Today in my Dutch Present-Day Society seminar, by way of introduction, my professor asked us all to think of three images/stereotypes we have of each country represented by the students in our class, and for our own country, to think of three words that we would use to explain it to an outsider.

In describing the US, other students minced their words: big, vast, diverse, young. The American students chose words like powerful, aggressive, dominant.

I hate being associated with these people.

"American" is not a good descriptor for me. I don't want anyone to think of me as an Anerican. It's "Hi, I'm Lauren, I live in the United States," not "Hi, I'm Lauren, I'm an American." I am not an American. I really don't think of myself that way.

"The world is my country..."

I put my pictures and posters up tonight.

Every day, this feels a bit more like home, and every day, I get a bit more homesick.