Just came back from a 4 month stay in America(observations)

[lovemonkey]

Just a few quick general observations from a foreigner(some good, some bad):

-Walmart is a fucking hilarious experience, watching minorities and white trash with their dumb ass kids buying stupid shit. The employee's are even worse.

-Americans in general above the age of 25-30 look unhealthy which usually reflects their obsession with bad types of food. They are either very fat or look like they're full of toxins with their pale horrible skin.

-Girls are either bottom of the barrel or SMOKING hot. Such a diverse amount of ethnicity so there's no real "standard".

-Never knew that saggy old, washed out, unstylish jeans could be so in style. Almost everyone except for hot college students had the most bland and boring taste in fashion.

-Very unusual and interesting architecture. Everything has more color to it. You can tell that the country is still young since there is not a lot of old buildings around. Everything is built around vehicles. I knew I was in America when I saw a drive-through Dunkin Donuts. (I caught a NYPD officer in the act of buying donuts, made me smile)

-I love the college partying scene, explains a lot about blinky's popular thread.

-21 years drinking age and 16 years driving is off the scale retarded. I think a lot of americans agree on this.

-American people ALWAYS smile in front of the camera, never saw them taking a spontaneous photo... Everyone always had to pose pretending to be happy.

-Never seen so many disclaimers in my entire life. Half the commercials are devoted to disclaimers. Never knew it was so dangerous to take a simple cough medicine 

-All kinds of goverment info that I saw (signs, ads etc) presumed you were a retard. They always had to threat you with x amount of years in prison and fines if you broke this and that law etc. A lot of information or advises you got was to plant fear in you.

-People get fired a lot easier and quicker. Do your job properly or get kicked out.

-They ask you "wazzup" or "how's it going" not caring about the answer they get.

-Americans in general worry a lot about staying "PC" but behind closed doors I heard a lot of people saying "fucking n*ggers". Black people I met that didn't act "ghetto" could probably be counted on two hands. Nothing racist about it, just stating my experience. Everything jewish or holocaust is not to be joked about. 

-No one dared say they are American. It's always "I'm half Irish and quarter Italian blabla". The country has been around since the 18th century and most of the immigration happened a long time ago, time to say that you're american, no?

-They are usually very sociable and devote a lot of effort to make sure their guests have a pleasant stay.
 
-American traffic is very calm and even though I'm not aware of all the traffic rules there is, driving around was not a problem. Every sign and traffic information was worded out for you. I did see a lot of teenagers driving while texting and not paying attention. Michigan roads are fuckin terrible.




There's a lot more I could add, but that's the stuff that came out on top of my head. Of course it's easy to be very critical of another country when it's different from your own, but I've tried to stay pretty impartial and honest. Most of my stay was in the northern part of states... mainly Michigan, Ohio and New York. I thought it would be interesting for some of you people to hear a foreigners experience of america that is not based on what they see or hear on the television. I worked and lived there for 4 months. Successfully I might add.
In the end you realize we're all humans and whatever difference there might be in culture or political climate it's not what's important. I made a lot of good friends over there and had a blast for sure.

[Petrucci]

cool observations...Great to see a foreigner opinion on the US

[lovemonkey]

Just have to add something.. I was there for the 4th of July and all the flags I saw had the little text on them saying "Made in China". Oh the irony 

[El Diablo Blanco]

My favorite is we celebrate our Freedom on the Fourth of July but we are not allowed to smoke or drink on the beach to celebrate.  Freedom my ass.

[The Showstoppa]

Interesting observations and most were spot on.  After I came back from 5 years overseas, my view of America was different.  Not in a bad way, I love our country, even with it's faults.  But you just notice different things.


The "irish american" and "african american" stuff is more of a regional thing.  Yes, I have english heritage, but I never refer to myself that way.  I think you see much less of that in the South and West.  And I've lived in all regions, excluding the midwest.

Drivers here, on average, are horrible.  No signals, doing 50 things while driving, a lot of attitude, etc... compared to some places I've been.  But at least we aren't like the Italians.....crazy ass drivers.


Glad to hear you had a good time and hope you visit again down the road. 

[The Showstoppa]

My favorite is we celebrate our Freedom on the Fourth of July but we are not allowed to smoke or drink on the beach to celebrate.  Freedom my ass.

What kind of shitty beach are you going to?  I've never been to one that you couldn't do both.

[lovemonkey]

Interesting observations and most were spot on.  After I came back from 5 years overseas, my view of America was different.  Not in a bad way, I love our country, even with it's faults.  But you just notice different things.


The "irish american" and "african american" stuff is more of a regional thing.  Yes, I have english heritage, but I never refer to myself that way.  I think you see much less of that in the South and West.  And I've lived in all regions, excluding the midwest.

