When I finally left the 5 degree Fahrenheit weather in Ithaca behind to study abroad in Greece, I believed that I would spend my time enjoying the sun during the day and drinking ouzo at night. I could not have been more wrong.

First of all, it’s colder here in the winter so Greeks tend to bundle up and complain about the weather instead of lounging on some beach. Anyone living in Ithaca would consider Greece’s winter temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit to be springtime weather, but Greeks believe that this is Antartica.

Aside from the difference in season, Greece doesn’t offer the traditional atmosphere of relaxation and ease in the wintertime because Greeks become engrossed in politics. When I travel to Greece every summer to visit my family there, we usually spend most of our time discussing what tavern we will be visiting the next day. They are completely uninterested in politics because Greeks enjoy taking their four-week vacation period to relax and enjoy each other’s company without worrying about such stressful issues.

As soon as I arrived in December, however, everyone wanted to know about Barack Obama and the inauguration ceremony.

After speaking to a few family members and some random Greeks on public transportation, I concluded that Greeks seem very pleased with our new president.

Even before President Bush took office, Greeks tended to convey hatred for the American people and our government by protesting in front of the U.S. Embassy and vandalizing walls in the center of Athens with the words, “Americans — Murderers of the World.”

However, when I arrived in December, the people I spoke to didn’t express any anti-American sentiments. In fact, one man explained to me that many Greeks look forward to Obama’s presidency; they trust that he will consider the interests of the world instead of primarily focusing on the United States’ economic interest, as previous presidents have done.

I asked why Greeks have such a favorable and hopeful image of President Obama contrasting with their views of both President Bush or President Clinton before their respective elections. No one could give me a legitimate answer, though I did enjoy a few of the answers I heard.

I was on the bus travelling to the Piraeus Harbor recently, and a middle-aged man with the classic Greek mustache started speaking about President Obama as soon as he found out I was American.

(For your information, whenever you are on public transportation in Greece, the person sitting next to you will somehow end up talking to you for some reason or another.)

He told me, “Obama won’t be like other U.S. presidents. I mean just look at him: Doesn’t he look like an honest guy? He seems like he will do the right thing because, let’s face it, the United States’ decisions affect all of us. Obama knows that. That’s why he won’t be like the others.”

I doubt that most Greeks base their opinions of President Obama’s supposedly honest-looking face, but it is clear that President Obama has somewhat removed the anti-American sentiment in Greece.

Greeks, and even Americans, can’t explain why they trust and believe in President Obama. From my experience, however, it seems that his ability to eliminate some hatred against the American people and government in Europe will greatly aid the United States in our international affairs