Not a PC thug
8-29-04, 10:17 PM
I was stationed at a remote base in Edzell, Scotland, on the east coast near Montrose. There were only about 600 of us, so you could get away from US culture very easily.
The Scottish people were very nice. I didn't notice any anti-American sentiment while I was there.
People are very low key at concerts. A group of us went to see Robert Plant. He was rockin', but the only people standing were our group and some US college kids on a summer tour. The majority of people behaved as if they were at a ballet. You could actually buy a pint of beer in a glass at the concert.
Conversely, I attended one soccer game and the people were nuts. I thought there were going to be a number of fights, but security was tight.
There were only 3 radio stations, and they all played top 40. The club on the base hosted bands on Fridays and Saturdays. Most of them were lame.
There were a couple of local "dudes" on the base who always went in the club, but wouldn't interact with any of us. One day I approached them and asked them to have a beer with us. Turns out, they thought being called dude was a put down. We became friends after that. Back then everyone was called dude.
We were isolated from the rest of the world. Tiannamen square and the Berline wall were distant events. Much more distant than if I was living in the US and having access to news.
I returned to the US a different person than I was when I left. It took me about 6 months to readjust to America.
The Scottish people were very nice. I didn't notice any anti-American sentiment while I was there.
People are very low key at concerts. A group of us went to see Robert Plant. He was rockin', but the only people standing were our group and some US college kids on a summer tour. The majority of people behaved as if they were at a ballet. You could actually buy a pint of beer in a glass at the concert.
Conversely, I attended one soccer game and the people were nuts. I thought there were going to be a number of fights, but security was tight.
There were only 3 radio stations, and they all played top 40. The club on the base hosted bands on Fridays and Saturdays. Most of them were lame.
There were a couple of local "dudes" on the base who always went in the club, but wouldn't interact with any of us. One day I approached them and asked them to have a beer with us. Turns out, they thought being called dude was a put down. We became friends after that. Back then everyone was called dude.
We were isolated from the rest of the world. Tiannamen square and the Berline wall were distant events. Much more distant than if I was living in the US and having access to news.
I returned to the US a different person than I was when I left. It took me about 6 months to readjust to America.