Dancing

Last night I went dancing with my flatmate Simona, her boyfriend Christoph, and a friend of theirs Florika. I had a blast, probably the most fun I have had since I have been here. I felt guilty though, Simona and Florika are Romanian and Christoph is Bulgarian and they all three speak French, I was the only one who is most comfortable in English but yet that's what they all spoke. I told them to speak in French and they kept just switiching to English for me to include me, more motivation for me to dilligently study my French. Florika is a doctor and she moved here from Romania for a French man who sounds like a complete jerk, the kind of guy I would tell me friends to get rid of and to top of it she can't practice medicine in France until she goes through a mountain of bureaucracy so she's in Strasbourg with a medical degree and sitting in an apartment all day waiting for some jerk. Blah I hate that. I really enjoyed her company and we both needed a night out.
Talk turned to politics, American politics, not because I directed it there, they all were just interested. Listening to their stories makes me feel so naive and young. Christoph grew up in a Communist Bulgaria and left without looking back and has been in France since '93. Florika grew up in Communist Romania and her family had to endure a lot of hardships under that regime. I grew up in the midwestern US and have never wanted for anything. I don't feel guilty so much as blessed and hopeful that the sacrifices they have made will pay off for them.

The dance floor was a blast! The bar played classics like, Respect, Thriller, mixed in with a little Jay-Z and Rhianna. I am not a good dancer, actually I am pretty bad but I had fun and didn't care. We talked to a bunch of people all through the night and I found out later that two of the guys knew right away that I was American just by the way that I danced, turns out they were American as well, and you could definitely tell by the way they danced. I knew the second they walked into the room they were Americans. The way they were dressed and carried themselves is something I recognize all too well from my fellow college students. It was nice to talk to fellow Americans and exchange stories.
I really don't mind that people can tell I am American, it's not something I am embarrassed about and certainly not something I would apologize for, despite current sentiments. At the same time I don't want to be an idiot American bafooning her way through a foreign country culturally insensitive. I love the way the French women dress, which will most likely be something I try to copy, but other things like the rudeness I will probably not pick up, I am from the Midwest afterall:)