Several years ago, I flew across the Atlantic Ocean and across countless smaller cities, towns, rivers, and lakes. I came to America to study and to become a scientist. It was a dream come true. All the ingrained formulas and calculations shone with new intensity in my mind’s eye, yet the rest of my new existence was indeed dreamy. Almost everything seemed strange and exotic.

For whatever reason, men did not have mustaches. Women did not wear hijab, and the “morality police” were not going after them. In fact, it was nowhere to be found. People spoke English with a bewildering variety of accents, and everyone could enjoy an infinite number of world cuisines. One could even walk into a store and purchase an alcoholic beverage legally, without engaging in a contraband-like mission of sneaking it out in a black plastic bag.