We recently took a quick trip to the U.S. after more than two years away. And, friends, we found it to be a strange and interesting place! In our short time there we were in the northeast, the south, and the northwest, in large cities, small cities, small towns, and suburbs. So we got a random but widespread sense of what that beautiful and mysterious land is like at the moment. Here’s a snapshot of what we noticed.
Everything is Big in the U.S., and There is a Lot of It
Yes, it’s a geographically large area. But we also mean the parking lots, the stores, and the numbers of things in the stores. We were overwhelmed by choices – how do people pick a kind of laundry detergent, or a cheese? We found ourselves regularly standing, open-mouthed, in front of a display of, say, pens. Or teabags; you name it, really: the quantity and variety of things for sale produced a lot of anxiety for us. We turned on the television once and had a similar feeling: so many channels!
So too, restaurant menus: too much to choose from. (Usually, we selected just one section of a menu and perused it, rather than spending hours reading the whole thing.) And don’t get us started on portion sizes! Servings are large in many places in the world, but in the U.S. there is sometimes the additional frisson of nutritional information (especially calories). We find this useful. Also, off-putting. Americans seem very fond of french fries; we found them offered as side dishes or additions on a wide variety of menus.
We like having choices, but we are unaccustomed to the sheer number of them Americans make on a daily basis. There are trade-offs here, obviously: if you like at least one of the two kinds of shampoo available, limited choice is not a problem. But if you don’t – as has been true for us all over the world, for different items – you will find yourself bewailing the insufficient capitalism of your location.
Everyone Drives Everywhere in the U.S.
Because things are big in the U.S., outside of the very largest cities, the distances between them are often vast. Lots of the places we stayed had, for instance, no grocery store within walking distance. Many had small markets, but these varied widely in their selection of actual food. Public transportation in the U.S. leaves much to be desired: we took trains, subways, busses, and ferries. Some were good, some not so much. But we were unhappy that too much of the time we had to rely on Ubers or friends with automobiles. Once we had to rent a car, because there was no other way to get from here to there.
Everything Smells like Weed
Well, not everything, but an alarming number of urban areas. We noticed it in cities pretty much every time we were outside. We’re all for the decriminalization of pot, but we were really surprised by its overwhelming presence. (This reminded us of our flat in Oslo, outside of which there were regularly smokers, and also our flat in Cyprus, where our neighbours were more or less always lighting up.)
On the other hand, we saw many fewer people smoking cigarettes than we have elsewhere in the world. Even e-cigarettes seem to be in decline. Is that just us, or has cigarette smoking in the U.S. actually decreased?
It is Cold
We were in the U.S. in the summer, and there were heat waves in some of the places we were. Nonetheless, we noticed that the air conditioning was usually on and usually making things much cooler than we are accustomed to. (We remember from our U.S. lives always needing long sleeves in the summer…) We’ve recently spent some time in very hot places, sweating for hours at a time. And you can always put more clothes on. But still, we were surprised by the energy expenditure.
Individuality is King
This has something to do with choice, of course. But we also noticed, among the dozens of chain stores, a lot of funky restaurants and bars, like the House of Found Objects in Birmingham, Alabama. This was one of the most fun places we’ve ever been, with a distinctly American hit of paranoia (on top of the phenomenal cocktails).
But also, tattoos and piercings: we don’t know that this is about individuality per se, but we saw more of these in the U.S. than most other places we have been. And, usually, they were multiple; not a tattoo but arms and legs full of them. (We have seen many Europeans with tattoos, but usually it’s just one per person.)
Those were just a few of the more obvious things that struck us on our return to the US. But what we found most fascinating was that after only two years (and a bit) away, much of our native land seemed a foreign country. Odd money, strange accents, peculiar customs… We wonder whether others have had this experience, and whether distance and time always lend a new perspective. Let us know what you think!
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