I sat down to breakfast with two girls from Austria and Estonia. At lunch I learned a few German words, and walked into town with a Latvian and a Finn. At dinner, I couldn't keep track of who belonged to which country.

After four months in Chile, I've been looking back on the beginning of my journey: the orientation with roughly 50 other exchange students. After we arrived in Santiago, we ate breakfast at the airport, looking curiously at the food that we now eat everyday. Most of us knew no one, except those that had met while traveling. I soon learned that I was the only exchange student from the United States within the group. And I loved it. I was surrounded by other students that were just as curious as I was. Although we were all different ages, from different parts of the world, we got along incredibly well.

In those three days, I realized the presence of the United States in the world. That people watched mainly TV, music, food, fashion, and every part of United States culture had some how reached all of these countries. I learned to hate United States movies the most. Every single person I met asked me about cheerleaders and football players, nerds and jocks. Much of that is thanks to Mean Girls. There were a million questions. A million assumptions. And with every question, I could see some kind of desire to see ‘the dream country’. Someone actually asked me, “Is America really the dream country?” Another asked me if I would every run for president, and I answered with an absolutely not. She said, “I would hate to be president of the United States. The whole world would be watching everything you do.”

I didn’t mind being asked questions and clearing up stereotypes about the United States. What bothered me was that people took the extremes they saw in movies, and believed what they saw to be more desirable than the culture of their own country. I am proud of my country, but I don’t want others to lose sight of their own culture. In twenty years I don’t want the only thing separating the worlds’ countries to be boundaries.