A Foreigner's Perspective on Getting Adjusted to Living in the US
I think that anyone from any part of the world can find a place here. You will never feel that as a foreigner that you won't have access to the same opportunities that Americans do. (Visa issues are a nuisance sometimes, but if you play your cards right, that can be easily sorted). This is truly a country where hard work and smarts pay off. As they usually say here: God bless this great country.
A few pointers:
1. Get used to Fahrenheit, pounds, miles etc. (They don't make any logical sense and are not based on decimal conversions)
2. Tipping: You are expected to tip here. Tip 15-20% depending on the service you receive. Must at restaurants. You should also tip cabbies, hairdressers...but not as much as you would in restaurants.
3. Depending on where you are in the country, don't be surprised if random people smile at you or ask you how your day is going. Just smile. Americans are very friendly. None of this will happen if you come to NYC though. From the countries I have visited in Asia/Europe, Americans are the friendliest. This is not Europe - in general, people are warm and nice. Don't be surprised if people strike up a conversation in public transportation and restaurants.
4. If Americans ask you "How are you?" or "How is your day going?" at the office, no one actually expects you to reply. It's just a way of greeting people here.
5. Food: everything is so artificial and bad unless you go to a higher end market. Even Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup, not real sugar unlike the rest of the world. The chicken that you get in supermarkets is laden with chemicals, you can literally taste the chemicals. American chocolate (i.e Hersheys) to put it very kindly, is bad. Too much sugar in everything - and that is most probably HFCS.
6. No matter what you have heard about America in popular culture, Americans are very well mannered compared with the rest of the world. Don't cut lines in this country, seriously! American drivers are also very well mannered and people follow the lanes etc. (Again you might find exceptions in places like NYC, but I feel like NYC isn't a very good representation of this country) People will hold doors for you, and you are expected to do so as well.
7. Americans like their personal space. When you talk to people, maintain some distance. Same goes with personal issues. Don't ask people about their personal issues and don't tell people about your personal issues.
8. The food portions are HUGE here. You might find this shocking - I did too - but Americans take their leftovers home when they eat out in a restaurant. (Yuck!!!). A lot of people are fat and obese.
9. The Asian food you get here is not really Asian. It's watered down for American taste.
10. Same with Mexican food.
11. I don't even want to waste time on commenting how bad American beer is. There is an burgeoning culture of microbreweries though. (American beer = Budweiser, PBR, Coors etc.)
12. Americans are actually religious. This is 2014 and a substantial portion of the population believes in god!
13. Americans are trained from a very young age to be fair. Fairness is built into the American DNA. I really can not explain this, but you'll see what I mean. There is a lot of trust here. Obviously things are different after 9-11, and things are different in big cities, but you will still find people who leave their doors unlocked.
14. Do not discuss politics here. Political discussions here are driven by echo chambers on both the extreme left and far right (i.e. MSNBC vs Fox). Watch the BBC to understand America. CBS is the best American news source.
15. Americans are very patriotic about their country as they should be. This does not apply to some in the far left who think America is the source of all evil in the world.
Source: My personal experience as an immigrant from Asia (Think Cambodia/Burma) and readings of other immigrant experiences.
Edit (Addition):
16. Totally forgot to make this point:
If you are a foreigner coming to America after your college/UG you might find this strange: there is this concept of loyalty to the college you went to. You will not find Germans jogging with U of Heidelberg t shirts in Frankfurt, but you will find plenty of people in NYC jogging with t shirts that have the names of their alma mater. College and universities (except the state affiliated ones) do not get funding from the government. This is where the loyalty thing comes into play. Ever wondered how some US universities have endowments bigger than the GDP of many countries? It's alumni contributions. And even the state funded ones get money from their past students.
Easily the best part of this summary.
lol very nice!
Also some accents get you laid; British, Italian, French, Irish. Not so much German/Czech/Russian/Asian etc.
Is this actually true? I need to get to the US.
As a proud holder of a Central European accent (Eastern European by US standards), I can certify 100% any foreign accent gets you laid, or at least contributes to getting laid, if only you play it well. Overall, this post is a-ma-zing and matches my NYC experience nearly 100%. I will write something like this on Brazil soon. The comment on being brought up into fairness is the best one of all because it is something extremely hard to pin-point.
