Tonight was Euchre night. If you’re a Brit like like me then when being introduced to the card game Euchre at first you’ll think it’s a ruse. There’s no such word, the yanks are taking the piss out of the poor, stupid immigrant. It’s an insider joke. Then eventually you’ll realize that it’s a real thing that some of them take seriously, and that it brings all sorts together. The serious card shark, the casual player, and the often dumbfounded (that’s me).

I was a spectator, at the beginning of the night, keen to learn the rules and tactics but, after half a dozen stiff drinks I let the players get on with it while I soaked up the distracting atmosphere and growing friendship that mingled around the winning hands. And, as the night went on my thoughts were reinforced that America is a strange and wonderful land. It has many deep and worrying faults but, as a newbie to this country I can say it has welcomed me and all my own personal idiosyncrasies with open arms. Tonight was yet another example of that where people who barely knew me (or not at all at first) made me feel more at home than I rarely ever felt back in Scotland.

Tonight I got to know colleagues better, made some existing friendships a little deeper, and met new people who blew me away, and whom I hope to know for many years to come.

The drink is expensive but flows. The card games are beyond me but fun. And the people are diverse but always, always welcoming. America to a foreigner can seem like a septic sore on the ass of the planet but, with each day I get more infected and more willing to happily wallow in it’s intoxicating wounds. America is my home now.

Tonight as cards were dealt, points were scored, and drinks were downed I realized once again I don’t want to be anywhere else except in among the people and culture of this crazy, fucked up country. It’s mental on an hourly basis but, it’s my kind of mental.

I didn’t learn how to play Euchre, I ran up a stupid bar tab, I handed out my new business cards like a pretentious dick, and I beamed stupidly as new friends downloaded my books in front of me. It was yet another strange and wonderful night in my new life here in the States. Another night that made me smile and feel good about myself.

I’ll keep soaking it all up, keep meeting new people, keep making new and wonderful friends, and I’ll keep writing because I’ve finally met people who take an interest in what I do.

‘The American Dream’ is an often derided phrase by people from other developed western countries however, it’s only when you get here that you really get a feel for what it really is. It’s not that there’s more chances here or better opportunities, it’s that no one on a personal level wants to hold you back. They want to see you succeed. There’s a lack of indifference that is replaced by a welcoming attitude of ‘go for it’, ‘why not?’.

Here’s to lots more fun nights, cheers to my supportive friends, and thank you to my new readers. Maybe this time next year I’ll also know how to play Euchre (I doubt it).