A Greek, an Egyptian, and an American walk into a bank...

Today I ventured out with two of my new flatmates, Nahla (from Cairo) and Efi (from Thessaloniki). We were on a mission: to open a bank account. While we didn't actually accomplish that task, we did spend a lot of quality time together, learning about each other's backgrounds and interests. I realized that I was the only person speaking my native language. But that their English seemed to be on par with mine.

In a foreign country, it is amazing to me to find that I become far more patriotic than when I am living among Americans at home. I was feeling particularly "America-loving" when Nahla told me that she also wished to improve her English this year. I told her that was a great idea, and she asked me if I knew the meaning of "refectory" because she had seen it around town.

"Uh... actually I have no idea what that means."

Great. Now not only are we all speaking in my native tongue, but I don't actually know the meaning of words in it! I came home feeling sad that I was doing such a poor job of representing the ol' USA*, when it hit me. This guy is American. And he makes everyone smile.

* In the future, I shall refer to this feeling as AAS (Awkward American Syndrome).