One example I can think of illustrate this point is sports: let me tell you this - you won't find someone whiny like Christiano Ronaldo in American sports, and again comes to this point about American fairness. Yes, I know I am generalizing, but I was once watching football (soccer) with some Americans and they were shocked that players would act getting hurt to gain an advantage. Even American sports are designed in a way where you can't waste time by acting like you have been hurt. I think in American sports, if someone gets hit badly, they rather act as if nothing has happened.
you did not even mention apple pie...
Excellent write up.
Mexican food? Watered down unless in CA or TX from my experience.
I condone this list!
This list was surprisingly accurate and fair. You made me burst out laughing at the "lots of fat people" comment.
I am waiting for some foreign-born American resident to start arguing about whether tipping is appropriate. This is what tends to happen in these threads. Some people on WSO are not aware that tipped employees get their incomes through tips rather than wages paid by their employer.
Nice (funny) write-up on our country.
I simply take it as a part of American culture and follow it.
I am not going to question or argue with this practice.
Good write up.
Yes, our CHEAP beer isn't the best tasting....but it's cheap, get beers in other countries at the same price point and you'll think B/M/C are great. I just bought a 36 pack of bud at costco for $18.99. I've been all through Europe, Central + South America, and their national brands of beer (like our BMC) aren't much better than BMC (some definitely worse) and are usually 50% more expensive, I'm talking at convenience/grocery stores (they often lack bulk or any quantity discount), I'm not talking about bars.
Yeah, like it isn't really fair to Keystone light to Spatan. America has microbrews coming out of our ass. Same thing with wine.
As for American's being unhealthy, I don't know. I've seen people utterly black the fuck out on a continual basis in Iceland (way more than I was used to and I drink A LOT). I've seen people smoke all the time, during dinner even (ewwwww) in Italy and I've see some shitty ass food in London. I think Americans just get a bad rap. Developed world citizens are too fat and unhealthy because we sit all day and have excess of everything.
Good list, but as a non-american who has lived here for 5 years I have to disagree with a couple things:
I like Hershey's. A lot.
Bud light, PBR and coors are on the extreme cheap side of the price spectrum. Have you ever tried Sam Adams Boston Lager? There are a ton of other american craft beers that does justice to the American beer industry.
Hershey's is too sweet for my taste - too much sugar.
I did mention the growing craft beer trend.
They made this for people like you: http://www.hersheys.com/pure-products/details.aspx?id=3131&name=HERSHEY…
Hahaha!!! I have experienced this so many times as a Brit!!! The looks I have received from replying and asking 'how are you?' back.
I think the appropriate response is to just smile and say hello.
I wouldn't say #4 is across the board. Perhaps its my upbringing in the South but when I ask people, how are you?, I wait for an answer and generally get a reply more than a smile and nod. Sometimes there's brief answer or people are genuinely surprised I asked and then they answer, theres a brief hello or hi or, least often, none at all (about the same here in LA as when I lived in EU). Perhaps its just people noticing I'm being sincere or making the effort to appear that way.
15. Americans are very patriotic about their country as they should be. This does not apply to some in the far left who think America is the source of all evil in the world.
So true. Great post!
Lol great post, so true about the food. Not only is the selection limited but Americans just don't know how to eat or cook at all! The religion thing was surprising to me as well. Wanted to add a few things for fun:
Americans care a LOT about sports. Not just professional sports but even bunch of kids playing soccer is taken very seriously. I played football in school and remember my very first practice, we were asked to run 2 laps and I stopped to take a break thinking it was nbd, this is just for recreation right? Man, the coach went off on, was very bewildered when the coach started screaming in my face. Think he took it personally as this was down south and not sure if any kid's ever just blatantly took a break middle of football practice lol
I'd agree that Americans are friendly, but also quite alienated. Neighbors live next door to each others for years without ever really getting to know each other. Especially in the suburbs where life is very sterilized. People make a big deal about "my property" and "my rights", etc and build big fences and buy guns, but it comes at a cost of destroying any sense of community. People go to restaurants, take 20 minutes to eat and leave, in it is not customary to just drink, play cards, talk, and the owners knows everyone. In my country as well as lot of countries I've visited, it's customary to spend hours at a restaurant or cafe, and they feel very rushed in American restaurants because they want you to leave. Also there's not a lot of local businesses, America is very diverse but the landscape is also quite homogenized. A lot of towns are just Walmart, Target, Apple Bees, McDonalds, Home Depot, Shells Gas, Seven Eleven, basically the same shit. The only time people really spend extended amounts of time with each other is to watch tv/movies together.
