Seeing the USA Through Foreign Eyes: Strange but True

The Great Soda Spree

When we first arrived, and I walked up to a soda machine. We never had those, and I think I drank 10-15 refills of Coke before my parents started yelling at me. UNLIMITED SODA ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

No Billboards, No Problem

Hawaiian here, but I never noticed that we didn’t have billboards until I moved out of Hawaii.

Turns out they’re illegal. So that’s weird. It’s awesome, cause I get unobstructed views, but still weird.

A Nutty World of Squirrels

That there are a lot of squirrels.

SingleBarrel

Stepping into the Unknown

The fact that nobody walks any significant distance ever for any reason. A while ago I was on holiday in New England and did a lot of wandering about for pleasure – coming from a country which is at least 70% rambling footpaths, I thought that it might be fairly similar in rural America. Nope. I was forced to walk on minor-to-fairly-large roads almost all the time. I had people call out to me from their gardens to ask where I was headed and reply with incredulity when I told them it was about 10 miles away. I had a lovely old woman almost hold me hostage and force me to let her give me a lift to my destination because she couldn’t understand that I genuinely preferred to walk and I wasn’t trying to get to help from my crashed car or something. I had a really nice policeman pull up in his car next to me and ask me where I was headed if I was lost, if he could give me a lift – he laughed at me in a these-foreigners-are-crazy sort of way when I said I was alright. I didn’t quite expect to attract that much attention just by wandering about on foot.

For all that, though, it was genuinely one of the nicest holidays I’ve ever taken myself off on, and almost all of the attention was pleasant and helpful. You did good, America, you weird place.

reddituser

The ‘Fine, Thank You’ Dilemma

In Germany “How are you?” is an actual question and you generally only ask it, if you know the other person. It was super hard to explain to my mum that the answer is always “fine, thank you” and those cashiers didn’t really care about how you actually felt when we visited the US in 08.

No Peek-a-Boo with the Deceased

Open caskets at funerals. This is not a normal thing in Australia – I have never once attended a service where the dead were on show. We do not embalm our dead nor do we expect to ever see them again once they are gone.

Enlightening an Egyptian

I live in the south and one time I was hanging out with a friend smoking by a lake in late spring / early summer. He was Egyptian and had just moved here over the winter. All of a sudden he freaked out saying he was seeing weird lights in the trees. I thought he was too high or something before I realized he meant the lightning bugs. He’d never seen them and didn’t know what they were, so I started catching them and he was mind-blown that they were just a normal seasonal thing.

Fun Was Just a Dream Mile Away

How far apart everything is and how little is within walking distance. Location was dependent, but I moved to a suburb in the Midwest as a kid and everything was so far away. Without access to a car and without reliable public transportation, it was pretty much impossible to get to a friend’s house (unless they lived on your street or something) or go anywhere fun as a kid without relying on parents for a ride. Maybe things are different now with Uber and whatnot, but back then it felt pretty isolating.

Small Talk Strangers Become Instant BFFs

Canadian here, I was blown away by how weirdly social people are with strangers. Like some random guy I’ve never seen before just starts telling me his life story on the street. He is super normal and doesn’t seem crazy, just wants to talk to me for some reason. But then also, the dude at Wendy’s is loudly threatening some 16-year-old cashier in front of like 45 people. I got the impression the Wendy’s guy was uncool, but the other guy seemed normal, and where I live I generally assume that a stranger talking to me for no reason is either crazy or high.

Rolling the Dice at Rest Stops

I’m not sure if they find it weird or not but as a Canadian who has been to a few states:

Gambling at gas stations in Montana. So d*mn weird.

The Amusement of Compliments

Complimenting strangers. When I visited the US I went to an amusement park and a girl complimented my glasses and that was my first time getting complimented and at the same amusement park, a senior lady complimented my dad for having a beautiful family and a handsome son (lol me). I was really happy that day.

