Pageantry

Once in a while we have a "Miss America" day. Not in the sense that we preside over a beauty pageant, but in that we have a sudden, usually inexplicable, longing for America. This happens to K more often than to me, though it does happen to me occasionally in between moments of longing for Scandinavia.

"Miss America" usually pops up at completely random times, triggered by a memory or some bit of American culture. Anything from thoughts of wide-open-spaces-style Great Outdoors or nice stretches of wide Highway to hearing Garrison Keilor's voice on a Honda commercial or some really American music like Bluegrass or Jazz.

The past two+ years of living outside the US and being able to study it from the outside has given us quite a different perspective of what America is. Even though the reasons we left are still valid, it has become easier to appreciate America. The more positive core values like freedom, exploration, self-empowerment, and that hard-to-miss can-do attitude of never accepting defeat. K comes from an Oregon Trail pioneer lineage, among other lineages, like most Americans (the mutts that they are). Those positive core valures are very much ingrained in her. As for me -- a pure breed Scandinavian, a Dane/Swede transplanted to America at just about 9 years old -- while living in the US, I always clung to my European roots and always considered myself Scandinavian and I never applied for "naturalization". Despite having spent the majority of my life (so far) in the US, I still have a lot of Scandinavian traits ingrained in me; most notably my stoicism. However, it was not until living in Belgium and the UK that I realized how much Americanism got under my skin. So, I suppose that's why I, too, have "Miss America" days.

We really like living in Europe. Personally, I have a great affinity for "the Continent." In particular, Belgium and of course, Denmark and Sweden. The European culture is what drew us over here. Things like: more emphasis on quality (in food, for example); a slower pace of life; a better balance between work and play; many different cultures in a small area; great architecture and beautiful countrysides (in some places); many languages; a pithy level of history (earlier than 1776); less in-your-face consumerism (though this is steadily changing); lots of integrated public transportation; and the EU itself, which is pretty cool when you think about it, despite its downsides. The UK only has some of these things, but at least we're a short, relatively cheap flight or train ride away from the rest of Europe. We do like it here, too, though. It's easier to communicate in English, for a start.

Perhaps it is because we live here, in England, that we get relatively frequent "Miss America" days? Because we're here in a middle-ground between what we love about Continental Europe and what we don't like about America. But in the end, will it be what we love about America and don't like about England, that draws us back to the US? If we were as integrated in Belgium, for example, as we have been able to be here, we might not have as many "Miss America" days. And I might even go so far as to say we'd very likely stay there. Let me reiterate, though, that we do like the UK and feel very fortunate that we are still able to keep this expatriated adventure going.

It is quite likely that we will "repatriate" the US at some point, perhaps when K finishes her PhD. Until then, we're going to keep studying that big, lovable lummox of a country from our new perspective on this side of the pond.