Currently being sort of removed from the hectic election is refreshing to say the least. Although opinions about the election are hard to escape from once I open up my Facebook news feed. Scattered all over are anti-Trump memes and anti-Hilary email references, or vise versa of pro-Trump and pro-Hilary.
Being away from the states and living in Europe temporary. I found it interesting to gather outsiders view while here in Florence on, in my opinion, the most controversial character (yes character) in the election, Mr. Donald Trump.
The subject was first approached to our onsite director at the beginning of our course. Once Trump's named was even mentioned he cracked a smile followed by a laugh and eventually an imitating voice "We are gonna build a wall!".
Throughout my time here I would find that this reaction would be common with the people I encountered about Trump. "We find the current American election funny" one Italian student said to me, and once again this mentality of Trump being viewed as a joke was almost unanimous with every one I talked to. Now on the other end mentioning Hilary's name typically resulted in an eye roll. Going back to Trump, "We complain about our politics too" said another "I mean every government has issues but..Oh god! yours is a mess! Trump mess!" One Italian student asked if I was voting and he advised me to vote "The less bad. Cause if not it would be terrible!". Of course there was the "He's so stupid he thinks black people aren't people" or "I just hate him."
Continuing my travels, I stopped in Ireland to visit my family. Once again the election was a common subject brought up. "Why don't you take away the guns? Trump wants guns but its obvious guns are a problem" was asked by a person from Dublin. I could have sat there and gone on and talked about the constitution and peoples opinions on gun laws in the states, but she did make a simple yet true statement.
Other questions and statements I received were "Where did he come from? He hasn't been in office has he?" nope."Is he supported by the KKK." ummm wow ok uhh. "Did the KKK come back because of him" again wow. "Is his hair real?" again uhhh. "What is stop and frisk?" sigh. "What happened to Bernie Sanders? He was cute like our president" yeah good point.
I found that people were genuinely curious, and as you can see topics that may not be so bluntly asked in the states were being thrown around without a blink. Their curiosity didn't end with Trump either, people wanted to know about diversity, police violence, and any other questionable topic about America that came up on their news feed. Often they were looking to see if I could possibly answer their confusion.
As you can see my results are well interesting, almost all negative. Needless to say it was quite the experiment. I guess time will tell, but in the meantime opinions and thoughts about Trump will continue as we embark on further travels!