ItzMeRzx

Cross-Cultural Connection

Now that Thanksgiving and Christmas is over:

The weirdest thing is that Americans will ask what you are doing for Thanksgiving. Are you going to your family etc…. When you say no. They invite you to their home.

(I was a student, My family was thousands of miles away, and I’m happy that the local Cracker Barrel is open and looking forward to a meal there)

My Professor did that. Invited me to his home. I had a good time, but it was strange. I’m meeting his uncles and aunts. and one little girl threw a tantrum, I had to take her to calm her down etc…

It was weird. But also wonderful. In my country, things like this would never happen. You don’t bring a stranger to a family event.

But I’m thankful things like this happen here.

Where Dining Meets Downtime

Some Europeans told me that it’s crazy how restaurants are loud and busy and how people eat quickly and leave. For him, it was normal to sit around and talk for an hour or more after eating in a restaurant.

The Apologetic Manager

It had been 20 minutes since we got our appetiser (which we were having trouble finishing cos the portion was so huge) when a woman came up to our table and said “Hello I’m Sheila, the manager”, and we were like sh*t have we done something wrong, but no she was there to apologise profusely for our main course being SO late.

We figured it would be another 15 min or so, which would be okay since we were struggling with the appetiser, but now as she was leaving our food arrived.

If that was back home, not only would the food be later than 20 minutes, but there would be no Sheila to beg for our forgiveness. And definitely not if it was literally 10 seconds away.

Viva Las Vegas

I spent a week in Vegas while doing some paperwork with a consulate.

It was 117°F that day.

Oh my god. Was in a Gas station, nice and cool. When I opened the door to exit, it felt exactly like when I opened the door to a Pizza oven, with heat hitting me in the face.

It was absurdly hot. I don’t get how some people can actually live out there. Wh*ck.

We spent like 2 minutes walking from a parking garage into a casino, and I felt exhausted after just a couple of minutes.

Land of Flags and Freedom

Not really a shock but one thing that really surprised me was the sheer amount of flags.

It was like almost every building had an American flag. Here in Belgium, if I see a house with a national flag I assume there’s some kind of sports event going on that I didn’t know about.

Michelin Star Status

Tipping. And not just tipping, but tipping so much that the entire thing I bought (e.g. a meal) is now in an entirely higher price bracket.

Grand Canyon Tip-Off

The tipping was everywhere: we took a helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon as a special occasion for our family, and the pilot wanted a tip at the end. Sooo… the trip was $800 so what do I tip? $10? $100? I just ended up giving the guy a 20 because that’s all I had in cash on me, but then ended up feeling like he thought I was a tight b*stard. How am I supposed to know whether the guy is underpaid and needs tips to make it up to a livable wage or whether he’s already perfectly well-paid? Of course, we knew from the start that he’d be wanting a tip since he spent most of the trip emphasising how much he personally wanted to ensure our enjoyment and seeing if we wanted bottled water.

Walking on the Edge

No sidewalks, not everywhere, but outside of major cities, you often literally can’t walk between places safely.

Taxing My Patience

YOU DON’T PUT TAX ON YOUR PRICES!!! Whyyyyy? The amount of times I counted it the exact amount it said something would cost, only to get to the register and get told that it’s actually more.

Bowies-on-the-moon

From Wait to Weight

The rituals for paying after food.

Call the server and ask for the bill Wait Server brings the bill, puts the card down Wait Server takes care of it and bills away Wait Server brings back copy, you add the tip Get up and leave.

In NZ Finish the meal, go to the front of the restaurant and pay then leave (no tip).

Employer Empires

How much power your employer has over you? They can fire you at will, dictate that you work overtime, and mandate that you take a drug test at will… the power balance between employer and employee in NZ is very different.

