Eva Harder
Staff writer

Editor’s note: This is a Study Abroad perspective.

Since the moment I landed in Florence, Italy over two months ago, I have been desperately attempting not to appear “too American.”

When asked by a local where I am from in the United States, I shyly reply “Texas,” and hope I don’t get too much of an earful about the Bush administration or the war.

I have come to learn in my short time here that, sadly, residents overseas care more about American politics than many Americans do.

And Americans weren’t the only ones rejoicing after Nov. 4. While a large part of America may have hoped and prayed for a different outcome, much of the international population is, well… optimistic.
‘
They’re excited.

Nina, a 22-year-old economics student and lifelong resident of Florence, knows that American politics are not just American.

What we do affects the whole world, and she feels that Obama will bring positive changes not just to the States, but to the entire globe.

She hopes he will bring greater international diplomacy and a stronger economy.

Rocco, a tea maker from Siena, believes Obama will strengthen America as a nation.

He believes that the entire world, and not just America, are sick of the war and have been since it started in ‘03.

Students from various parts of the US, from California, South Dakota and New York, students who spent election week signing absentee ballots and staying up all night to watch the election from their TV’s are all, for the first time in years, proud to be an American in a foreign country.

Despite the fact that Texas wanted McCain and Palin, despite the red and blue lines, and despite every single debate over who would be the best president, the world is excited.

Let’s face it: for the past eight years, the world has been pissed off at America.

And even if you are Republican, even if you think Obama will be the worst thing that’s happened to this country in decades, the fact is that for the first time in eight years, people are proud of us.

The world would have been pissed off at us for passing up the chance to change, for passing up the opportunity to flush an eight-year embarrassment down the toilet and start over with more diversity, more hope, more possibility, more opportunity, and more change. And not just more, but, hopefully, better.

For the first time in a long time, it is not America against the World.

For the first time in a long time, we are not being mocked. We are not hiding our heads in embarrassment or quietly mumbling where we are from.

For the first time in a long time, we are being congratulated. We are being celebrated. We are being what everyone has been waiting for.