Catherine Cullen is writing for Bright Hall from Galway, Ireland where she is completing a study abroad program and enriching herself in Anglo-European culture.

There is a lot of advice given to American students abroad on how to fit in with the European culture. One popular bit is to say you're from Canada. Another is not to wear anything with an American flag on it. One British comic once joked that universal key to acceptance was mentioning Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, because who doesn't love them?

All of these methods may have been tried and true at one point, but right now there is only one sure-fire method of fitting in, especially here in the British Isles. Say that you support Obama.

There is a very strong anti-American sentiment out here in the world right now. This may seem like commenting that the water is particularly wet today, but I can say from experience that things are certainly much worse than most people would reasonably expect.

My Irish housemate and I had a conversation one night that literally, in the span of two questions, jumped from "So how are you liking Galway?" to "So what makes you Americans think you have the right to go around killing anyone you please?"Taken aback, I stammered through a few standard responses: that most people don't support the war, that supporting economic interests got a little carried away, that pulling out of Iraq is more complicated than it may seem, but it all fell on deaf ears. Everything I said was met with "Well, you voted for Bush! You people elected him! And look what happened!"

I didn't think that getting into an in-depth description of the electoral process was the right move at this point, so I simply rallied with the ever-mature response: "Well I didn't vote for him! I was 13 the first time around and 17 the next!"

While this was met with a dismissive wave of the hand, I knew I had one last chance to redeem myself and my apparently pitiable country. "I'm voting for Obama."

Silence. Discussion ended.

I had found the trump card. The ultimate apology one can make for being an American abroad is that you're an Obama supporter. As much as I admire the Democratic candidate for his policies, his oratorical skills, his platform, here I have found a practical application for my political leanings: social acceptance.

When I complained to my friend studying abroad in London about the difficulties of being an American over here, she had found a similar solution to the problem. "I tell people I'm from America," she said, "and they give me the 'judgment' look. The trick is to sneak in 'But I'm voting for Obama!' as quickly as possible. Then you're golden."

And she's right. Obama fans are in good company here in western Europe. The population is as election-geared as we seem to be back in the States and there seems to be, if this is possible, even more of an anti-Bush administration sentiment over here than can be found at home.

It's almost a little sad to hear the Irish students extol the virtues of Obama because for all of their good talking points and enthusiasm, they can't vote in November. Still, it's always nice to find a little common ground.