Oh say, can you see?

In less than a week, we will be in Washington and part of the US presidential election brouhaha. "We" includes six members of Generation Y, most of whom have never been to the US, and me. We are headed there as part of a university-sponsored trip to observe the electoral process and how it is covered by the media.

These young people have worked hard to join this trip. They are smart and iPhone savvy. In this age of Facebook and Google, they can access information and Lady Gaga, Captain America and Gossip Girl in a snap. They are psyched for this trip, and have been doing internal jumping jacks and high-fives during our weekly meetings to discuss how we will blog, Facebook, tweet, video and weibo our journey for the student newspaper.

I've seen this kind of excitement in nearly every cross-cultural adventure among newbies to any country. These students romanticise America in a way I romanticise my own homeland when I've been away too long. Maybe years later, when they are older, they will understand that America, however geographically beautiful, however portrayed by Hollywood, has its dark side.

The American fantasy is very much alive in glossy magazines, in film and in music - it permeates the overall image of what America is in the eyes of many.

Here in Hong Kong, Hollywood films are a hit at the box office, and Mark Zuckerberg is living proof to my students that the American dream is very possible. Come up with a smashing idea - or rather, snatch someone else's idea - become a billionaire, and get married. It's a very Disneyesque ending. Has Hong Kong or mainland China churned out a social media 2.0 smash hit yet? No.

"Do you watch The O.C.?" a young woman asks me. "Is California really like that?" I've watched enough Friends, Desperate Housewives and Modern Family to differentiate between entertainment and reality.