After being in Europe for three months, I have grown to appreciate American culture a little more. Europe is a place everyone wants to escape to, be it vacations or daydreaming of living in a cottage in the country by the sea with no distractions and the quiet subtle rumbling of the oceans hitting the rocks. Pretty elaborate visual, but I’m sure we’ve all had a daydream or two like that.
Being away from my normal everyday environment, submerged in a different culture, made me miss what I know. And for that, I’m sure I won’t make a permanent move out of America any time soon. Believe me, I strongly considered it. I didn’t want to talk about it until I was sure, but this trip to Greece was half a test to see if I could find a way to live there. After graduating, I was frustrated with the pressure and the feeling of having to put my life together, find a job, move out, and live like an adult. Things didn’t work out as I hoped, made a lot of physical moves and my mentality kinda took a dive. I thought “maybe all of this isn’t for me” – American living, that is.
For me personally, I have the option to move to Europe, permanently if I want. Both of my parents were born in Greece, and being that I’m first generation American in my family, I have an easier chance of getting dual citizenship faster than someone who is, say, fourth generation American. Since Greece is in the EU (for now) I can have access to live in any other country that is within the EU. Most of Europe works like the US. You can cross over to other countries without needing your passport because these countries are “unionized”. So once I get to Greece, I can move to France if I want. I really had all of this in the back of my head – not France specifically, but to have that option really opens possible opportunities. All I need is my dual citizenship.
So with all of this said, I like having the option, but as of now, I don’t see myself making any major life changing moves like that. Moving to Portland was an eye opener that sometimes taking a leap of faith doesn’t work for everyone, and it didn’t work for me. I don’t have that kind of luck. But even so, back to my opening statement, America is kind of strange with the culture we have here. It’s all cultures mixed into a bowl that’s just a blended blur of all things that make up different people. It’s hard to explain that to anyone who lives elsewhere. Greece is make up of Greeks, France of made up of French, Germany is made up of Germans; they all have their cultures and traditions. America is made up of everyone where culture kinda gets lost, but there are so many people trying to hold on to that culture. With all this blending and worlds colliding, we in a way have created our own culture.
What makes me proud to see America stand out are the subcultures that form within different eras. The surf craze in California featuring the Z-Boys, the grunge scene to come out of Seattle, country music that sprouted from the south, the greasers during the 50s, jazz era and speakeasys, etc. Yea, our country had a lot of downfalls with racism, segregation, gentrification – it’s a result of different cultures being thrown into a tiny space. Everyone wants to eat eachother alive to be the leader. We also created a country that exploits consumption, entertainment, and created obsessions. But if you set that all aside, noticing the little things is what gets me excited. Each state has their own culture and it’s really cool to see a big difference between Hawaii and Tennessee. I can’t give that up quite yet. It’s the fact that we created our own culture that is unlike any other culture. That makes me proud to be an American.
A lot of my interests stem from America and what was engraved in me, by choice not by force, and it’s not impossible to adjust to different lifestyles because at the end of the day it’s up to you and your inner self to make things happen. And as my uncle kept telling me “there’s no such thing as you can’t. Only that you don’t want to”. Most of the time I wanted to tell him to hush, but thinking about it in certain contexts, it makes lots of sense. Me living out of America is something that I thought I can’t do, but right now I just think I don’t want to.
I considered making a big move immediately after getting my dual citizenship, but I think at this time in my life I’m not ready for that. I’m still in the process of figuring life out and making a big change like that could either make or absolutely break me. I’m not ready to gamble again any time soon. It helps having family in Greece, but there’s a lot I need to work on with myself before making a huge commitment like that. I’m considering applying for my citizenship anyway but it’ll be a while till I put it to use as I originally thought about doing. I’m going to keep the option open ended because I may be saying this now but I always change my mind because I just wanna do so much and I want to have the option to do whatever I want if the opportunity is presented.
At the end of the day, there’s so much wrong with our country but every place has its flaws. Doesn’t hurt to find the good and stick with that. The more good you spread, the better vibes come your way. For now, I’m searching for the good in New York and I’m trying to find a way to make it work out.
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