It feels like the 2019–2020 school year was the last “normal” middle school experience before COVID changed everything.
What was your school like? What trends, jokes, music, games, fashion, or social media do you remember? What’s the biggest difference compared to middle school today?
I’m curious if other Americans living/traveling in Europe have experienced a lot of anti-American stereotyping or hostility socially.
When I lived in London for a while, I often felt like being American automatically came with assumptions:
- loud,
- ignorant,
- uncultured,
- politically embarrassing,
etc.
-And also many assumed i was some Neo Nazi for supporting our current President (please do not get heated in the comments)
I also felt people could be socially colder or more dismissive once they heard my accent, especially in certain academic/social environments.
I know not everyone in Europe is like this obviously, and I met normal people too, but the experience honestly left me feeling more alienated than I expected.
Has anyone else experienced this? Or was my experience unusually negative?