perceptions for true or false

1st person; introspection, resolution, or something like that...

I waste too much time caring about what people think.

When I talked to Swedish and Slovenian friends while I was in Europe I got so frustrated when they would tell me about their perceptions of Americans. What did they say? Well a few examples:

-Americans are selfish
-Americans say they love everything and always say things are lovely... thus Americans are perceived to be flippant and when they use the word "love" it's meaningless since they use the same word to say they love food or a friend.
-Americans are fake
-Americans dress bad (especially guys with their loose, baggy clothes noted by Joachim)
-American education is inferior to European education; except for University level education, which surpasses Europe's system
-Americans are unintelligent... a joke that one of our friends told us: "I'm not saying that all Americans are stupid... but if we took all the warning labels off everything, the problem would solve itself"

Ok, so maybe I agree with pretty much all of those ideas (which is why when people ask me where I'm from I say California not America). But I was frustrated because I don't want to be associated with any of those perceptions.

Then I realized that I don't exemplify those things so why should I worry about them? Caring to a certain degree is healthy and normal, we call people that don't care at all about what other people think "sociopaths". Social awareness and self-consciousness makes sociology work. However, I think it's fair to say that many of us go to the extreme of caring too much.

For example, I find it almost impossible to go clothes shopping without someone else (preferably my brutally honest sister). However, the other day I put on a pair of jeans that she didn't like that much, but I got them anyway because I liked them. It felt good.

So I've decided I want to change that. I guess I want to care less.... about trivial things at least.


3rd person; observations or hasty generalizations, you choose...

-I don't care what my last name is, I prefer to identify myself with my other nationalities rather than English. Between England and Ireland, I choose the latter even if they can be a wee bit mental... I mean that in a good way.
-In my experience I've found the English to be prideful and xenophobic, but usually easy to have a pleasant conversation with.
-Tourists are frustrating, no matter what ethnicity.
-The general French population is not as refined as they would have us believe... I saw far more men than I would have liked urinating in public during the Bastille Day festivities.
-The two ethnicities that seem to be made fun of the most in Europe are Germans and the French.
-(2nd hand observation) Norway is very expensive. A friend of mine found the following surprising exchange rates... Coffee and a pastry: 10.50 USD. Value meal at Mcdonalds: 14.00 USD. Personal size pizza: 17.50 USD. Norway beanie in a tourist store: 55.00 USD. Laplander slippers with bells dangling from the toes: 85.00 USD
-Stockholm, indie music... yes.
-Guys look really good in skinny jeans, but not capris!
-Swedes have the best fashion sense.
-Swedish people are easy to get along with and relate to... our cultures are very similar in many ways.
-One svenska-engelska difference is that of belief. In general, Americans have some sort of belief in God while, in general, Swedes are atheistic. Our friends were quite surprised to find we believe in God and when asked if they did they answered, "No, we're Swedish". Strange... even stranger was that one of the guys thought I was out of my mind when, during their joke about Jesus being Swedish just like everything else, I commented about his being Jewish. He wanted to know where on earth I had heard that and thought it was ridiculous.
-As far as Christianity is concerned, Europe is a dark place where atheism is probably more prominent then on any other continent. In the Czech Republic a person who becomes a Christian will be disowned by his or her family.
-Humility, consideration, and a smile will take you far.
-People are friendly when you give them a chance.
-Europeans are extremely hospitable, for the most part.
-Europeans criticize Americans for their racism, even if nearly all Europeans are extremely nationalistic and have various ethnic prejudices mainly based on past conflicts or cultural differences. They will swear up and down that they are not racist and justify their prejudices.
-As much as Europeans complain about Americans, especially pres. Bush, they will always love American music.
-They love to buy cowboy hats as American souvenirs.
-Two things about Americans that secretly scare Europeans: the way Americans sue others like it's going out of style and gangs that are believed to infest most of the country.
-Europeans have a lot of pride for their respective countries.

People are funny. I may not understand them or disagree with them but for the most part differences make everything a little more interesting.