Angst

A student from another university contacted me for an interview she needed to take for her class on cultural differences. Her overarching question was what about America shocked or impressed me when I arrived (almost three years ago) and what is different in my country. I found myself telling her about how I love that people are smiling in the streets and they greet me even if they don't know me. I also appreciate how important family is here. I'm afraid my comments might have made her think that I come from a country of cold, grumpy people who would sell their mothers if they could. For some reason I forgot about how big the trucks and SUVs appeared to me, about how much a visit to the emergency room cost me, about what a big role institutionalized religion plays in people's lives compared to what I'm used to, or how I found racism in the most unexpected places. Instead I told her about growing up under communism, about the revolution, about the eternal transition, about the disillusioned young generation who flees the country and the nostalgic older generations, and even about La trecut, a Romanian webpage that brings together bits and pieces from my contemporaries' past. I guess I just opened a vein and let it bleed. I don't know how much she understood and she seemed a bit overwhelmed, especially because she knew close to nothing about my country. When she arrived in my office all she knew was that I was a foreign student. Sure, I told her many more other things but I'm still left with a feeling that I didn't do justice to any of my two worlds. I comfort myself with the thought that one cannot explain one's cultural background in 20 minutes.