Hi, guys! I am currently in Prague. I have written several blogs but have not yet had a chance to post them. Also, I am writing on a Czech keyboard and cannot find the apostrophe key, hence why I am not abbreviating anything. It is also the reason why you might find a Z in place where a Y should be. That said, here is the blog.

Our first night in Paris, we met Sylvain. (This was not a chance encounter, we are using www.couchsurfing.com and he agreed to host Nina and me. By the way, CS is one of the most amazing concepts ever. If you are going to be traveling, you should check it out.) Over dinner, he asked us a gazillion questions about American culture. Between "Are Americans really so fat?" and "What do you think about Obama and Clinton?" he asked us which word we would use to describe our country.

In retrospect, it was an utterly ridiculous question. How can one begin to convey, in a single word, the vast blend of philosophies/cultures/ideas that makes America so unique?

I chose "agressive", a poor choice to be sure. But even thinking about it now, I still cannot say which other word I would have said.

I think "agreesive" has a slightly negative conotation, but let us look at it. In comparison to most of the countries of the world, America is quite young. And yet, we are a superpower with an established economy, political system and military. We certainly did not get that way by sitting and twiddling our thumbs.

It seems to me that Americans have a sort of "we CAN do that" attitude. Maybe it is because we got rid of repression right from the start and have never been told that we CANNOT.

In Amsterdam, we met an Englishwoman who worked at our hostel. She told us that she had noticed that Americans tend to be enthusiastic, especially when "trying new things."

I am curious as to which word you would have chosen. Feel free to post...but rememeber the name of the game is "ONE Word."