Cultural Differences

Last night was the first time I have ever heard "But I'm American" used (without the faintest trace of irony) as an excuse for being arrogant. "I'm from New Jersey, it's kinda my job to be this way" was the next sentence from this guy's mouth. Everyone I was with was shocked that he genuinely believed that his nationality gave him license to be an idiot. Even one of the other Americans (who I happen to find incredibly irritating) said she'd punch him in the face if he said again. I have never seen Jersey Shore, but I have seen the South Park episode where they ridicule it. It is a programme I will inevitably watch at some point because my love of terrible TV is seemingly uncontrollable. I am expecting everyone to be like this guy who came out with us last night, but hopefully they will be considerably better looking. Thankfully he isn't in Vienna this year, he's up in the Styrian mountains somewhere. Had he been invited? NO! He just turned up and hijacked our evening. Because he'd lived in Vienna for a semester four years ago he was obviously an expert on what we should do and where we should go, so we ended up going to a terrible (and very overpriced) Chinese restaurant. The original plan was just for Abby and I to go somewhere for tea and then go to her friend's flat to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It all happened, but we were considerably worse off for having Hat Boy with us (I don't even know his name, nor do I want to. All I know is that he wears a stupid brown hat ALL THE TIME). I would just like to point out that I have nothing against Americans in general, most of them are normal human beings. Some, however, really do live up to the stereotypes! So we watched the film and had a good laugh and then luckily he was too tired to come out for a drink afterwards. Abby and I went out with a German to somewhere in the Bermuda Dreieck where there are loads of bars. It was really fun. Oh, and the weirdest thing happened... I bumped into one of my students from two years ago. Seriously! It was so strange but actually really nice to see him. When I taught him he was not interested at all but when I speak to him in German he seems like a genuinely nice guy. What's more, he's another Austrian I can put on my friend list and he is someone with whom I can speak German, as I don't seem to be speaking much at the moment. All good! So I stayed out rather longer than intended (I thought I'd be home by midnight) and finally got into bed around 5. I was getting a bit worried that this year was not going to live up to last year. This has given me hope!
TTFN!