How’d I watch and share the election results in Krakow? On the internet. I finally went to sleep when the sun was coming up. Screen looked something like this:

Browser with ton o’ tabs (CNN, Kos, Drudge, Pollster, Slate, email, FB), IM conversations, Skype live video chat with Andrew, Erin & King, Twitter tweets, and streaming MSNBC TV.

He did it. America did it.

I’ll keep this (relatively) brief because this is not a political blog, but from an American world traveler’s perspective, the 2008 presidential election has been more than just a side note as I move from country to country and the results mean more than just a little to me as someone representing America to the rest of the world.

To the folks at home, I know from first-hand experience that the rest of the world is, generally and eloquently speaking, balls-out elated right now.

The world cares. A lot.

Everywhere I’ve been, people asked me about the election. “Have you voted? Who will win? What do you think?” It almost always came up. This goes for Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and Poland — and the people from all sorts of other countries I’ve met while traveling in these countries. (Australia, Germany, Israel, France, Brazil, etc.)

When they ask if I voted, I proudly said that I did — absentee. Then I say that my vote was for Barack Obama.

With the exception of one time*, the mention of Obama’s name immediately cuts the inherent tension in having a political discussion with someone who’s leanings you don’t know. None of them are sure initially if I’m a Bush guy or something, but when they hear that I voted for Obama, they relax and smile, the floodgates open, and the conversation gets interesting and honest.

* I met a Colombian Cab driver who insisted that America was “not ready for a black president” and that America needed a “strong man” to lead it. As an example, he explained that, more or less, everything that George Bush has done after 9/11 has been the right thing to do. I actually bet him $15 that Obama would win. Guess I need to go back to Colombia to collect now.

The world is well informed.

During these conversations, I am continually impressed with the breadth of knowledge people in other countries have about news and politics in the United States. Many of them are probably better informed (and even care more) about our politics than Joe Six-Pack. Cabbies in Colombia, other travelers, bartenders, whoever. They largely know a surprising amount about our politics and they can talk intelligently about it.

The world loves Obama…

… and summarily seems to hate George Bush. According to my unscientific survey, of course.

They seemed at the very least unexcited about John McCain. Reactions towards Palin were probably best summed up by the 50 year-old Scottish car mechanic at the hostel in Krakow, “Oh, shite. She’s a nutter, that one.”

I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard variants of the phrase, “Well everyone in my country hopes you elect Barack Obama.” “We want Obama.” “If I could vote, I’d vote for Obama.”

I’m sure there are exceptions, but other than the war-mongering Colombian cab driver, I have yet to personally meet anyone.

And me?

This means a lot to me.

I have generally been quick to say negative things about America and what our policies represent around the world because I’ve disagreed with what we’ve done on the international stage and who we’ve chosen to lead us. Since I’ve actually cared about politics and the news, I’ve always felt a mistrust, a shiestiness, and general douchebaggyness surrounding the whole affair of America and it’s politics. I’ve been a cynic about a system that I’ve never felt included in.

That may have changed last night at 6:00 in the morning sitting in a small studio apartment in Krakow watching MSNBC streaming video online while I video chatted with friends in their living room.

Sitting on the other side of the Atlantic and for the first time in my life, I actually feel pride in my country. I am proud of what we’ve done and what it means. I am proud that we are showing the world we might not be nincompoops after all. The Little Snowball in Hell that has yet to melt and I are proud of the state of Indiana which looks to go BLUE. (!) I’m not gonna start blaring that one “Proud to Be An American” country song or anything, but at least I know America hasn’t totally lost it’s shit.

(Apparently one of the Scottish med students I met in Arequipa, Peru feels the same way. She just updated her Facebook status to say, “happy Americans-aren’t-so-stupid-after-all day.” See what I mean?)

Even if Obama biffs it or even if one were to argue that the election of Obama was merely a rejection of the Bush administration and not an endorsement of Obama, that’s still enough for me to walk prouder around the world.

Maybe now the next time I’m at a random pub in another country and strike up a conversation with someone, I won’t have to ready my battery of, “But, hey, don’t worry – I’m one of the Good Americans!” explainers when they ask where I’m from.

Finally. I might just have faith in America again.

Thanks, people.

Editor’s Note: And to the McCain supporters and/or Barack cynics: Don’t sweat it. I ain’t judgin’. I still do appreciate a variety of opinions even if I and the rest of the world tend not to agree with them. This is America, after all.

There’s a Flickr set here.

It’s beautiful here in Krakow. It’s not really cold yet, but we’re right in the middle of a gorgeous fall. The leaves are even changing. Nice. I’m writing you from my small studio apartment in central Krakow.

I also left you hanging a bit. What was I excited about in my last entry? Read on.

I’m world-renowned for telling people different variants of the phrase, “It will be okay.”

