title: Python 2.7, convert utf8 string to ascii
body: <p>I am working with python 2.7.12
  I have string which contains a unicode literal, which is not of type Unicode. I would like to convert this to text. This example explains what I am trying to do.</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; s
  '\x00u\x00s\x00e\x00r\x00n\x00a\x00m\x00e\x00'
  &gt;&gt;&gt; print s
  username
  &gt;&gt;&gt; type(s)
  &lt;type 'str'&gt;
  &gt;&gt;&gt; s == "username"
  False
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How would I go about converting this string?</p>