"Where are you from?"

Last night I stopped by the pre-party in the fourth floor kitcken. There were a lot of new tenants I hadn't met. I was introduced to a girl from Canada and one from Italy. "Where are you from?" the Italian girl asked. "I'm from Hawaii," I said. Her eyes grew big and her mouth opened, about to scream. I immediately regretted what I said. "Oh my god!" she said, excitedly. "That's my dream place! Maybe I will have my honeymoon there. Oh my god, what was it like growing up there?" I guess if I met somebody from Fiji or Tahiti I would act the same way. One year ago, I probably would have responded as excitedly to someone from Russia, Italy, France or Bangladesh. But the more I meet new people, the less tolerant I get for the same conversations, same questions, same reactions. I find myself wanting to say I'm from Oregon or anything that won't spark a reaction. Why? I guess it's an effort to get people to initially associate me with or take interest in my personality and thoughts, not my ethnicity or home country. While it's actually all linked, the lasting friendships I've had are not based on ethnicity or home country, but on personality and thoughts. Not to get all unnecessarily cynical (actually I like meeting new people, sharing stories from Hawaii and making small talk), but too much of one thing can put me off for a bit. In a few weeks the conversation about Hawaii and my parents' stories and traveling around will probably be as exciting as it was to talk about.