Such as, “Things will work out,” or “I’ve got faith in you,” or, “Ahh, don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine,” or I’ll quote quote Outkast’s SpottieOttieDopaliscious and say, “Funny how shit work out sometimes, y’dig? One moment you frequent the booty clubs and the next four years you and somebody’s daughter raisin’ y’all own young’n.” Whether it’s relevant to the situation or not — and it never is.

I believe it, too. (Except the part about raising my own young’n anytime soon. I hope.) I have faith that good things will happen. Even when bad things happen, they’re usually transitory and I tend to either learn things from them or laugh at them. Thanks, Mom, for the positive world-view.

So what does this Love Fest of positive energy and thoughts have to do with Poland? It’s what happened. I was in a distinctly average hostel near the city center of Krakow which was in a building where the gestapo used to torture people. Nothing crazy-exceptional had happened until I wandered over to the Wall of Business Cards and I found these:

Cards for a film festival.

Hell yeah! There’s a film and animation festival in Krakow. While I’m here. I’m specifically here to spend some time working on a creative venture or two and what better than an international film festival to pass my time and grab a little inspiration with!

But wait, there’s more. I went to ask the receptionist at the hostel about where I could buy tickets. She said, “Oh, this is cool. I worked it last year, will be going again this year, and have a bunch of friends with films in the festival.” We talked some more and it turns out she’s a film student and producer in a nascent film production company she and a couple friends are starting. Who knew?

Furthermore, I showed her my demo reel and she told me about a potential green-screen shoot in Poland’s capital city of Warsaw which she might be bringing me along to! Awesome. They’re still working out the details of the shoot, so I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not yet, but if it does, I’m totally going. Woot.

So thanks to a spoonful o’ random chance, things took a nice turn in Krakow. Had I not looked at the Wall of Business Cards, I would have had no idea about any of this.

Nice. Thanks, Krakow.

Propaganda Bar in Kazimierz

I have found where I like to go out in Krakow. I spent the first few nights wandering around the beautiful main square in Krakow. It is certainly beautiful: full of incredible architecture, nice restaurants, and nice bars. A bit too nice at times.

Enter Kazimierz. It’s a historic Jewish district in Krakow and has the good-to-Shipley spots to go out to. It seems “hipper,” for whatever that’s worth. Apparently it used to be dangerous to walk around in but is in the process of coming up. It also includes last night’s destination: a bar called “Propaganda.”

Propaganda is chocked full of, well, propaganda. Old Soviet posters, old radios, gas masks, all sorts of bizarre decorations. It’s weird. It’s awesome. It’ll probably be my first destination when I go out. There was even a fight between a couple of drunk Poles with the smelly guy that was sitting next to me at the bar and making out with some girl acting as a sort of moderator. Naturally, the first thing I did was bust out the camera and shoot video:

Half-Assed Bar Fight in Krakow from Nathan Shipley on Vimeo.

All of the patrons were quite nonplussed by the whole thing. The guys got pushed out the door and that was that — I still have no idea what happened. The bartender cleaned up the broken glass and the everyone moved on. I decided on a change of venue and wandered over to another bar where I met a group of girls from England in for the weekend. While far from Polish, they were fun to hang out with.

The Mall.

So, the cheapest place to buy groceries around here is at the Carrefour. Which is in a massive mall. I still don’t like malls, but I did find some enjoyable things:

A women’s clothing store called “Troll.” Hah.

Forever 21 is one-upped by “Forever 18″ … Europe continues to be on the bleeding edge of fashion. I’m sure when the US gets around to having a “Forever 18,” these guys will have already moved on to Forever 16.

Finally, a sign in the “Ecco” store referring to the “Husky Rangers,” which I’m pretty sure is just a promo for some winter clothing line – Google shows no mention of a book or film by the same name. I’m sure they’re referring to the dogs, but I like the idea of slightly overweight park rangers on an adventure. They’re not large, they’re just, you know, “husky.”

Here’s the photo set on Flickr.

I am in Poland. I’ll be moving in to my Krakow apartment on Tuesday. Woot. There are some pretty exciting things to talk about and I’ll have all the juicy details here soon. For now, though:

This afternoon I walked around for 2 hours in central Krakow shooting video with the only video camera I have: my pack-of-cards-sized Canon SD-1100 point-and-shoot camera. Thanks to the newly-acquired laptop, I can actually edit stuff. Started shooting at about 3:00 pm this afternoon, finished editing at a leisurely pace by 11:00 pm.

Fun to make up a simple project and just finish it in a day.

I have had pierogis three times at the pictured pierogi restaurant. They are awesome. The “Buty” store, which I pronounce “Booty” every time I walk past it, sells shoes. And boots.

So, in all of it’s one minute and five seconds of glory, here is what central Krakow is like. Music by Herb Alpert. Thanks, Loxy.

An afternoon walk in Krakow, Poland from Nathan Shipley on Vimeo.