Love is Simple

So I've been in Denmark for over 2 months now, traveled for three weeks to London, Prague, Berlin, Rome and Florence and had an amazing time. It's remarkable how many places and things I have seen in the world. From The Sistine Chapel to the pyramids to the Berlin Wall. I feel very lucky. I love being here and no longer have any qualms about it. Despite the fact that it's like a fake life, I love being on my own and living in a city. Even the little things like taking public transportation, cooking for myself and taking in all the bustle of city life. I do not want to go back to New Paltz purely because I don't want to be in college anymore; I feel ready for adulthood, complete with a job and apartment and location away from the parents. What I really want to write about, however, is something about the election, since yesterday was a momentous day in American history.

In Denmark, the Danes were just as eager as the Americans to watch the election. Many of them joined us at the Happy Pig, a hole-in the wall sort of bar that was crammed full of American students eager to see the outcome of the race. Our six-hours ahead meant that while our families and friends back home were watching in primetime, we were watching in the wee hours of the morning, carlsbergs clenched in our fits ready for consumption, their purpose to simultaneously calm our nerves and pump them up. As an American abroad, my fear over this election has become one of a more global perspective. I see firsthand how our economic crisis is causing failures in Europe, how the costs of goods are going up as one after another economies fall into recession. For the past eight years we have been the shame of the world, everyone looking down upon us for our presidents deeds--a man who has proven undeserving of our trust, yet a man who we elected, entrusting the most important decisions of our lives in his hands. For my generation, we were finally given the promise of a new beginning. Not a tabula rosa, but at least a low starting ground where we can slowly climb our way back up, one wrung at a time, hopefully regaining the trust of the world and the trust of citizens towards government. So we drank and we watched. It was not until 1 that any information started to come in and even then we only saw the obvious states. Vermont was the first to go blue and slowly others followed. McCain has has share of wins too, but the preliminary results showed Obama winning in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Florida and Virgina. All swing states, all vital to a win. Indiana and Virginia soon became too close to call, but the key state in 2000, Florida went blue as did the swinger in 2004, Pennsylvania. My confidence was building, partially because of the two beers I had, partially because of the chorus of cheers every time Obama won a state and partially because I truly believed that our country was going to make the first right choice in eight years. My friends and I watched in anticipation, spouting liberal politics that certainly sounded uneducated, but we were fired up, dammit. None of us were over the age of 30, most of us were voting in our first presidential race. It could not get any better than that. A collection of young Americans, open-minded and liberal and a black man who was going to dig us out of a ditch was getting closer and closer to a victory. At some point I had to leave the bar and try and find my way home by night bus. This itself was an adventure, taking about an hour although I only live 20 minutes from central Copenhagen. My friend passed out on my couch, but it was only 4 and nothing had been decided yet although the odds were considerably in Obama's favor at this point. At 5 something a danish news clip was interrupted by Katie Couric, announcing that Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. The happiness and relief seeped in. I didn't have to worry about Sarah Palin or another Bush. America had come together. We had by considerable measures decided that this man was the right fit for our president. Numbers came out like never before--from young people and minorities. The election of Obama doesn't just prove that our global reputation can be repaired or that there is a chance for a fixed economy, a resolved war, gay marriage or universal health care--it proves that the American dream is a reality. Maybe not for every citizen, but if a bi-racial man who came from nothing and has the middle name Hussein can be our president, it proves that we can strive to the top, no matter our background. We are leaving behind almost a decade of bigotry and hatred and instead choosing acceptance. Never has the term "we" as an American been so inclusive and never have I felt this proud to be American. Now when I meet someone in Europe, I will proudly say that I am American, knowing that they may look at me and my country a little differently.