Like many of you, I had the great opportunity to travel abroad this summer. Through Semester at Sea, I was able to visit eight different countries while taking three college classes aboard a ship for 10 weeks. However, as interesting and exciting as it was to experience these new foreign cultures, I found myself missing the good old United States in some rather surprising ways. So, I present to you eight reasons to love America:

8. Deodorant – I don’t really consider myself a religious man, but after three hours of involuntary vertical spooning with two very large, very sweaty men on a packed train, I found myself praying — nay, pleading — to the Old Spice gods to grant me some kind of mercy. The deodorant deities were MIA, along with their friends Mr. Clean and the personal-bubble fairy.

7. Air conditioning – I know typical Seattleites don’t have air conditioning, but we’re also not sitting on the coast of the Mediterranean in 120° F and 95 percent humidity, either. Need I say more?

6. Newness – Believe it or not, spell check says that it is actually a word. Don’t get me wrong, antiquity is great, just not when it comes to commercial airliners and store refrigeration units. Maybe it’s just me, but “ice” should be a solid and “planes” shouldn’t have places for people to pedal the propellers in an emergency.

5. Police – Everyone gets irritated with the boys in blue when they break up your party or give you speeding tickets; but when an obese, topless woman decides to block traffic for nearly an hour, the cops are usually the first to call. Unless you’re in Athens, where six different police cars pass by and whip out their camera phones to laugh and take pictures instead of dealing with the problem.

4. “Originals” – Admittedly, it was pretty awesome to see the words “Royale with Cheese” actually printed on the menu board at McDonald’s, but potato wedges instead of fries and a price tag that translates to $15 for a Big Mac made me long for the regular old clogged arteries and tears of grease “Supersize Me” brand. Not to mention, the pathetic poser drink they claim to be “Coke” does not belong in that distinguished red can.

3. Traffic laws – We may have the occasional female teenager who thinks texting her BFF about her latest earth-shattering drama is a more important task to attend to on I-5 than actually driving, but in general our drivers aren’t too shabby. In Egypt, even being around a road means putting your life at risk. But what do you expect when cars, camels, decrepit horses pulling massive carts, donkeys carrying litters of small children, herds of stray animals, bikes, mopeds, mummies and people all have to share the same one-lane street?

2. Smoking – To put it simply, everyone in Europe smokes everywhere. Women working the Stair Masters in gyms can be seen puffing on a cig while their infant children sit there sucking on ash-flavored pacifiers. Tony Bennett may have lost his heart in San Francisco, but I lost half a lung in Copenhagen. Hooray for state-imposed public smoking regulations.

1. Restaurant practices – No free water. No free refills. Warm drinks in glasses that demonstrate the apparent scarcity and preciousness of ice — one to two cubes max. Pay bathrooms. Waiters and waitresses that give you the silent treatment and occasionally forget that you’re sitting at their table. It’s as if all European restaurant owners got together and watched a “how-to video” describing every positive aspect of the American dining experience and collectively decided to do the exact opposite. Upon returning home, I actually gave the Red Robin waitress a hug when she set down a cold, free Dr. Pepper refill before my first drink had finished.

In all seriousness, studying abroad for the summer was perhaps the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had. I would highly encourage everyone to take advantage of an opportunity to do so in the future, especially on Semester at Sea, where we need more Huskies — I was the only Dawg on this summer’s voyage.

Reach columnist Jeff Dickson at opinion@dailyuw.com.