Thank you so much for sharing this blog post, Ion.

I am 31, and have lived in Cookeville all my life. I have never traveled to other countries at all, but I will say that I did know about Maldova. (I know where it is, and that’s about it)

I am SO happy that you had the opportunity to come to our small town and learn in our awesome college, TTU. And I am even more happy that you have had such a great visit here, and our community was so welcoming. Since I have lived here my entire life, I don’t realize all of the small things that happen every day. We are use to people saying excuse me, opening and holding doors open for others, having wheelchair access everywhere, and driving all the time. And, our citizens sometimes work into their late stages of life, sometimes working until they are in their 70’s and 80's! We love to stay busy and provide for ourselves and our families. All of this is something that we are just use to, so it’s amazing to see it through your eyes, as someone that doesn’t see all of this every day.

More than anything, I am glad you wrote this blog because I think it is important for everyone to see that the US is an amazing country. We have a lot of differences with other countries, but we take pride in our country and in our people. And your teachers were very right. There are a lot of differences in the different states here, North and South, and then East Coast and West Coast, but we are all a United States of America and have a lot of similarities as well. Thank you so much for coming to visit with us! I hope you have enjoyed it and learned a lot.