International travel
-
I’m a Russian, hold my beer.
Do people actually hold that against you? The worst I’ve had as an american was explaining that most Americans don’t support Trump, Elon is a Nazi (they didn’t get the memo in east asia), and then contextualizing whatever other weird impressions they have.
-
I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but anytime abroad I tell people I’m from Jersey. First and foremost I identify as. New Jerseyan. “American” and “Canadian” are so incredibly broad. Are you from Vancouver? Toronto? Are you a Newfie or from Edmonton? Shit, are you Quebecois? The same applies in the US, I don’t for a second begin to think of any of the regions as being remotely similar. Northeast, Atlantic, Midwest, West Coast, all very different places with very different people. I didn’t include the South because they’re the worst.
So yeah, I’ve kinda always just led with that. Maybe us people from Jersey are just like that though, I dunno. I won’t lie, sometimes it leads me to saying things like “I’m an hour outside of New York.” I leave off “city” because New York State may as well not even exist, it’s essentially a barren wasteland of former mining towns that are in a depressed death spiral of long, gray winters and trips to the finger lakes.
anytime abroad I tell people I’m from Jersey
You tell me you’re from Jersey, I’ll ask you about a tiny island in the english channel.
-
Yeah. Also, like, I’ve never met locals who are like that. I’m American. I travel pretty frequently. It is obvious from my accent, and also from the fact that I tell people I’m American when they ask. And also due to the confused look in my eye when someone tells me the temperature. I’ve never run into anyone who openly hates Americans visiting their country.
The only time that I experienced genuine dislike for my nationality was when I told a Serbian person at a training that I was giving that I’m American. I think that feelings run deeper when your home has been bombed or invaded or similar by another country.
My father in law has no time for Germans, which I kind of get since he is a Dutch Jew and half of his family was killed during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
-
Do people actually hold that against you? The worst I’ve had as an american was explaining that most Americans don’t support Trump, Elon is a Nazi (they didn’t get the memo in east asia), and then contextualizing whatever other weird impressions they have.
Not really. To be open, I don’t live in Russia for over a decade.
There were minor incidents even before the big war, like people abruptly stopping speaking to me upon hearing my nationality, or asking why I support (I don’t) Putin or why I don’t stop him. One guy explained to me very matter-of-factly that all Russians are intrinsically evil and deserve supervision because of it… Didn’t know how to answer that one. Very rarely I was thrown insults in the streets.
But other than a very few incidents, all people I know outside of Russia were always welcoming and supportive. Recently, I received more threats and hate speech from my pro-putin compatriots than I ever received anywhere else in the world. -
Yeah. Also, like, I’ve never met locals who are like that. I’m American. I travel pretty frequently. It is obvious from my accent, and also from the fact that I tell people I’m American when they ask. And also due to the confused look in my eye when someone tells me the temperature. I’ve never run into anyone who openly hates Americans visiting their country.
Do you tell people you’re from America, or from a random state or town and not even mention the country. I’ve had never, ever had someone from America tell me they’re from America or USA when I’ve asked where they are from. And I’ve never, ever had anyone from any other country do the same. Which subconsciously reinforces biases, as much as I hate to admit it.
