Unexpected Wisconsinite Culture Shock

So, in all of these seminars before Germany and even once we got to Germany, the program warned us about culture shock. The entire time, however, they were talking about culture shock we would experience in another country. I had no idea, however, that I would experience culture shock with my fellow CBYXers that were from the same country as me. We come from all over the country. The first hour I was in D.C. with my fellow CBYXers, one of them asked me where I was from. I said "I'm from Wisconsin" to which she responded "That explains it". I asked her what she meant and she said "Well, that explains your cute little accent". I hadn't really travelled to other places in the country before so I guess I never really thought about whether or not I had a Wisconsin accent. I always thought I didn't have one...but I guess I do. At first it was really getting on my nerves that everyone was bringing it up and asking me to repeat the words "bag" and "go". I was about to scream. But then I realized that I wasn't the only one with an accent in the group and, really, what is an accent anyway besides a slightly different way of saying a word. I realized that they were not bringing it up to hurt my feelings but merely to have some fun with me. Me and my fellow CBYXers go "oot and aboot in the city" together and have so much fun now. So now I play along with the joke and have even been compared to Bobby's mom from the show Bobby's World (see video below). Having an accent doesn't mean you are uneducated or any less sophisticated than anyone else. It just means you are more special and MUCH more interesting than those without accents. Dontcha Know!