{"id":180,"date":"2015-02-19T22:39:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T22:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/?p=180"},"modified":"2015-04-16T15:13:22","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:13:22","slug":"an-american-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/?p=180","title":{"rendered":"An American in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Molly<\/a><\/p>\n

Molly Reese (left) Kristen Harpster (right)<\/em>
Year Abroad: Senior<\/em>
Term: Fall 2014<\/em>
Major: Psychology<\/em>
Program: University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shaded under an awning during lunch at a caf\u00e9 off the main road, standing in a friendly semi-circle in the dusky light of a kitchen after dark, or sitting at a table surrounded by the sound of pans on the stove and spoons scraping bowls \u2013 The tempo and environments have shifted around me so many times, yet the topic has always stayed the same: stereotypes.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you tell who are Americans?\u201d I asked my German friends that afternoon at the caf\u00e9 as we finished up our meal.<\/p>\n

They first mentioned how we\u2019d left food on our plates, and as the conversation continued, one of them turned to me and said, \u201cYou look very American.\u201d<\/p>\n

I laughed, because I knew it was true. I sat there before them in the same sweatshirt I\u2019d been wearing all week and one of my three cycled pairs of jeans with old sneakers on my feet. I was comfortable and casual \u2013 a very American look.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, in that semi-circle in the kitchen, an Irish student repeated that same sentiment. She told me that you could tell who\u2019s American, because Americans are always dressed for comfort. I remember my good friend turning to me then and looking amused, a knowing \u201cMolly<\/em>\u201d was all she said.<\/p>\n

Everyday wear for Americans consists of sweatshirts and comfortable shoes, while Irish students approach going out as \u201cgoing out.\u201d They dress semi-formal even for classes. If it\u2019s raining, Americans will have rain boots and a raincoat with the hood up, while Irish students may have a raincoat on they\u2019d never be bothered with the hood. Rain and getting wet are second nature to Irish students, while Americans and other nationalities that are not used to such frequent rainfall will scramble to stay as dry as possible.<\/p>\n

As my time abroad continues, and I find myself picking up this topic with so many different people from so many different places, I am still amazed to learn that what I thought was simply a part of who I am, such as my casual dress, actually lies within a larger cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shaded under an awning during lunch at a caf\u00e9 off the main road, standing in a friendly semi-circle in the dusky light of a kitchen after dark, or sitting at a table surrounded by the sound of pans on the stove and spoons scraping bowls \u2013 The tempo and environments have shifted around me so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncclinked.com\/nccpassport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}