Until this semester, I had never been outside of the United States. Growing up, my family never had the opportunity to leave the Midwest, much less the country. My world was so small and I was very aware of it. I hated my limited exposure to the world and I always had a desire to leave. My famous saying was, “there has to be more to life than cornfields.”

As I got older, part of me started to resent living in America. Our country is stereotyped as being dumb and ignorant. After moving to the South, I must say I agreed. My perception of Oklahoma could be described as, “hillbillies only concerned with guns and republican Christianity with no depth for critical thinking”. Oklahoma was definitely the last place I wanted to be in life. I have literally said before that Oklahoma is where people’s dreams go to die. Harsh, I know, but I’m being honest.

On my first day of classes at UPEC, my professor asked where I was from. After telling the class I was from the United States, a classmate blurted out, “Did you come here because of Trump?” By this point, so many people had brought up Trump to me that my patience for the subject was at a negative fifteen. I’m pretty sure I just gave her one of “those looks” and carried on. You know what kind of look I’m talking about.

Every conversation about me being an American has been about Trump. “Did you vote for him?” “Do you like Trump?” “What do you think about...that Trump did/said?” I’m not usually one to shy away from a political discussion, but these were not discussions. These were just sought out opportunities to point out how much they disapprove of him and dislike him. It often feels like the point is to try to make me feel inferior for being an American with Trump as president. There are plenty of things I don’t agree with Trump about and I disapprove of on a serious level, but he is my president and the U.S. is my home.

After having encounters like the ones previously mentioned and then having the opportunity to visit the many historical military sites and cemeteries of Normandy, I really started thinking. I think my generation and the ones after me are severely undereducated when it comes to history. When I was in school, I had a love-hate relationship with my history classes. I tended to love world history but thought U.S. history was a bore. However, after Normandy, there is so much I want to learn more about! Simply put, what I experienced in Normandy was not in any of my history textbooks in high school. Well, at least that I remember…I may have skipped that day.

Living in France has given me a new appreciation for the United States and being an American. I would say my perspective has changed significantly. I swelled with pride and gratitude after visiting the American soldier’s cemetery in Normandy. There was a moment at the cemetery when they played the National Anthem and Fallen Soldier song. Every person there instinctively stopped and stood at attention. There were people weeping and a few of us couldn’t help but tear up as well. That moment was so impactful for me and it was astounding to see with my own eyes the number of graves there. These graves represented the many American soldiers who gave up their life to fight for OTHERS freedom. I’m proud to come from a country that fights for freedom everywhere.