[fr_freak]

I was told by international students that america is bland...fast food, drive through banks, chain grocery stores, and quickie marts. It sounds to me like they got a point.

Frankly, I would be shocked to hear anything other than that come out of the mouths of "international" students. That is how these yahoos always justify their feeling of superiority over Americans despite the weak nature of whichever country they came from. Did you actually expect any of them to say "Oh, the US truly is the superior country, full of wonderful culture and people." ? A sense of superiority to Americans is ingrained in them since birth.

Second, how much of American life is really represented by the strip malls and the fast food joints? If that is all these students took the time to see, then they only got the tourist version of the US. That is to be expected from them, but what is your excuse?

[mamelukesabre]

Oh, the US truly is the superior country
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, many of them did say this. THey also convinced me that americans are not lazy. THey convinced me that americans are actually working themselves to death and that is why america leads the world in technology, military, and economy. THey also convinced me that an american degree in a technical field is the most valuable thing in the world. It is obvious that the rest of the world beleives this too because just look at the numbers of foreign students in american universities studying engineering and medicine. Several post doc students from foreign countries told me that if they went back to their country, the degrees they had would guarantee them a cushy position for life with their government but that they would rather stay in america even though it means a much more difficult life because they said “at least here I can actually use my knowledge for something purposful, back home it would go to waste”