In Search of a ‘Cheers’ Abroad

I lived for a long time in different places around the world, and something that I really missed when moving to a new town was the lack of a US-style bar where it was easy for a stranger to meet people. Outside of the US, it is rare to find a bar where everyone just sits and faces the same direction, whether or not a sporting event is playing on the television. Instead, they have a more ‘pub-like’ environment, where everyone is sitting in groups at their individual tables.

This makes meeting new people extremely difficult. Think about it, with the “table-style” bar, in order to strike up a conversation with a stranger, you literally have to approach them while they are sitting at their own table with their own friends. It’s almost impossible to not look like a total freak! In a proper “Cheers” style bar, you can just say some random phrase to the bartender and if the person sitting next to you wants to talk, they’ll just join in on the conversation.

Basically, In non-US bars, if you aren’t invited ahead of time by someone, you are d*mned to sit alone in some corner of the bar.

SladeBrockett

Drive-Through Culture Shock

 I’m from The Netherlands. The weirdest thing for me was a drive-through liquor store. And a drive-through ATM. In fact, it was the realization that Americans do everything by car.

My wife went to Philadelphia for work about ten years ago and wanted to walk from the hotel to the Target store across the street. People thought she was crazy.

A Literal Extreme

People kept asking “How are you?” and seemed utterly perplexed when I actually answered literally.

Air and Water Quality?

I was blown away by how clean the air and water was. Having traveled from India, there was a massive difference in air and water quality.

Not just that, the kind of orderliness on the roads, plus the pedestrians having the right of way was amazing.

Lastly, the politeness/friendliness of the people in general was something that took me a while to get used to.

sinesquaredtheta

Grocery Store Gratitude

My dad came from communist Laos. He’s been here for 30 years. I don’t know if it was the biggest culture shock but one was food. He lived in a small poor Laotian town. People often didn’t have fridges or access to meat, certainly not daily.

Since he’s come here he’s always grateful for grocery stores and his access to food. All kinds of food too, all kinds of cuisine. All kinds of whatever you need and all in abundance. To simply go to a grocery store and get everything you need in one trip.

There are tons of foods here that weren’t available in his home country. Two of his favorite American foods are jello and PB and J sandwiches.

Alarm Clock Hits Snooze

It is probably because it was pretty much the first thing I experienced but the near worship level of reverence to the military (I’ve probably described that really badly).

I flew in from Australia and was waiting for a connection from LAX to Denver. While waiting, I think every 15 minutes there was an announcement over the PA with a prerecorded message thanking all the current and past servicemen and women for their honour.

By no means am I anti-armed forces, I respect what they do but it was a massive culture change from what we have here in Australia and other countries I have been to.

I have no idea if this was a “special” occasion, it definitely wasn’t Veteran’s Day but for all I know, maybe there was a large influx of soldiers heading off/returning from the Middle East? As I said at the start of this post, it just really struck me as it is the first actual culture experience I had in the US.

One Fuddrucker’s Trip at a Time

American, but I dated a German girl in college. I took her to Fuddrucker’s for lunch one day and she became obsessed with (not “interested in”; OBSESSED WITH) their burgers.

Her family came to visit her a few months later and she made me take them all to Fuddrucker’s too. Literally every single one of them became obsessed with their burgers too.

It was like watching this group of proud and noble Europeans become slovenly Americans before my very eyes, I was so proud of myself.

OhYeahThrowItAway

Left-Lane Rebels Beware!

Walking systems. In Chicago, everyone walks on the right. You try to get in the left and slap back in your lane b*tch….we’re animals in Ireland

Americans Are Actually Nice!

This probably says more about me and my preconceptions than anything but by far the biggest shock for me was just how nice everyone was. Where I’m from in the UK there seemed to be a bit of a stigma towards Americans in general which made me anticipate the worst – but every single person I’ve interacted with on multiple visits to the US has been phenomenally nice and approachable. No idea how common that is, maybe I was just lucky but it certainly made my experiences much better.

