Italy Spoiled Me

After seven years of living in Italy, my perspective changed on a lot of things. Crazy drivers aren't as terrifying to me anymore; I'm really used to some things just taking a while; and technical difficulties at shows don't bother me because "Everything in Sig starts five minutes late anyways."
One thing I hadn't really noticed though was how bitter living in Italy made me toward Americans. I don't mean individual Americans, I like those people a lot. But my generalized picture of Americans has been tainted pretty badly.
This realization came when I was doing my Anthropology discussion readings. (By the way, RA6, you're right. The readings are pretty good in and of themselves.) Since this is my first real discussion at college and I don't know what to expect, I'm making little notes to the questions we were given. As I was writing in some of those answers, I was slapped in the face with how negatively I view Americans--at least, Americans as a whole.
There are some great things about America, truly.
Everyone is promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Everyone is equal.
Everyone is willing to help others.
Okay, so we're still working on those but the idea of these ideals is probably what drew so many people in their first place. "America! The land of opportunity!"
But let me tell you about a quick encounter that happened at Swing Kids last night. A little bit of background...as we went through the beginner lesson, all the follows rotated leads. The proper form when you rotate is to thank the lead you just danced with, move to the next lead and introduce yourself. If you're feeling brave, you may inquire further.
One of the leads I danced with (and I feel so bad that I can't remember his name!) asked me where I was from. My new response to that question is "I have two answers to that question: the easy one and the complicated one. Which would you like?"
He wanted both.
When "Italy" came out of my mouth, he was really impressed, and he asked the next logical question, "Do you speak Italian?"
I replied with my standard, "Un po, si." (Translation: "A little bit, yes.")
His next comment was something like,  "So you're not part of the tons of Americans who only know one language, English." And do you want to know what word I would use to describe his tone? Relieved.
(In case you're wondering, I asked. He speaks a little bit of French.)
Like him, that's one of my big problems with America. Americans--as a generalized whole--aren't cultured at all. They assume they are superior even though we're really not. We're one of the biggest countries and one of the most famous, for sure. But I don't know many Americans who can switch between Italian and English like it's nothing. That's impressive.
I wish America was more like that. More cultured. More aware of what was going on the rest of the world. My mom made an excellent point one day: most German college students could hold a very intelligent discussion about politics. American politics. I'm really not sure that most American college students could do that about their own politics, much less another country's. I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't. But I'm trying to learn. I am planning on voting this year.

Okay, I think that's the end of my rant. I still have a little bit of reading to do this evening.
I just want to add that I've been slightly homesick for Italy: I've been using balsamic dressing (sparingly) and eating pasta. I'm so happy they make pasta in my dining hall.
Also, on a completely unrelated note, I think I'm going to find that scores are the best music to listen do whilst doing my homework.
Back to the homework I go.