I voted by absentee ballot. I received confirmation that my vote had been received but I was still hesitant if I completely trusted the electoral system in Florida. After previous elections in Florida and absentee ballots not being counted, I wanted to ensure that my ballot would be, in fact, counted. I knew there really was no way of knowing if my ballot had been counted but I could monitor the results all night long...so that is what I did.
During the day, though, I had lessons at school. My students were all informed of what day it was and insisted on asking my preference for President. Before I shared my opinion and preference, my students informed me of theirs. It was unanimous. Obama. My first class of the day informed me of this. And guess how old these students are...yep you guessed it, 9, 10, 11, and 12 year olds. Such informed and politically conscious children having their say in not Italian but American politics. It amazed me. I doubt any children in American know presidential candidates from Italy. I'm still shocked. Later in the class period, we were playing hangman. Usually the student tells me which word or phrase they will use in the game but my student changed it! He had me guessing with the other students! I guessed it right away but doubted myself because I still couldn't believe children are so aware here.
We talked long and hard in my adult class, multiple times actually, about this subject. They already had opinions and thoughts but wanted me to confirm them or make sure that they understood something correctly. A lot of them knew they way our government works, which again surprised me because how many Americans know how Italy runs and operates?
After work I went straight home and turned on my computer. I started my countdown until the counting would begin on the East Coast. I had about 4-5 hours, so I decided to watch a movie. Why not "Love Actually," My first christmas movie of the season. After being in a cheerful and positive mood filled with hope and love I figured I could look at the computer. I still had some time before I would see anything significant so I took a little nap. I woke up from my 2 hour nap at 3am.
The night had just begun. I was ready to stay awake all night long. I pulled up my sources online and looked at the maps. There were only a few states that were red and blue. We had many more to go...I watched as each state would send in their results and slowly update the count. When it came down to Ohio and Florida, I felt like I had a horrible internet connection and my download was taking forever to download to my computer. And it did, it took 3 hours until the announcement was made that Obama was projected to win. I didn't go to sleep right away because I was still watching Ohio "download" and they were too close for comfort. I waited because I also wanted to see where Florida was going to go. The numbers were swaying in favor of Obama but the state wasn't changing to blue on the map. Since this was my new state, I wanted to see which way it went.
After they made the announcement that Obama had won, my Facebook newsfeed went crazy. I saw the first post and knew it was going to get wild. But I was still hesitant since neither of my sources had made the announcement online. Everyone at home were in front of their televisions and had heard the news before me. Technically, I found out via Facebook. I watched as friends and family members wrote about the news. It was exhilarating to watch. I was chatting with my friend, Becky, and we were sharing all the different posts we were seeing. There were hundreds of positive statuses and a few not so positive statuses. But, all in all they were pretty positive. I could feel the cheering on the page. It was an amazing experience. For this being my first Presidential election abroad, watching and feeling the excitement from my friends on Facebook made it worthwhile and a memorable experience. It was a party! I was scrolling down my newsfeed liking (almost) all of the posts. Everyone was commenting and sharing their thoughts on the matter. It actually brought us together. Most of my friends on Facebook I don't talk to that often. I apologize for this now but I get wrapped up in my own world that it is hard just to stay up to date with my own life. But, this event had us all talking, sharing, and celebrating the wonderful news that President Barack Obama would remain in office for 4 more years!
I decided to go to sleep afterwards, since it was past 6 am. I couldn't stay awake to watch the acceptance speech so I decided I'd watch it after I woke up in a few hours.
I went to sleep and woke up a few hours later to a text message from my Italian cousin in Milan....This was his message:
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| Good Morning United Sates of America |
Italians were excited just as much as I was, well maybe not as much but still! The following day and the day after all my students asked if I was happy. Before I could reply, they all informed me that they were all happy! Ipolita told me that the Italian news had surveyed Italians the following morning on whether or not they were glad Obama won and 93% said yes...I get a Swedish newspaper online and they said that the Swedish people were happy as well. I know this is only a small sample of countries outside of the USA but I would bet that the majority of other nations around the globe were happy with the outcome as well.
On to another 4 years....Congratulations President Obama! Italy sends their best wishes! Auguri!