Americans love air conditioning. Not that I don't but Americans seriously blast that shit.
Also audience participation. They love it
As a natural American and previous fatty I concur that there are too many fat people here. Regardless of how overweight any other developed country is. I also agree that the vast majority of food you find on our shelves have too much preservatives and HFCS in it. But, I would also say that there are plenty of fabulous at home cooks and mom and pop restaurants that provide a quality meal. You are just have to pay a premium for it.
I am international student. I can't agree more. Most healthy food is expensive. That may explain how rich people are often skinnier
Absolutely agree, that's exactly the case.
Plenty of good Asian/Mexican food, it's just not available in many fast casual places that feed the masses.
And there may be a lot of fat people in the US, but the rest of the world is rapidly gaining on us. However, this is partially made up by the fact that smoking is very seriously stigmatized here, it's mostly a lower class thing. In Korea, China, and much of Europe, smoking is far more common and accepted.
You're right about many of the suburbs being really homogeneous, though the closer you are to major cities, the more diversity you have, and the landscape is less dominated by big box stores. The east coast also tends to be less homogeneous/has more "main street" areas than the middle of the country.
I cannot emphasize this enough! Partly because a majority of U.S. students live on campus and participate significantly in campus life, plus sports events and traditional rivalry really heat up school spirit, even for small liberal arts college. This is also the main reason why I go to school here instead of UK or Australia.
This is pretty accurate although I'm not so sure about the "well mannered" thing. I think people are just waiting for someone to cut in line or cut them off in traffic so they can get upset about it and get their panties in a bunch. 'Righteous indignation' gets taken to quite an extreme in the US.
4. The proper response is, 'good, you?' or 'how you doin'?'
11. Most cheap beers are pretty shitty no matter where you are, if you ask me. Look at Heineken, Molson, Foster's, Kronenbourg 1664, Asahi, etc. as some examples.
12. It is pretty amazing.
@"GoodBread": I guess you're a cynic.
@"nappy": I just buy Swiss products.
@"DickFuld": I have just been smiling and saying hello. Are you seriously comparing Heineken with Coors/Bud?
Dick loves to cut costs--why import piss when you can drink American made piss that costs half as much?
Heineken is miles ahead of Bud/Coors/Miller... Bud Heavies are the only one of the mainstream domestic bunch that approaches decent. The problem with Heinekens in the US is that they're often skunked.
Price-wise it depends on the country. You can get regular Kronenbourgs for very cheap in France and they are much better than anything you would drink at a frat party.
Side-note: If you want cheap liquor, go to Italy. Somehow, hard liquor is hardly taxed at all in Italy. So a fifth of Tanqueray is 11 euros for instance. That's how bars in Milan give you all-you can eat aperitivos. The margins on cocktails are insane.
Heinekens are not OFTEN skunked in the US, they are ALWAYS skunked. I've had Heineken in Amsterdam, and it is leagues ahead of heineken in the states. Still though, I wouldn't jizz my pants over it.
On a separate note, yes you can find watered down mexican food and asian food...but there is plenty of authentic mexican and asian around...just look for a place with half the lights out and fairly dirty interior/exterior...gotta love the authentic places! You know it was authentic when you have major diarrhea the next day. Relax, I'm exaggerating...kind of.
I'm just comparing apples to apples here, as in very mainstream lagers. Pilsner Urquell is better in the lager category.
Interesting writeup. I do dispute the following points thou:
4. If Americans ask you "How are you?" or "How is your day going?" at the office, no one actually expects you to reply. It's just a way of greeting people here.
Actually people would expect you to at least acknowledge their greeting with a "good", " I am doing well" etc. and maybe then reciprocate and ask how are they doing. Not replying at all is still considered rude. And you can definitely get creative with your response here to strike up a real conversation--assume the other party is not in a real hurry.
8. The food portions are HUGE here. You might find this shocking - I did too - but Americans take their leftovers home when they eat out in a restaurant. (Yuck!!!). A lot of people are fat and obese.
I actually wish more people would take their leftovers home and there is nothing disgusting about that practice unless you are taking someone's leftover home. In restaurants at major cities (not just NYC) people routinely leave a lot of unfinished food in their plates which are then thrown away into trash--what a waste, surely they can feed the leftovers to stray animals etc.
9. The Asian food you get here is not really Asian. It's watered down for American taste.
10. Same with Mexican food.
There are plenty of authentic Chinese, Korean and other food options available in major cities. You just have to know where to look for them. Ethnic neighborhoods are often a good place to start. In Manhattan in particular, there are good authentic Sichuan restaurants literally every few blocks in the Midtown area for some reason. Guess New Yorkers love spicy food.
The same is true for Mexican food, more so in the West Coast/Southwest. Thou real authentic Mexican food actually tends to be rather bland in taste.
14. Do not discuss politics here. Political discussions here are driven by echo chambers on both the extreme left and far right (i.e. MSNBC vs Fox). Watch the BBC to understand America. CBS is the best American news source.
Ha, so you think MSNBC is extreme left yet BBC is somehow better? If anything BBC (and its print equivalent The Guardian) are truly cluelessly biased left-wing mouthpiece. I find the quality of the news program is often a function of its anchor rather than channel per se. Some news anchors strive to provide real information. Unfortunately many others much prefer to engage in sensationalism and flame war.
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Another thing to add: The way Americans dress is completely different compared to what people in Europe are used to. Wearing hoodies and sweatpants on a daily basis is completely appropriate in US, which is really uncommon to see in Europe. Loose fitting dress shirts and loose pants are also common in U.S instead of tight European clothing. Overall, people don't care about fashion much as they are more concerned about comfort of their clothes.
I got back from Milan a month or so ago and saw maybe 2 people I would consider fashionable. Everyone was wearing hipster looking shit or just grungy, Seattle clothes. When I was in London I saw nothing but drab, grey outfits.
So, at the office, Americans stop being friendly? IMHO, friendly = genuinely being nice, not only 'a way of greeting people'. Also, I think the proper response should be, "Great, you?" and not a mere smile...
This one is really interesting. I think Americans like to believe that they're exceptionally fair or meritocratic, and there's definitely a palpable entrepreneurial anything-is-possible attitude that you won't find just north of the border or across the Atlantic. At the same time, income inequality is a much bigger deal in the US than other liberal democracies, which has a huge impact on all sorts of outcomes.
"You ain't never been no virgin, kid, you were fucked from the start."
You're probably some bitter Canadian or even worse, European. How many Asian CEO's or Black political leaders do you have there?
Look up the story of Anshu Jain and how he was denied the top spot at DB because he wasn't German. That doesn't happen here pal.
I have never felt that as a foreigner I have had less access to opportunities than someone who was born here. Yeah, I can't join the FBI or NSA, but there are reasons for that.
You are an idiot. What does any of that have to do with economic inequality?
America is huge, so it's silly to say there are rules that apply across the board. It really is 5 or 6 different countries within a country with stereotypes (often correct stereotypes) varying from region to region.
Also agreed that the US is really several different "countries" grouped together with different regional cultures. There was a Forbes map about it that divided us into three city-states (NY, LA, and Miami) as well as Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Old Confederacy, Great Lakes, Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, Texas, Third Coast (Gulf), and Left Coast.
@bkzen : Disagree on audience participation (#20), at least at concerts. See above. There are exceptions though.
I think he might be talking about classroom participation in an educational setting. You're right - the crowd at European concert venues is just simply better.