Drivers here, on average, are horrible.  No signals, doing 50 things while driving, a lot of attitude, etc... compared to some places I've been.  But at least we aren't like the Italians.....crazy ass drivers.


Glad to hear you had a good time and hope you visit again down the road. 

Haha yes. Even though the traffic was calmer (less passings and aggressive behavior) you could tell a lot of people didn't know how to properly drive a car. Honestly I think driving a stick shift makes you a better driver because it forces you to plan ahead and think about what you're doing. 99% of the cars I saw there had automatic transmission.

But it's cool to hear that I was not imagining things and I feel more knowledgeable from actually spending time in america rather than reading about it. Advise to you all, travel around as much as you possibly can! It is for sure an eye opener.

[The Showstoppa]

Haha yes. Even though the traffic was calmer (less passings and aggressive behavior) you could tell a lot of people didn't know how to properly drive a car. Honestly I think driving a stick shift makes you a better driver because it forces you to plan ahead and think about what you're doing. 99% of the cars I saw there had automatic transmission.

But it's cool to hear that I was not imagining things and I feel more knowledgeable from actually spending time in america rather than reading about it. Advise to you all, travel around as much as you possibly can! It is for sure an eye opener.

Aren't you from Germany?  I lived there for a couple of years and loved it.

[tbombz]

yes, america's college students can be very very sexy.

  
love monkey where did you visit other than NYC?

[lovemonkey]

yes, america's college students can be very very sexy.

  
love monkey where did you visit other than NYC?

I stayed in Michigan a majority of the time, went to Ohio on occasion and spent some time in New York.

[lovemonkey]

Aren't you from Germany?  I lived there for a couple of years and loved it.

Well, I would like to keep my nationality/identity a secret in case some creeper here tries to "own" me in the future. All I can say is that I'm from northern Europe.

[Andy Griffin]

Well, I would like to keep my nationality/identity a secret in case some creeper here tries to "own" me in the future. All I can say is that I'm from northern Europe.

OWNED!!!!!

just kidding...

Glad you had fun here in the USA.  Solid observations as well.

[Go 4 It]

Lol @ your Wal Mart comments, but you haven't seen nuthin until you hit up a Super Wal Mart it's definitely a unique experience!

[just_a_pilgrim]

Just have to add something.. I was there for the 4th of July and all the flags I saw had the little text on them saying "Made in China". Oh the irony 

Even better, a few years ago the 'Free Tibet' stickers were made in China

[ManBearPig...]

pretty funny post, some of the things are kinda weird now that i read them, but guess i'm used to it by now.

[disco_stu]

cool observations...Great to see a foreigner opinion on the US

what amazed me when i first went there. (been there about a dozen times for a week each time now) was the lack of organised building and apparent lack of regulation of building codes.

Probably half the "residences" if you could call them that, I saw whilst walking around beverly hills wouldnt be allowed to be built or be occupied here in australia.

I was shocked to see the poor standards of cleanliness, infrastructure and hotels. Was expecting to see some world leader in at least 2 of those catagories.

What blew me away the most was the number of homeless and the poor. That was both frightening and embarassing...so too was the rich just seemingly ignoring them.

I honestly find it difficult to find something i liked about the US. Perhaps if i lived there then i would like the opportunity. But being able to purchase weapons in a shopping mall certainly outweighed any positives for me.

I think that the good things are opportunity and availability and affordability of goods. Beyond that i'm sorry to say, there are many countries well ahead of the US as far as enjoyment of life goes- especially now the internet means you can get what you want and need.

Basically, if you care about just yourself, and have some talent that enables you to do well in life, then the US is probably great.

The best view of the US IMO is the view from the plane as it leaves.

[tbombz]

I stayed in Michigan a majority of the time, went to Ohio on occasion and spent some time in New York.

im sorry. next time i could plan a much better itinerary.

NYC is a great place to visit, but you need to see

new orleans,
chicago,
miami,
boston,
las vegas,
the whole los angeles area from santa barbara down to san diego,
san francisco,
seattle,  
Grand Teton mountains,
lake tahoe,
mount whitney,
yellowstone national park,
yosemite national park,
Aspen,
washington DC,


theres alot more but if you spent a few days at each one of those then youd know america

[240 is Back]

good observations.

[The_Leafy_Bug]

Just a few quick general observations from a foreigner(some good, some bad):

-Walmart is a fucking hilarious experience, watching minorities and white trash with their dumb ass kids buying stupid shit. The employee's are even worse.

-Americans in general above the age of 25-30 look unhealthy which usually reflects their obsession with bad types of food. They are either very fat or look like they're full of toxins with their pale horrible skin.

-Girls are either bottom of the barrel or SMOKING hot. Such a diverse amount of ethnicity so there's no real "standard".

-Never knew that saggy old, washed out, unstylish jeans could be so in style. Almost everyone except for hot college students had the most bland and boring taste in fashion.

