expatriate (k-sptr-t): a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person’s upbringing or legal residence

As an ephemeral resident of both the UK and Cambodia for the better part of the year thus far, I fall under the label of expat, or expatriate. And more specifically, an American expat. As I’ve come to learn during my time as such, this title carries very different connotations, depending on where your location of expatriatism occurs. Regardless of the location, however, life as an expat undoubtedly provides an interesting perspective on American culture and the quintessential notion of American exceptionalism.

During my time as an expat in London, I found comfort in the familiarities of the Notre Dame community, projecting inherently American habits onto our social lives and ways of approaching life in the European city. While it should be acknowledged that London is notoriously un-European and “euro-skeptic” at best, there are still many marked features that characterize the city as remarkably un-American as well, from its pub life to its afternoon tea. As one of 130 American students who lived, schooled, and socialized together around the clock, it was easy to forget that we were technically immersed in a different culture defined by a monarchy and bad teeth. After the thrill of meeting locals had subsided by week 3, we returned to our ritualistic lives as Notre Dame students, enjoying London’s abundant offerings in a very systematic way amidst the cushioned bubble of American collegiate life. Like the thousands of American abroad students before us, this meant Sports Bar Tuesdays and O’Neills Thursdays. Those who ventured off the path of familiarity were questioned, because patterned habit is just the American Way. Still, despite our intentional and unintentional efforts to project our own sense of culture on London, we were living a version of life as an expatriot as students abroad.

Naturally, my transition to life an expat in Cambodia has been an interesting one. Whereas I never actually heard that term used in London because of London’s presence as a ‘melting pot’ of cultures, I am quite sure that instead of the title “Pepy Intern”, I should really just change my resume entry to “Expat in Cambodia”. Namely, I am far more defined by my role as Expat here than by my role as Intern. The expat culture in Cambodia is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and as the country has the largest number of NGOs (non governmental organizations, meaning that they are nonprofits from the western world that aren’t run by the government here in cambodia) per capita in the world, there are LOTS of us.

A couple things about expats here: there are surprisingly few Americans, and Americans are judged. Harshly. Not by the Cambodians, but by the other expats, who are mostly European. Apparently, Americans have a reputation for being self-centered and elitist. Which of course is never aimed at the individual American expat themselves but at the group as a whole. Can we blame them for being envious of our swagger?

A cursory search on Amazon.com for “US expatriates” displays the book U.S. Expatriate Handbook Guide to Living and Working Abroad. Ironically written by a John. W. Adams—no relation to the actual John Adams, just an ironic twist of American fate, but I digress—the book details in its lengthy 142 pages the appropriate behavior one should take as an American living in a different culture. Interestingly enough, there is no “British Guide to Living and Working Abroad”. Or one for any other European nation, for that matter. This suggests, quite simply, that in comparison to the European’s lack of instructional literature on the matter, we are bad at being expats.

Are Americans bad expatriates? More importantly, are we a deficient culture overall? Does our insatiable thirst for the American Way blind us to the true scope of the world around us?

According to many other nations in the world, yes. A heated conversation last week at dinner saw an American playing devil’s advocate to one Scot and one Englishman, trying to extract the reasons as to why Americans really receive this reputation. The circular reasoning always came back to the notion of American exceptionalism; their perception of America as a murky figure of self-motivated concerns, unconcerned with the events and dealings of the world around them. Our Scottish and English friends explained that we (my fellow American pepy interns and I) are the exception to such generalizations, because we are the Americans that took the initiative to get out of America and see what else there is in the world.

I take pride in my status as an American, but I do agree with my foreign friends’ diagnosis. Americans are inherently elitist when it comes to culture, and I believe it to be a grave issue for my generation and our approach to foreign affairs as we age and rise to positions of authority.

As a friend recently posted on her facebook with praise about a conversation she had had recently with a child:

“what’s your religion..? Are you catholic, jewish, presbyterian?”

7 year old girl: “i’m american”

American ignorance is not cute. Neither is the perpetuation of the idea that we are the only ones of true worth on this planet. Its what led to thousands of innocent American citizens’ deaths on 9-11, and unfortunately such contempt for American culture continues throughout the world. So I conclude this long evaluation with the proposal that we as a nation open our eyes to the other cultures that eat, breathe, and sleep just as we do, because the quicker we acknowledge our presence as one of many great cultures in the world, the quicker we enrich our own society.

Oh, and let freedom ring :)