Went to dinner tonight with Alan, Hank, and Rudolf, who is a German exchange student living in the German house. He and Alan are acquainted so he came along to the UC with us and he and I got into a general political discussion. It was very even-tempered and thoughtful; we discussed American perceptions of Europe and vice versa, and what he and I saw as misunderstandings between the continents. We also talked about the War on Terrorism and our different views on it, and debated whether it was possible to do it without alienating allies (or "allies," in some cases). At any rate, it was a nice discussion--he thanked me at the end for being the first Republican he'd met with excellent arguments, and I told him I always like a reasoned debate. Although I didn't correct him that I stand apart from the Republican party on several issues (and "conservative" sounds so much better to my ear). :-P