Happy 4th of July to my American friends and family!

The United States of America celebrates on July the 4th (i.e. today) their Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. I have written before about how surprised I was that US citizens called themselves “Americans” and about the common practice of calling the US “America”. Canadians, indeed, are very prone to this practice, whereas Mexicans use the word “estadounidense” (which means, “from the United States“).

Credit: Kris Krug (Static Photography)

Having embedded myself more in the tech/social media community, I’ve actually started to make way many more friendships with Americans who have chosen to move to Canada for various reasons. Some of my very good friends in the tech scene are indeed American-born, but decided to move to the land of hockey, beer and maple leaf. I am very glad that they decided to do so, because I am blessed time and again for having such wonderful people in my life. I have 3 American nieces and nephews (born in the US), two of my brothers live in the US (and teach in American universities).

One of my very best friends’ 3 nationalities is American, indeed. I have fallen in love with several American citizens (I’ve also broken up with them too, but that’s another story). I have educated US-born citizens at the universities where I’ve taught and my research has taken me all over the United States for a variety of academic conferences and events. There are many reasons why I am happy to be happy for American citizens. So, as I said last year, and I’ll repeat myself over here:

To my American friends who are now residents of Canada, hope you enjoy the celebrations, wherever you are! And thank you, United States of America, for producing some very fine young men and women who are near and dear to my heart… Happy Fourth of July!

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