Great question. My favorite topic is travel to Europe, but I will try to keep this short! My first trip to Europe was to Bosnia. I went on a religious pilgrimage, of sorts. It was a touristy spot though.... but I found the local people there, well... the older people kind of kept to themselves and weren't interested in interacting with foreigners, but the younger people were. They were quite friendly. People in Bosnia apparently look to Italy for their cultural cues ..... they would mention Italy alot in discussions of the latest fashion and trends, etc. America wasn't mentioned very often. Italy was the bomb, so to speak. My next trip was to Poland..... I lived there for a short time. I loved the town, and many people were friendly, others weren't. You could tell who was prejudiced against Americans and who wasn't.... It was a lot like Bosnia, the older people kept to themselves, they seemed to still be living in the Communist era. The young people were friendly. I loved the small town feeling there. People are very religious there..... they have statues of the Pope.... it's interesting. I've been to Ireland and Great Britain several times now. I like both countries about the same. I find them both very friendly (except, perhaps my last trip when I was grilled about my political preferences ) There seems to be some anti-American sentiment lately (because of Iraq), but it's not scary or anything, at least the places I've been recently.

I think the stereotype of Americans in Europe is accurate - I know I certainly fit it to a "T" the first couple times I went over. You know, the stupid, smiling, idiot stereotype.... that was me. Now people think I'm a local though. As they say, when in "Rome", do as the Romans do. I try to follow that advice now.....

Someday I want to go to Bavaria (my mom's family came from there), Italy, and also South America (Brazil especially). Anyway, basically I love other cultures - I have a romantic, idealistic fondness for them and I think there are some very good people there too.