Upstate New York

Im sitting in a hotel in upstate New York. Eric is taking the TOEFL test, and for some bizarre reason, Vestal New York was the closest place where he could take it before June. I dont understand it. Oh well. Im nervous for him. But, not being from a country with a huge push for standardized testing from age 10 forward, he doesn't feel the stress or the pressure. It's funny, because I keep thinking (and sometimes saying) "Don't you know that your WHOLE FUTURE will be effected by your score on this test?!" But he doesn't really seem affected by it. He didnt hear SAT, SAT, SAT while he was a kid or any of the other hoops we jump through - GRE, LSAT, MCAT, Praxis, LAST, blah blah blah... so it's like just another thing to him. I mean, maybe it really isn't. Maybe this is just his way of not getting stressed out and doing his best. But its just so unamerican! Isn't the USA about last minute cramming, completing endless test prep routines, eating every possible brain food for a week, listening to recordings of clues while you sleep, and praying that the notes under your pillow will somehow be absorbed into your brain?

Or was that just me?