New York’s Open Book

When I went to New York I was flabbergasted by the amount of people just loitering on the streets or having phone conversations that everyone could hear on the train like npcs from GTA.

People outside of the USA don’t hang out in public or let other people into their business on public transport.

I managed to hear a woman talk about how her baby daddy wasn’t going to her daughter’s birthday party and I started to pick sides in her personal life, while walking through Central Park I heard two friends with a substantial age gap talk about everyone in their friend group having mistresses and they were trading information on the mistress facts each of them knew for their respective friends, I got invested in that one so I followed them for a while (pretending I wasn’t) because I wanted the tea.

Higher Ed or Higher Debt?

Willingly putting yourself massively in debt for a college degree.

I come from a place with free university education (which has its own drawbacks of course), and the fact that you can make such a huge, life-altering decision at 17 is considered normal over there, that seems downright bizarre to me.

The Customer Is Always Right… or Are They?

The enabling customer service culture.

It’s created excessive portions in restaurants, created Karen, gives way to a disposable attitude towards products, and generally gives a sense of entitlement where most people start adding it to their list of rights.

When Ice Water is Life

Big glasses of water WITH ICE at restaurants. I live in Texas usually and I drink ice water like 24/7. It’s a good habit here, especially in Summer. When I was in Europe I would get the smallest glasses of lukewarm water that I had to ask for more every ten seconds. I felt annoyed! Aren’t y’all thirsty?! Or am I missing something?

bunnysnitch

More Than Meets the Eye

Everything in America is huge. I don’t just mean the people or portion sizes, because we all know about that- but the roads, the buildings, the ceilings, the space between everything… America is gigantic. It just feels larger than it does here. I’m Australian but I’ve been to Asia and size-wise it’s similar to Australia, and I’ve seen Europeans say the same about America. Everything is bigger.

The Price of Health

The low prices for bad nutrition and the high price for vegetables, fruits etc. It’s insane. Maybe it’s me as a tourist not knowing where to go but as a Dutchy, I would normally go to the markets and score some fresh food for astonishingly low prices.

Unseen and Unheard

The homeless.

I know there are homeless people everywhere, but the amount I saw in NYC was unbelievable. And quite a few of them clearly had mental health issues.

I was only there for a week, but I saw one woman on the side of the road, wrapped in a filthy blanket and very few teeth left, in midtown screaming at everybody walking past, and nobody reacted to her at all. One guy in Times Square was screaming into the air calling somebody a ‘c**t’ at 6 a.m. but there was nobody around.

I also saw the mayor giving a speech in front of cameras in Times Square about the heightened security around Election Day (November 2016) and a few feet away from him was a homeless guy sleeping in a doorway.

The way America shamelessly shrugged off its homeless problem was really concerning.

Frequent Flyers with Fur

Animals at the airport.

Everyone has f*cking animals. In the terminal, lounges and plane.

Animals on planes have more rights than allergic passengers.

Complete trip

(Aussie)

PJ’s on the Prowl

People walking around on the street and going to shops in their PJs.

It’s almost like going out in your underwear.

It’s pretty clear that PJs are for sleep time, and normal clothes for going outside.

Quirinus42

The Concrete Jungle

A pointlessly big car like a pick-up truck for driving around a city or a suburb.

If you drive a pick-up truck in Europe, either you’re a farmer or a builder.

reddituser

In the US, Trust Issues

I’m in the US right now, and one thing that always gets me is the *extreme* lack of trust.

People have checked my ID using a credit card, you usually hand it to the cashier instead of entering it yourself.
At fast food type places when they say like ‘Number 71’ you don’t just say that’s me and grab it…you show them your receipt number so they know you’re not stealing it.

Things that you pay for admittance to like movies or buffets or something might as well have armed guards, there are multiple people checking to make sure no one sneaks in, checking receipts etc…

Going to a sporting event requires bag checks and metal detectors, and going to your seat requires an usher or two to check your ticket to let you into the section.

