*takes a deep breath*

A conversation with my Swedish friend (edited for length and relevancy):

LYLT: tuesday night
LYLT: you must hang out with me
LYLT: fourth of july
LYLT: you must!
B: sure thing, if u dont mind Oskar tagging along We will have pizza at 7 near my place
LYLT: mehhh
LYLT: of course
LYLT: oskar and anyone else can come!
LYLT: but mehh to the pizza
LYLT: it's 4th of july, u must have a burger and fries--fat boys...cmon
B: ok [goes on to talk about asking oskar, etc]
LYLT: plus, there's a reason to celebrate
LYLT: and anyone else is invited too, of course
LYLT: it's my favorite holiday back home...a day of bbq and doing nothing usually, with fireworks at night
LYLT: oh yes, and we go to the beach
LYLT: ahhh
B: ok
B: just so u know: anything celebrating the Us is *not* very popular on this side of the pond at the moment
LYLT: haha
LYLT: it's not celebrating the foreign policy
LYLT: it's celebrating the country's birth
LYLT: and no offense, a lot of europeans would be hypocrites if they weren't happy about that
LYLT: after all, it's not "bush day"
LYLT: it's "4th of july"--very different
B: yeahm but in the siple way that ppl often se the world USA=Bush=Bad
LYLT: oh well, sucks for them. i love this holiday.
B: and u should!
LYLT: seriously, i've had enough of ppls' shit about the US
LYLT: 7 yrs of foreign policy decisions does not make the entire US history
B: thats what u get when u are a hegemony
LYLT: and in any case, ppl give me shit for no reason. i don't say a thing, and who knows what my personal beliefs are. i think only hypocrites are mean to random ppl just because they're americans, or whatever.
LYLT: i guess.
LYLT: why should i want to prove them wrong tho. it's ridiculous. no other country (except maybe Israel) apologizes as much for itself.
LYLT: anyway, i won't launch onto my thing, but sometimes i think perhaps we *should* just forget the rest of the world and retire into isolationism...ppl criticized us for that before, and then they criticize us now. it's a lose-lose situation.
B: most of the woprld wouldnt mind im sure
B: *laughs
LYLT: yeah
B: take a deep breath now my friend and dont get urself so worked up
LYLT: well, whatever, i don't make foreign policy. i am a 21-year-old citizen, a person who happened to be born there.
LYLT: yeah, seriously.
LYLT: i'll calm down now.
B: *sends a hug*
LYLT: thanks...
LYLT: hope u don't think badly of me for these rants
LYLT: i just...sometimes it gets to me.
LYLT: i'd like to be able to celebrate a national holiday without apologizing.
B: I understand, but try do distant urself a bit
LYLT: you're right

Times I wish I actually knew another American in Brussels...