[keiferski]

Living abroad outside the US for a considerable amount of time. Not because America is terrible and Europe is amazing (both places have their positives and negatives), but because it becomes easier to understand America and what being American means from the outside. It’s not an accident, I think, that Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby while in southern France. Being outside of something helps you understand it more, and I think this is not an experience that a lot of people are lucky enough to have.