It’s very interesting traveling abroad during a presidential election year, especially THIS presidential election year, and it never occurred to me before I set out on this trip the amount of political banter that I would be bombarded with.

No matter where I’ve traveled so far, people always and I mean always bring up the election, in particular Donald Trump. People absolutely love to talk about it, him, and other mainstream topics that regularly come to mind about the U.S. (i.e. current events such as gun violence and police brutality, and the fact that Americans are few and far between on the long term, international travel circuit- implying a general lack of education and global empathy).

I haven’t met one single soul, fellow Americans, travelers or locals, who has had nice things to say about Trump or the people who support him. People are truly astonished at the Americans who would vote for him and let’s be honest, it’s incredibly embarrassing. I understand why people from other parts of the world want to discuss this issue with us but I cannot wait for this election to be over so I don’t have to keep repeating to everyone that they’re preaching to the choir, while trying to defend my wonderful country during this American Horror Story freak-show. It’s pretty amazing how just about everyone we meet is deeply aware of what’s going on in the U.S. and to be honest, I’m only somewhat familiar of what’s happening within their country’s government, as are many Americans. We are on the World’s stage and for everyone who says we are embarrassing ourselves in front of the entire world during this election, well, we are.

Besides the obvious Donald Trump remarks and the redundant question of who I’m voting for, and who do I think will win, here are some of the other amusing moments that I’ve encountered:

While watching the Olympics recap, a Canadian says to me:”Did you hear the U.S. won its first gold medal in the air rifle competition. That’s fitting that you guys won your first medal in a shooting event.” Painfully ironic.

A young man from India asked where we were from and when my friend said she lived in Texas he automatically responded: “So, how many guns do you own”? I thought it was funny, she didn’t. I must say, she gets a lot of flack when she says she lives in Texas so she’s had to change her response by saying that she’s originally from New Jersey but currently lives in Texas.

An Irish guy sat down to talk to me about the current state of police brutality against black Americans and was so passionately enraged asking me, “What are you guys gonna do about it? You should do what we did and violently revolt”!

A man in South Africa renamed his pet bird Donald Trump because he’s orange with crazy hair.

Two guys in Spain were chatting with us about why there is so much gun violence in the U.S. They said that although Spain has its own issues, it’s a very secure place to live and they were very proud of that.

A man in Chile stated that the election affects everyone outside of the U.S. by comparing it to getting sick. If the U.S. catches a cold, the rest of the world gets sick as well.

People mocking Make America Great Again.

Heavy lies the crown, and I guess when you’re from the Empire you have to answer to the rest of the world. Although the majority of people we chat with like to joke about it, it’s unfortunately our reality. It feels like the U.S. is the Truman Show, everyone is watching and many of us are just waiting for a good chunk of Americans to have this revelation.

The world is just as anxious as we are to find out who wins and at this moment, I’m in the car listening to talk radio about the election and one of the hosts asks the other, “What will happen if Trump wins”? Her response, “Hahahahaha.” And there you have it.