant was nasty as hell. Two of the students ordered a piece of meat, and they both got undercooked meat. They requested nicely to cook the meat some more. The waitor refused. We asked for a bottle of water. He never gave us a bottle of water. We still paid, but we didn’t give a tip. The minute we stepped out, the waiter chased after us and yelled at us to give him a tip. We stood up and said, “No!”
Last December, the work camp leader treated me obnoxiously because I was American. She said something along the lines that I was just a spoiled American who has housekeepers…
This trip has been different…Europeans advocated by asking us to vote for Obama – my French friends and host families asked me if I was voting for Obama.
Yesterday, when I walked down the road, a French residence saw my shirt and said, “You’re for Obama?”
“Yup!” I responded. She gave me thumbs up, “I hope he wins. All French people are hoping that he wins!”
Today, I was at a bookstore. As I was purchasing a book written in English, the cashier asked me if I’m American. I told him “Oui!” He smiled and said, “France is very happy that Obama won!”
It’s great to feel that there is a sense of pride in being an American in Europe for the first time, something that I’ve never felt being on a foreign land…
It’s incredible to see the whole world celebrating Obama’s victory, not just in the United States. We needed to envision this kind of victory!
5 Comments
Luca
November 7, 2008 at 4:35 am
Ciao Rachel…
First of all The Del Dottore’s are happy that Obama won…
People are sometimes very ignorant, they tend to generalize and to judge others without really know them..
It is true that in Europe now mostly of the people look at americans in a different way and for sure Obama election has given the whole world a strong wind of hope and changing.. we’re right in here living this historical moment…
and who made all this possible? the Millions of Americans that voted for him… the same ones that few days ago people were rude to, the same ones that few days ago people were obnoxiously to… we have still a lot to learn but I guess this could be the beginning of it….
BTW you never embarrassed us while you where with us even if Bush was your president at that time..;-P
ps. have you read Jodi’s post where she talk about the Italian Prime Minister gaffe? read it
We miss you, Luca
Rachel
November 8, 2008 at 8:49 am
Hey Luca!
I can see that you all are excited as Jodi wrote blog entries celebrating the victory. It’s very true that people tend to generalize too much, and we sure do still have a lot to learn about it.
I did see Jodi’s post about the Italian Prime Minister….crazy…
Jessica
November 10, 2008 at 12:32 am
[riffly_video]5B0DEC18AEDC11DDB911D7618271DB70[/riffly_video]
Jessica
November 10, 2008 at 9:53 pm
[riffly_video]B000E334AF8F11DDB911D7618271DB70[/riffly_video]
Rachel
November 11, 2008 at 6:30 am
Hi Jessica!
Good to see you! Cocoa looks absolutely adorable! I miss you too! I can’t wait to meet Coca and Molly when I come home next week!
Rachel