It just constantly feels like people think you’re going to steal things. You have to ‘prove’ everything.

San Francisco vs. Sydney

The divide between neighbourhoods in regards to different ethnicities. E.g.; African Americans and white Americans. Such a contrast in certain parts. Particularly in San Fran. The demographic vs. economic success was really evident. Very different in Australia as we only really have the last 70 years or so of immigration from most countries.

reddituser

Health Insurance Freedom

Your health insurance system. Germany here. Been to Florida several years ago. Need to go to the ER because my son was injured at the beach. Talked to another (American) dad, who also was there with his son. He feared to be bankrupt after that because he had no job at this time. Never understand that a lot of American people see this as a loss of freedom if you have public health insurance. I don’t pay that much and I‘m sure no type of illness will make me lose my home.

When Sweet Meets Salty

The food combo of sweet and salty the way it is in the US is weird for me too. This might be more personal tho. I don’t find it appealing to eat sweet thick pancakes covered in syrup with eggs and bacon instead of having sourdough bread or toast. I do like some sweet and salty combos but this is just not for me. I will gladly eat the eggs, bacon& sweet toast first then have a pancake as a dessert. Also, I miss sourdough bread, it was so hard to find as well as other groceries that I’m used to from the European market. I like my salami and cheese. They feel so overpriced in the US.

The Price is Right… Until It’s Not

Not displaying prices with taxes. I know there are different taxes for every state but it’s just so annoying to have something say it’s e.g. $10 and you end up paying $11,20. We have VAT (value-added tax of 20%) on everywhere which is high compared to the US but at least I don’t have to be misled thinking I’m going pay less for my purchase than the total. It had annoyed me a couple of times. My thought: Why would it be so difficult for each state to have prices according to their taxes? Even if you have a store chain like Walmart. Is it the employees pricing the stuff? Correct me if I’m wrong or if reasoning makes it impossible to include taxes pls.

mezzarthy

Turning Right on Red

In America, I found out it’s perfectly legal to turn right on a red light.

In the UK you only turn left (since we’re on the other side of the road) if the light’s green. Sometimes you get a filter arrow that says you can turn left, usually because the road you’re turning into is on green so you won’t get in anyone’s way, but otherwise red means stop.

In the US, though, if you’re turning right a red light is basically a give way sign. I found this out because I crossed a road at a pedestrian crossing on like my second night and even though I could see my light was green and the car’s light was red I had to wait in the middle of the road for two right turners. I went back to my hotel room where the friend I was visiting was waiting on the snacks I was bringing and I very dramatically asked, kinda in a David Mitchell voice, “Is there some law in this country saying turning right on a red light is just fine?”

He said “…yes?” like I was an idiot.

That sh*t isn’t safe.

American Tipping Etiquette

I was in New York recently and went to a restaurant. Waiters showed up to take the order and deliver the food. And we didn’t see him after that. We needed a napkin and other things, but he wouldn’t come. He only showed up with the bill (without us asking for it yet). It was $92, I left $100 and walked out.

The manager literally runs out, asks me to come back in, and starts lecturing me out loud in front of waiting customers about how “This is America and you have to leave 20% at least” he pulls out his calculator and does the math and puts it in my face. Asks me to put more tips. Then says “You are European aren’t you that explains a lot” out loud and very aggressively.

Quite a bad experience overall.

 ‘You’re Welcome’ – The Kiwi Way

When you say “Thank you!” the response is “Uh huh”, “Sure”, or “Yep”. Extremely strange to a New Zealander as we’re exceedingly Britishey and our response is almost always something to the tune of “No problem”, “All good” or “You’re Welcome”.

oldxscars

Cash-Only vs. Card-Crazy

How many stores are cash-only?

I was in New York two years ago and I was shocked at the lack of contactless payments, then the lack of chip and pin and then the lack of places that accept cards!

Over in the UK, your hard pushed to find somewhere that’s cash only!

