As the world turns
My life had been full of diverse experiences — from sorority girl to stripper to teacher to business owner — and I thought I had a good understanding of what my country was about. But I yearned to travel, so I spent a year planning a three-year motorcycle trip with my French boyfriend, Pierre Saslawsky. We thought we'd see the world.
And then, all of a sudden, the world changed.
We left Europe just months after the 9/11 attacks, back when much of the world supported and grieved with us. But as time and miles flew past us, we watched that international goodwill slip away, country by country and month by month.
We went from being lovingly cared for in Algeria (despite President Bush's saber-rattling toward Iraq) to feeling complicit as we rolled through Latin America after US voters validated Bush's illegal war with his reelection. And in the process, I saw myself and my country as others saw us for the very first time.
But let's start at the beginning, back in Algeria in February 2003, before things went awry.
I loathe cutting and pasting, but sometimes the story simply speaks for itself. This is one American's 43,000 mile motorbike journey and her discovery of how world opinion of the US went from sympathy to loathing post 9-11.
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