Five things that surprised you most about life in the U.S.
The food surprised me very much, especially because I live in a family where my host parents cook, so I’ve tried a lot of different dishes, while I expected I was just gonna eat hamburguers and similar for a whole year! but of course the amount of fast food eaten in the United States in ridiculously huge, and I must say I expected that. I’m also very surprised about how many people do not cook at all here! and the stores are full of pre-cooked stuff and everything has a bunch of sugar and is fattening…it’s impossible not to gain weight here! and also everything is big size!
The big deal americans do of every single holiday. All the stores have a section they change for every season or holiday and it lastes until next one is coming. for example, halloween decorations, costumes, etc. started being saled in August! And then I discovered Halloween is not even a day off, everybody works and kids go to school and everything! it’s crazy, cause it’s such a big deal,and not just halloween, every single special event: valentine’s day, easter, 4th of July, thanksgiving, Christmas….we celebreate in Spain but it’s not that big deal, here it’s like celebrating for celebrating.
The discounts on clothes (and more stuff, but clothes specially) This is amazing! In Spain we have sale seasons, but not that many outlets and stores like Marshalls or Ross where you can buy discounted items every day!
The concept of drive-in is just hilarious. There are drive-ins for everything! I just knew the drive-ins for fast food places before coming here, but know….you can even go to the bank and don´t get off your car! Amazingly lazy!
The education is very different from my country, specially the superior one, like college and university (which are apparently same thing) and the you have to specialize in a different school (law, medicine, whatever) and that’s why universities like harvard or Yale are so famous, because of their specific schools! And also, it’s very surprising that everybody (or almost everybody) goes to live out of their houses when they go to college. In Spain most of the people live in their parent’s houses while they attend university. And also here it’s extremely expensive, which is something I don´t like at all, education should be available for everybody, and here it isn´t.
Any of those things you are surprised to find you like?
Of course I love the discounted clothes! you get crazy shopping here! 🙂
And I also love the security that kids’ places have to avoid kidnapping (it’s normal, cause the US has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world) like wristbands for the whole family, or like in chuck e cheese, that they put an invisible number and they check it when you go out to avoid people to go out of the place with kids that are not theirs. that is an awesome system all the countries should have.
Anything that was exactly like you have seen in American movies or TV?
America is a movie! I’ve been sending mails to my family and friends all year long telling them about the tru and false things and breaking and confirming streotypes….and I must tell almost everything was exactly like movies!
- I never expected the patriostism and the war pride were gonna be that real….and they’re even bigger than I thought.
- The ice-cream truck exists! I thought it was a movie-thing, but it’s not! the first time I heard it in the neighborhood I screamed and run downstairs and my kids were like: are you crazy? you have never seen an ice-cream truck?
- It happened the same the first time I saw a sheriff, I thought they just existed in the far west movies, but they’re real!
Best experience in the U.S.
I’ve lived so many experiences here, good and bad ones. Of course living with a family which is not mine, in a house that is not mine, and taking care of american kids is a very important experience itself and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve enjoyed the good moments and I’ve learned from the bad ones, that have made me stronger. But I think, apart from that, the best I take home from this year are the wonderful friends I’ve made, all the places, cities and states I’ve visited, and all the activities I’ve done with my friends, family, cluster, etc., cause I’ve been so active this year!
It’s been an amazing experience, very very very hard sometimes, but that has definitely made me a more fulfilled and complete person.