-Very unusual and interesting architecture. Everything has more color to it. You can tell that the country is still young since there is not a lot of old buildings around. Everything is built around vehicles. I knew I was in America when I saw a drive-through Dunkin Donuts. (I caught a NYPD officer in the act of buying donuts, made me smile)

-I love the college partying scene, explains a lot about blinky's popular thread.

-21 years drinking age and 16 years driving is off the scale retarded. I think a lot of americans agree on this.

-American people ALWAYS smile in front of the camera, never saw them taking a spontaneous photo... Everyone always had to pose pretending to be happy.

-Never seen so many disclaimers in my entire life. Half the commercials are devoted to disclaimers. Never knew it was so dangerous to take a simple cough medicine 

-All kinds of goverment info that I saw (signs, ads etc) presumed you were a retard. They always had to threat you with x amount of years in prison and fines if you broke this and that law etc. A lot of information or advises you got was to plant fear in you.

-People get fired a lot easier and quicker. Do your job properly or get kicked out.

-They ask you "wazzup" or "how's it going" not caring about the answer they get.

-Americans in general worry a lot about staying "PC" but behind closed doors I heard a lot of people saying "fucking n*ggers". Black people I met that didn't act "ghetto" could probably be counted on two hands. Nothing racist about it, just stating my experience. Everything jewish or holocaust is not to be joked about. 

-No one dared say they are American. It's always "I'm half Irish and quarter Italian blabla". The country has been around since the 18th century and most of the immigration happened a long time ago, time to say that you're american, no?

-They are usually very sociable and devote a lot of effort to make sure their guests have a pleasant stay.
 
-American traffic is very calm and even though I'm not aware of all the traffic rules there is, driving around was not a problem. Every sign and traffic information was worded out for you. I did see a lot of teenagers driving while texting and not paying attention. Michigan roads are fuckin terrible.




There's a lot more I could add, but that's the stuff that came out on top of my head. Of course it's easy to be very critical of another country when it's different from your own, but I've tried to stay pretty impartial and honest. Most of my stay was in the northern part of states... mainly Michigan, Ohio and New York. I thought it would be interesting for some of you people to hear a foreigners experience of america that is not based on what they see or hear on the television. I worked and lived there for 4 months. Successfully I might add.
In the end you realize we're all humans and whatever difference there might be in culture or political climate it's not what's important. I made a lot of good friends over there and had a blast for sure.

I hate these things too hahahahaha

[lovemonkey]

what amazed me when i first went there. (been there about a dozen times for a week each time now) was the lack of organised building and apparent lack of regulation of building codes.

Probably half the "residences" if you could call them that, I saw whilst walking around beverly hills wouldnt be allowed to be built or be occupied here in australia.

I was shocked to see the poor standards of cleanliness, infrastructure and hotels. Was expecting to see some world leader in at least 2 of those catagories.

What blew me away the most was the number of homeless and the poor. That was both frightening and embarassing...so too was the rich just seemingly ignoring them.

I honestly find it difficult to find something i liked about the US. Perhaps if i lived there then i would like the opportunity. But being able to purchase weapons in a shopping mall certainly outweighed any positives for me.

I think that the good things are opportunity and availability and affordability of goods. Beyond that i'm sorry to say, there are many countries well ahead of the US as far as enjoyment of life goes- especially now the internet means you can get what you want and need.

Basically, if you care about just yourself, and have some talent that enables you to do well in life, then the US is probably great.

The best view of the US IMO is the view from the plane as it leaves.

Sorry to say I have to agree with pretty much all of this. Sometimes I think a lot of Europeans and westerners in general are very surprised by how shitty things can be in america when they( the americans) boast about how great they are. Much of europe is more standardized and "bland" I guess you could say. But the end result usually tends to be more pleasant even though america has some stuff that is cooler or more extreme.

I saw my first ever .50 cal sniper rifle in a local sports store in Michigan which was very cool. A friend of mine over there had to carry a pistol because of all the crackheads that were living in his neighborhood - not cool.

[ThaRealist]

What city or cities did you stay in while in Michigan?

[Meso_z]

great thread

[lovemonkey]

What city or cities did you stay in while in Michigan?

Petoskey, Boyne City, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. A couple of others as well but I may have been drunk during that trip( ) so my memory is a bit foggy.

[Stark]

Just have to add something.. I was there for the 4th of July and all the flags I saw had the little text on them saying "Made in China". Oh the irony 

hahahahahahahahhha

[ThaRealist]

Petoskey, Boyne City, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. A couple of others as well but I may have been drunk during that trip( ) so my memory is a bit foggy.

I was born and partially raised in Michigan. Next time ya visit the states you gotta hit the different coasts and the south, you will get a trip out of everything you see.