Not anti-american, but against some of their attitudes.

[Heather Lemley]

Lia,
   I really appreciate what you had to say.  I did the camino by myself when I was 18.  I had never been out of the US and I was fairly innocent of foriegn politics and the world outside my home in Texas.  I had quite a rude awakening.  I found that people were rude to me b/c I was American and from Texas.  They automatically assumed I supported Bush since I was from his home state.  It was only when I told them that I didn't vote for him that they let up on me.  One night in the refuge all my friends had gone out and I made dinner for myself.  This was towards the end so there were mainly spanish there and they sat there and talked about me and made fun of me while I ate by myself, in Spanish.  I felt like crying.  I felt so umwelcome.  Finally one man felt bad for me and tried to talk to me but he couldn't get past saying my name (Heather).  A couple days later I saw two of the men who had done most the talking and they gave me a pair of USA socks they had bought.  I'm not!
  sure if they were making fun of me or if they felt guilty.  Then one of the men asked my name so he could include me in a book he was writing about the Camino.  I wish now I knew who he was to see what he wrote about me.  I also had an Australian friend who constantly told me what was wrong with the US and he threw every single stereotype in my face and blamed me for how all Americans are so 'materialistic' and 'shallow'.  However, by the end he admitted that he really did like me and maybe all Americans weren't so bad.  My point is, be prepared for anything and try to understand that they are coming from their own perspective as well as you.  I know I finally had to get in an argument with the Australian man one night at dinner b/c I couldn't stand to hear him whine about the US anymore.  It really bothered me that maybe all my friends there had reservations about liking me b/c of where I was from.  One night a friend of the Australian man looked at me as if he could size!
  me up just from one glance and said, "So I bet your dad is a doctor. 
.
 ."  I felt like screaming at him saying my dad was dead and my step dad did air conditioning for a living.  But I didn't.  I just calmly said no, that my mom worked in special education.  And he said, "Oh, but that's kind of like a doctor right, she is a profesional, right?"  A part of me still wishes I would have made him regret his comment but I know that wasn't the right thing to say.  But don't let me scare you away.  Most of my friends were great and never treated me any differently b/c I was American.  It is just those few that stick out in my memory.  However, I know that none of that was personally directed towards me.  It all had to do with their personal feelings about the US and nothing I had done.  The best you can do is try and show them that no stereotype will ever encompass all Americans.  I was proud b/c before I left I heard a rumor that my Australian friend had said his opinions about the US were changed b/c of me and a few other Americans he had met along!
  the way.  I did take that comment persoanlly =).

Heather