Being an American who has resided in Europe (in Switzerland, to be precise) for a little over two years now, I can definitely see the differences...and feel them in myself too. I used to be incredibly defensive about being American...and by that I mean, while always quite left, I would not like to hear negative things said about it/us. But I now have a much different perspective than ever before, and a lot of it (I believe) has to do with living out of the US. The US is a huge country...so big that it kind of consumes the attention of the inhabitants, and makes it hard to have perspective of anything outside of it (or ourselves). I think...for example, even the neighbor states of Canada and Mexico are seen as foreign nations...it just hard to have perspective living in a land that big. Sometimes I think it would be better if it were to break into regional nation-states, like what is happening here in Europe. Anyway, I can say that for the first time I have more perspective about America and Americans, because I'm not in it. It's good...and its difficult too.

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia