Anti-Ethnocentrism

To start off I do love America and I think its a great place to live. However, there are some things I don't like about America and I was worried that people in China wouldn't like me because I'm American. I had an idea in my head that when I'd tell people I'm from America they would roll their eyes or be annoyed by me. I was very surprised and happy to find out this wasn't true. When I told people I was from America they were often excited. I also learned that America in Chinese meiguo where mei means beautiful and guo means country. So America in Chinese is beautiful country. I wonder if this was created by Chinese people or if American's decided to call their country beautiful. We asked some Chinese students what stereotypes they had of Americans. They thought most Americans were fat and this is a far assessment. In China you saw a heavier person maybe every other day while in America it is almost every other person you see is over weight. While Nolan, Shaofan, Ka, and I were walking around the water fountain a group of older women wanted to get their pictures with Nolan and I. After words they were telling us how much they liked Americans, but later they said they didn't like Obama. This leads me to think that maybe other nations do like American's but not American government. This makes sense to me as I never understand our government either. After traveling to another country and learning what they feel about us I now have more pride in being American. I often thought American's were not liked but I have learned during my travels abroad this is not universally true.