AIM problem

[Nimmy]

hi there, umm I didn't know where or who to ask
and I thought the best place for pc programming I know of
is right here =)

I downloaded AIM, and made an account and everything
but when I try to log on, it says "validating" for about 15 minutes or more
then says it cannot log on and I should try again later
at first I thought he isn't connecting to the server
so I typed a WRONG password, and it immediately told me the password\username are incorect, is it because im trying to log on from outside the USA? is AIM a US-user only?
if not how can I fix this? thanks a lot

-Nimmy