ABSTRACT
A Finnish exchange student, Tiina, was attending high school in Iowa in America’s heartland. She was living with a friendly host family who wanted to show her all they could of their home town and its surrounding environs. As Tiina recounted her time in America, she mentioned her dear friends and exciting events she had seen, including college basketball games. However, she also puzzled over many features of American culture, including its eating habits, relations between boys and girls, the curriculum of the high school, television programs, and fan behavior at sporting events. Yet none of these recollections animated-nor agitated-her nearly as much as a particular dynamic that occurred when she was with her host family.