Also when a card is accepted the amount of different ways it’s used; some chip and pin, some you have to chip and pin AND sign, only sign and others sign plus ID!

The bonus thing is Tax. The price on the shelf is not the price you pay!

Expecting More from Stores and Life

I’m Israeli and I spent 4 months in the US last year living with host families for 3 of them. I would say that one difference that is kind of under the radar is that Americans expect more. Department stores are a great example, in Israel if a store I would go to to buy electronics started selling gardening products I would think to myself “What are they doing, get this stuff out of here, it doesn’t need to be here”. While an American would think “Awesome this store offers even more stuff” even if he doesn’t need or want gardening equipment.

I felt that Americans always expected more from the services and people around them. Israelis like to “make do” with what they have and if someone went the extra mile and did something we didn’t need him to do, we would think it’s weird and that he is “stupid” to do it.

SirStupidity

Dirt’s Grand Entrance

Shoes indoor. Why? You clean the house so that you can trample it with dust and dirt from outside the house? Why clean it in the first place? Why not just keep it clean by, you know, taking your shoes off at the door?

For the life of me, I will never understand.

One Drink at a Time

Drinking culture is different. People chat to strangers in bars and it’s probably my favourite thing about America. You drink less and slower. One night before going out, myself and a few friends shared a bottle of wine over the course of around two hours. In Scotland, I’d drink that on my own before going out. Not that I’m saying that’s a good thing of course.

boabc

Road Trippin’ Through North America

From Canada. Went on a road trip across Canada and down the West Coast and back through the States. Stopped in Arizona for a little bit and went to a grocery store… A guy walked in with an a**ault rifle strapped to his back and just did his groceries. I was the only one terrified.

Man, that was weird.

An Outsider’s Perspective

Hugging; that was absolutely the weirdest thing the first time I got hugged by an American. In my country, you don’t hug strangers, often not even your friends. Except in special circumstances like a birthday, a celebration or something sad like a funeral. So the first time an American hugged me, I completely froze and I didn’t know what to do.

Today I’m used to it, so I prepare myself that a strange American might hug me and that’s OK, they are trying to be nice.

Beyond the Hype

The idolisation of college and high school athletes, and treating them like superstars. I don’t think anywhere else does this with their teenagers/young adults. It’s creepy and weird.

Where I’m from, no one except the team themselves gave a sh*t about the football or rugby team, and even then you’re lucky if everyone turns up to practice.

Our high schools don’t have huge floodlit pitches with stands that fit the whole school and their parents.

I don’t think anyone goes to matches even at the university level, I’m pretty sure the only televised university sport is the Oxford/Cambridge boat race and that’s Tory as f*ck.

reddituser

Your  Regular Gummy Bears

Your Gatorade/sports drinks taste like melted gummy bears marinated in 1 tonne of sugar. Here in Australia ours are pretty much watered down so you live with the assumption it’s somewhat ok but yours has cranked the dial to 11, I now can’t watch NBA the same knowing they’re drinking that crack during timeouts.

RoboticusTartonicus

Cultural Comfort Zones

Canadian here.

Every time I go to the US it feels like I’m in some twilight zone parallel universe.

Everything looks normal but yet feels out of place.

I think it’s the lack of familiarity. Yes, that is a gas station. But it’s not Esso, Cdn Tire or Husky. Yes, that’s a convenient store but I don’t recognize it or half the products they have in it.

Everything just feels slightly off. But this doesn’t happen when I travel to other countries. Mostly because I expect things to be different. Language, culture food etc.

A Sophomore’s Age

When asking an American how old his/her kid is, they respond by saying: “He/she’s a Sophomore now”. As a European, I’m clueless. Why not just say his age?

Doors Play Hard to Get

People do not have automatically locked doors. In Germany, our door is ALWAYS closed, so no one can enter. We always lock it a second time though, so we’re sure that no one can enter our home.

reddituser