Opposition or adaptation?

Anonymous

I absolutely love the public pace of life in Athens. Being able to sit and socialize at a restaurant or cafe for an extended period of time without reproach opens up a whole new venue for socialization that isn't available in Washington. The late hours that these venues stay open are also well suited to my own sleep habits. At home in Parkland I tend to hang out with friends late at night, but since none of the local restaurants are open late, we have to stay in our apartments rather than go out and be around other people.

While I enjoy this aspect of Greek/Athens culture, unless all of American culture was to adapt to my preference, it is not feasible to expect to be able to continue this custom when I return home. People in American culture are always in a hurry to get in and out and be done, and restaurants in America don't favor people taking up table space for hours at a time. While I can choose to sit in a restaurant and continue to socialize after finishing a meal, eventually someone will likely ask me to vacate. I also cannot control the hours businesses stay open, making it impossible to ensure that I have somewhere to socialize in the later hours of the night. Asking the entire American culture to change for me is not likely to be successful.

So far I have not come across anything that I would be unwilling to adapt to, although I may come across something that will be more difficult to adapt to than others in the weeks to come.