@krypton : New York audiences don't get excited for anyone except Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, or Bon Jovi.
Although the crowd does tend to go WILD whenever ITF takes center stage at Arlenes.
Naturally, I'm the exception.
Sooo yea, there's a big world out there, and this item is true in a majority of it.
Definitely read this in a Borat voice. Interesting to read, though. To your point about beer, the mainstream stuff does suck (bud, coors, etc.) buy you can find micro-brews that are good.
Great write-up.
While I agree with others that the U.S. is really a handful of nations with some different cultural mores, I think you can sum up America like this--we are a ridiculously flawed nation with an amazingly unique and wonderful fundamental character. We're constantly striving toward a more ideal society and constantly falling short. We're a bewildering people, infamous for our contradictions--a nation founded on freedom that thrived on slavery and segregation; a nation of amazing egalitarianism with acute inequality; a nation that accepts immigrants with open arms yet is obnoxiously ethnocentric.
In short, the United States represents some of the best qualities of human nature, and the best of human nature is really just imperfect men constantly striving for a better society, and then trying and trying again when they fail.
I'm proud to be an American.
As an aside, weight is a measure of gravitational pull, so it makes sense so long as you take the measurement on Earth. :)
I moved to NY from Asia earlier this year.
One thing that strike me odd about the US is that they combine peanut butter with chocolate.
I have no problem combining peanuts with chocolate, but the oil in peanut makes a horrible taste sensation when combined with chocolate.
This combination of foods is wrong.
You don't like Reese's???
You should be flogged with a spiked whip, castrated, and fed to starving lions. Peanut butter and chocolate were combined by the gods in an explosive orgasm while engaged in a holy orgy.
I don't think a lot of foreigners understand that America consists of 55 countries, about 20 of them are Latin (Spanish & Portuguese), and most others French.
I can't believe people shitting on American beer. Who the hell blacks out drinking craft beer? US beer isn't supposed to be some amazing shit, but it's about as crappie as all the basic level beers around the world with the exception of Germany which has laws and shit for even their lowest type beers.
An ice cold coors light or 15 on a Friday is epic. Silver bullet baby.
That is the entire point. It is a watered down beer. I will never understand people who drink kool-aid and then complain that it isn't as full bodied as a merlot. Bud/Coors/Keystone are all cheap, light beers that people drink a lot of. It isn't "American" beer anymore than piss water Corona is Mexican beer.
If you want American beer go drink some Sam Adams, Yuengling, Yards, 21st Amendment, Ommegang, on and on.
I've tasted trash beer in a bunch of countries. I don't complain about it because I ordered a ton of it and got drunk off it. Cheap beer is not trying to be anything other than cheap, easy drinking and getting you drunk. I can understand the argument if Coors or PBR was trying to masquerade as some high end microbrew, but they are not.
Note: I am drinking Miller Light right now while watching the NCAA tournament. Go America!
Bud Light is way ahead of Coors and Miller, which is faint praise. But seriously, Kronenbourg/Peroni or Corona for that matter are very cheap beers when you are in France/Italy and you can drink plenty of them while they taste somewhat decent.
Screw this year's NCAA tournament, I've never seen my bracket get trashed like that!
God I know dude. MSU losing was the final straw. Fucking sucks.
But yeah, Peroni, Czech bud, Gull, etc, all pretty crappy mass drinking beer. I think the US probably gets labeled as shitty beer mecca because that is where most of the advertising comes from. Same with fast food. So if someone just watches TV they think the US is McDonalds and Coors. When in reality it is craft beer and great restaurants.
Nice one dude, very appreciated.
"A lot of people are fat and obese." Just made me laugh, no offense here, just the way you say that is quite.. direct ah
I've seen people rush to McDonalds as they get off the plane in the US to taste the "authentic McDonalds." Pretty hilarious and probably disappointing for those guys.
Fast food in non-US countries (in my experience) has typically been so much better. Went to BK in Jamaica and the lettuce was green, tomatoes red, etc.
I think ingredients are sourced locally or at least from different providers depending on the country, which makes a big difference. Although I'm pretty sure McDonalds' fries are amazing everywhere.
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