For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new friendships. Today, millions of Americans go on vacation abroad, and we go not only to see new sights but also — in those places where we don't feel too strange — with the hope of meeting new people. No one really expects a vacation trip to produce a close friend, but the beginning of a friendship is possible. Surely in every country people value friendship.

　　The word “friend” to American people can be applied to

　　a wide range of relationships — to someone one has known for a few weeks in a new place, to a close business companion, to a childhood playmate, to a man or a woman, or to a trusted colleague. There are real differences among these relations for Americans — a friendship may be shallow, casual, situational or deep and lasting. But to a European, who sees only our surface behavior, the differences are not clear.

　　As Europeans see it, all kinds of “friends” flow in and out of Americans' homes with little ceremony. They may be parents of the children' s friends, house guests of neighbors, members of a committee, business associates from another town or even another country.

　　Coming as a guest into an American home, the European visitor finds no obvious landmarks. The atmosphere is relaxed.

　　Most people, old and young, are called by first names. Americans' characteristic openness to different styles of relationship makes it possible for us to find new friends abroad with whom we feel at home.

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