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I'm an Indian who has lived in the Middle East my entire life, and had the opportunity to study at Purdue University in West Lafayette for six months. The first few weeks was a culture shock to me. I grew up eating mcdonalds and hardees, watched Star Wars and Terminator, and Bill Cosby was part of our family evening TV, CNN was everyday. I watched american sitcoms. But when I reached the states, things were not as I had expected it.

I assumed that since I knew of the states, the states would know of my world, at least some of it. But I was badly mistaken. Most of the people I met didn't know where I was from (the middle east - Muscat Oman, Dubai UAE) This I was not expecting - even questions about India were disconcerting. The question about going to school on elephants I actually thought an urban myth, but was sadly corrected when faced with that very question. I replied as gently as I could, "they're out of season for most part of the year, and we usually use buses or cars". The answer was found to be satisfactory.

But what struck me the most were the people, the everyday. For thanksgiving I had the opportunity to visit a friend and her family. Her father was a 3rd generation farmer and the warmth with which we were recieved was amazing. They invited us into their home and took us to their brothers/sisters home for thanksgiving lunch. The people were warm, didn't know too much about where I came from but didn't really care. They just wanted to know who I was......and that I will take with me forever.

For thier ignorance, I am sorry, for thier inquiries I am hopeful but most of all for thier warmth I am grateful. I do really think that Americans are great people at heart, they just need to step out of thier towns and cities, and realise that the rest of world does look at them differently - but they don't look at us at all.

This does not of course cover all americans, but quite a few. There were the globally concious and informed, to them my message is good for you, but perhaps they can do well by educating the rest of the country. A reform of the educational system? I don't know, I'm not an American. I can't put down solutions, but I can certainly say good luck to you, we both need it in today's world.
Amit Guha Roy ..more by this author..
United Arab Emirates