The confusing state of being an Arab in the USA.

or.....the confusing state of being a "Libyan" in the USA.

So my Freshman year at college started in August 2010. I arrived at the airport, "so this is the US huh?". I had been in the US before a couple of times, but never for more than a couple of weeks each, so this was different. Getting through customs, getting my bags and exiting through the sliding doors to where everyone seemed to be getting taxis I thought "so this is where I'm going to live huh?". It was all good, felt like I was "Ibn Battuta" (more on him later) going on an excursion outside his natural niche, ready to take on the world, to meet new people and ethnicities, this was going to be great.
The US is the world's melting pot, or at least it used to be. Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Blondes, Germans, Irish, Africans, Persian, they got it all. Except, well, Arabs, at least in my state. I imagined that I would be one of the many many Arabs going over to the US to study, and I would meet many many Arab-Americans as well.

However, that wasn't the case.

Putting my bags in the back of the taxi and telling the driver where I was heading, I sat in the back of the seat and took out my camera. While we were going past random buildings (with me taking a ridiculous number of photos) the driver asked me "So my friend, vere you from?". The guy wasn't an American, or at least didn't have an American accent. "Libya" I said. "Where is that?" he said. "It's an Arab country in North Africa" I said. "oh, Arab, wow!" was his response.
"wow". The word that has come to haunt me whenever I met someone new. I never before thought that being a Libyan would gain so much attention (before the current events ofc), and so I had the same exact surprised face when I got the "wow!" response from everyone I met at college. It took around 6 months for me to accept my fate and realize that I will, for the time being, be an exotic species that walks on two feet, talks English, and that people can't seem to understand.
Is it something about being an Arab or a Libyan? well, it depends really. I spoke to other Arabs that I found nearby in the city I lived in and the rare students that I stumbled upon, yet I seemed to be one of the few who people had a hard time understanding. So perhaps being an Arab in the USA will get you confused looks, questions about Middle East politics and a complete misunderstanding of your culture and ethnic background, but that is not what will confuse you the most, my Arab friend.
Here's what will: You might or might not find someone who listens to the same Arabic music you do, you might or might not have a lot of people to pray with or even hear talk about praying (assuming you're a Muslim), you might or might not be surprised at the expensive cost (6$) of a cup of Turkish coffee, and you might or might not get the weird glances when people overhear you talking Arabic on the phone. You will not be an alien, and you will not hate your life; in fact, you'll enjoy the momentarily confusion surrounding your identity. However, sooner or later, you'll feel confused, sometimes asking "what the hell am I doing here? where's the real coffee? where's the cuscus? where the Azzan five times a day and where's the 11pm dinner?". Depending on where you live you might or might not have other Arab students/people with whom you will share you general confusion.
Will the confused state continue? Well, it depends on how attached you were to your Arabic ethnicity and land, your language, the food, the culture, the weather and all sorts of things.
So, comrade, pump up the Arabic music in your dorm room, go out late at night to get that overly expensive Turkish coffee, attempt cooking Arabic food that you will not be able to make and talk to yourself in Arabic every now and then so you won't forget the language. Still confused? well who isn't? it's life comrade, it's confusing, but that's the beauty of it. For now, just enjoy being a stranger in strange lands.
والله المستعان