I have never been to North America. There is no good reason for this, it simply hasn’t happened. Going on a long and leisurely trip there is now number one on my ‘travel’ list.
Car Culture Extreme….
I can’t even drive!
Over the last couple of years I have become quite fascinated with the US and now I am saving the visit there for some exciting time in the not-so-distant future.

I’d like to make something really special of it! I have three childhood friends who live there; Lovisa outside San Francisco, Trine in New York and Jessika in rural Ohio.

First the Negative…

Up until I was about 25, I had a snobbish but ignorant view of the US. I thought I knew all there was to know about that country from constantly being exposed to American media, films, fast food etc. I guess my impression was “Why go to a country that already see and hear about every day?”
All there is to American Cuisine?
In addition I had heard all the urban myths about Americans that are circulating in Europe. I thought the US was a country mainly populated by poorly educated TV addicts, by people who never walk - only drive, by violent gang members and by greedy, egoistical and war-mongering capitalists in general…

As for things to do there, I snobbishly figured “Well what culture, art and architecture could they possibly have? The whole country is only a few hundred years old!” That’s a pretty ignorant view though, since some extraordinarily interesting things have happened there during this period! And additionally, things can be beautiful and fascinating without being old..

I also held the kinds of reservations against the US that you get if you are constantly exposed to negatively tainted newspaper articles or TV news.
Over-exposure on TV…
(The media in Sweden is normally quite critical of the United States due to the fact that the great majority of people working in media there are social democrats . Finding faults with the greatest capitalist economy on earth is part of the job description. This is slowly changing now though.)

To sum it up; the US was a constant presence in my life, but not one that interested me, or that I cared particularly for.

Now I am Positive!

My negative impression was contradicted though by the extraordinarily nice personalities of the Americans that I met here in Europe and in Asia. I noticed that they were friendly, helpful, fun and un-assuming. You really couldn’t help but like them. Their personalities didn’t fit the stereotype about their country at all. I also worked with some American techies and generally found them to be clever and hard-working.

I was also impressed that many Americans seem to have an active Christian faith and aren’t afraid to say so. I never normally meet perople like that. Those few people that I know here in Europe who occasionally attend church do so mainly out of a sense of tradition and duty. Not because they particularly want to or because they feel strongly about Christianity. I almost fell off the chair when a guy I worked with suggested we should pray together. It turned out to be quite a special moment though.

Another thing that really amazed me was realising that the US has some of the most majestic nature on the planet. Most of Europe is quite lame in comparison, to be completely honest. I discovered US nature through watching documentaries on the Discovery Channel. Just to mention a few spectacular things that I really can’t wait to see for myself:
Magnificent Badlands!
we haven’t got anything like that!

• Mighty Rivers
• Geysers
• ”Alps in Colorado, Idaho and Utah
• Fantastic Beaches and Impressive Coastlines
• Pine Forests in Minnesota
• Redwood Forest in California
• Swamplands in the South
• ”Badlands”
• The Grand Canyon
• ”Craters of the Moon National Park”
• Prairie
• Deserts
• Glaciers and Arctic Tundra in Alaska.

We have some of these things in the Europe too (but not all though!) However since we are in different countries, and speak different languages, people in general tend only to experience the nature that is in their own country and perhaps one or two other countries. Migration is quite unusual with the exception of the attraction of London and Paris on people from all over the continent. I am fascinated by the different ’states’. A country in a country?
In America on the other side, people can move to any part of the country they fancy living in!

They could grow up in Texas, go to college in New England, work for a while in Silicon Valley… then in, say San Diego and then in New York. If they want something really different they can go to Hawaii, Alaska or Puerto Rico. They could retire in a sunny state like Florida.. All without even owning a passport. That really is very impressive. I guess I envy that a bit.

(In theory we could do that in European Union too, but the language situation makes it complicated. You can’t really work in a professional career unless you have a very good command of the local language and culture.)

I also became aware that the majority of Americans aren’t very interested in visiting Europe since they perceive they’ve got everything they need on their own side of the Atlantic… I guess that’s fair enough.What’s a medieval church or castle compared to the Grand Canyon… ?

I suppose that the kind of historical remnants that we tend to value here are something you wouldn’t miss if you never got used to having it around. A scene from The Emigrants, a film about
some Swedish Emigrants to the United States”
Another very interesting thing about America is that practically everybody who lives there is a descendant of brave people who dared risking all to search a new life on the new continent.

It wasn’t the most sophisticated or successful people of their time who left Europe for America. Instead it was those who had a personal drive, a vision for their family and who weren’t afraid to take a risk.
Some of the best people left for America!
What a “brain drain”! In Sweden there are still whole villages left abandoned in the forest; called ‘dead’ villages they are left to decay after the inhabitants left for America a century ago… Their old wooden houses are rotten and probably mostly fallen to bits by now. I saw such a place once when I was out in the forest with my grandfather.

When bearing in mind the emigration to America, perhaps it isn’t so strange that Christianity is dying in Europe today. (Particularly in Northern Europe). Those who were passionate Christians left the continent for the States as they got persecuted for not sticking to the regional church practices.

Taking communion at home was illegal.
I remember from history classes that 19th century Swedes who wanted to hold prayer meetings and take communion at home got penalised and mainly left for America. At the time of learning about that I thought “Quite right too, why didn’t these people listen to the Church? Good riddance to them!” But now I realize now that they were probably the most faithful people around in the country at the time! A generation after they had left, they were pretty much forgotten. Written off. The decline of Christianity too, had started. That’s a whole different article though.

(Footnote: In my own family we had quite a surprise in the late 80s as an American from the state of Georgia contacted us and said that he was my grandfather’s second cousin or something like that. Him and his wife came to visit and were very nice indeed. They didn’t speak a word of Swedish though, and didn’t look very Swedish either. They were chuffed to bits when they realised that they were related to the (Swedish) composer of the hymn ‘How Great Thou Art”. They also really enjoyed visiting my grandfathers brother who still runs the family farm in Southern Sweden. That was where his emigrant family had left from and most of the nearby village probably looks more or less the same today as it did when his ancestors left!)

Perhaps the dynamic and intensive personalities and the entrepreneurial spirit of many Americans can be explained by the fact that modern white Americans are the descendants of people who dared to sell all their possessions and board a ship for a new, unknown, savage continent in search of a better life. If bravery is in the genes, these people ought to have it!
Now the US has its own traditions..!
In order to do such a thing you need heaps of optimism, courage and enterpreuneurship. These people didn’t even know the language of the country that they were going to!

As a European I also have to envy Americans their un-abashed nationalism. It simply isn’t acceptable in Europe to be too patriotic (unless it’s in connection with a sports game). In the US, nationalism seems to be alive and well and I guess this has been very useful for strengthening the country recently.
This wouldn’t happen in Europe.
I admire the outgoing and cheerful “everything-is-possible” personalities of most Americans. They are willing to improvise and improve how they do things, instead of being weighed down by tradition and norms. Social class, etiquette and such things are not a big thing. It is about who you are today, instead of who your familyor ancestors were. Americans seem to make the best of the ‘here and now’ and chance that a friendly manners will see them through any difficulties. I find that positive and refreshing.

In Europe we are very quick to label people based on their accents, manners background and education. I do that myself despite not wanting to do it. Lots of Europeans from disadvantaged backgrounds are absolutely unable to imagine a way out of their circumstances, whereas in the US it seems even the lowliest worker harbours high-flying dreams. There is plenty of room for individuality and freedom of opinions across a wider spectrum.

Please return for more about my American Dream! I haven’t finished yet!