Fall is officially here, but so is spring. For the southern half of the world. This is not usually the first thought that comes to our minds. It is easy to forget that there is a big world out there with many people going about their lives in much the same way as their own.
However, some are awaking for a new day when we go to sleep and some refer to our winter as summer and our fall as spring. As busy people with endless things occupying our lives, it is rare to consider that people in South Africa, or Argentina, or Australia or New Zealand function on a reversed seasonal year.
After going abroad to the U.K. and meeting many Europeans and people from around the world, I realized how much the rest of the world knows about America and how little we know about the rest of the world.
I felt ignorant when I first spoke to my Australian and New Zealand friends and it had slipped my mind that in September it was spring, and in December it was summer. Or on a wider note, I had no idea who their Presidents and Prime Ministers were or the most recent news headlines when of course they knew mine.
Most people I met whether from New Zealand, Singapore, Italy, France or Germany, knew so much about current events affecting America that they could definitely pass for American students. They knew about our government system, had their own opinions of what was going on in Washington, watched the same American TV shows, listened to the same music, and wore a lot of the same brands. While this definitely brings all of us closer and able to bond over common interests, it also showed me just how much the United States affects the rest of the world.
The United States has been a world power for some time, and its impact on the world can truly be felt everywhere you go. I can’t even count the number of times I saw people wearing New York Yankee caps in Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Paris, Rome, and so many other cities. At first I was shocked to see my favorite baseball team worn around as if I was still in New York City, but then I realized that the sports team behind that logo was irrelevant. No one was a die-hard Derek Jeter fan; but they all wore the hat as a symbol of America. It was a brand icon like Nike or Apple.
Meanwhile I fell in love with Europe and in many ways thought the lifestyle, culture, and natural beauty there were far superior to our own here, yet many people around the world feel the opposite. Much of it might have to do with the ‘grass being greener’, but it also made me appreciate this country I call home and the importance of appreciating what makes other countries unique too. Even those that are less influential on the world stage deserve to be talked about and understood.
Sometimes I still forget that September, October and November are not autumn everywhere in the world, and even though there are more languages in which to say these months than I could ever know, it is important to never stop learning and to truly embrace just how wonderful and humbling it is to live in such a massive and diverse world.
