So, we’re always hearing about people’s travels to other countries and how they were impressed by certain aspects of X culture (you know, the food, the music, the ways of the people, the terrain, etc.). Does anyone who’s visited the States have anything to note about their experiences visiting us? Feel free to post the bad as well as the good.
Something of an Oxymoron in the post title.
How does a nation develop a culture in just 200 years?
Ducking and running like hell
My (Scottish) husband has very much enjoyed visiting the States (he’s been there three whole times now!! :)). So far he’s been to Baltimore (my home town), DC, NYC (Manhatten to be specific), Long Island, and Houston.
In general he especially likes the friendliness of the people, how eager everyone is to talk to him, etc. He likes the skylines – he was floored the first time he saw Baltimore, so you can imagine what Manhatten was like for him! He’s also impressed by the relative cleaniless of the cities he’s been to. (No offense to any Brits, and maybe it’s just Aberdeen, but ugh, it’s filthy here.) I wasn’t with him in Houston, but he told me with endless amazement about the size of the belt buckles, the hats, the extensive gun collections of private citizens, and how cheap the food was. There are so many things that I want him to see (I’ve never been further west than Wisconsin, myself) but unfortunately visits go by very quickly and tend to get eaten up by all the obligatory visits to friends and family. However, we’re seriously discussing moving back in a few years and he’s keen to do so.
Oh btw – I know this isn’t culture but I got a kick out of this. Two things reduced him to child-like amazement: the steam coming out of the manholes (he thought it was just a movie effect), and lightning bugs. He saw his first lightning bugs this past June and thought they were the coolest thing ever, like a personal light show every night. (He had never heard of them before, and his first two visits were in winter.)
I spent a month in Burlington Vermont training with work. I really enjoyed it and didn’t meet one person who I hated. Everybody was really nice. It was strange walking around at night in the town and having lots of kids going all around the place on skateboards. I got friendly with a group of students one night and went to a frat. party with them. That was fun, it was like living a scene from animal house. People are a lot more enthusiastic in general than European and much more open to talking about themselves, I mean actually talking and not just conversation by numbers.
Everybody seemed to have a much stronger work ethic than over here. Also people seemed to measure themselves by what the owned, earned etc. more than in Europe.
The thing than was the weirdest was how everybody was just so nice. A bit too nice. I felt a lot of insincerity from a lot of people. I found myself saying to myself “I know they don’t mean that” a lot, but it could have been worse they could have been telling me to fuck off.
My overall feeling of Vermont was a positive one and it made me want to see more of America and it’s people.
Actually, they probably were sincere. Americans tend to like people from other countries.
I probably should have worded that better. I meant service people in hotels, shops etc. The actual people who I dealt with on a personal level just in normal day life were great and I didn’t really get that vib off them.
It just seemed too forced for my Irish mind. Too used to bad service and curt people in restaurants etc. I suppose.
I would really like to read more responses ot this thread. All we ever hear is ‘ugly American’ when we travel abroad. I’m curious to see how others view us after seeing our country.
Ignore them; they’re just bucking for gratuities. 
Have a look at this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22412
:eek:
Johnny LA sez: “Actually, they probably were sincere. Americans tend to like people from other countries.”
I think this is a very good point. I am always more friendly, conversational, willing to give directions, etc. with someone who is from another country. I’m not sure why this is – perhaps that it is minimally exciting to talk to someone who has life experience completely unlike yours?
A British friend of mine once said to me, “I always thought Americans were quite crude and vulgar, but that was from seeing them in London. In their own element [America], they’re actually quite charming.”
He was afraid I’d be offended by that, but it actually made me smile. He did go on to add (after living in the United States for three years) that many Americans still seem uncomfortably informal. That made me smile as well, since I think it’s absolutely true, on the whole.
Yojimbo: You wouldn’t happen to work for IBM, would you? I work at IBM here in Burlington, vt, and I have heard about how fellow ibmers from Ireland and such come here to train. Thanks for the nice words about my hometown!
Since I feel like giving this thread more exposure, I’ll post something to move this thread back into the public eye.
Feel free to be aghast.
Up!
A lot of Germans tell me that what they most like about America is how enthusiastic and optimistic we tend to be. They say that Germans tend to look at an idea and look for reasons why not to do things whereas us Merikans look at an idea and say “Why not?”
They also very much enjoy the friendly service in restaurants and the crazy way (a lot of us) smile at everyone when we’re walking down the street.
And having lived in Germany off and on for so many years, I’d say their observations are correct. In defense of the Germans (so y’alls don’t think they are gloomy, scowling nation) they are very reliable, punctual and friendly once you get to know them. Also, they are kind to children. 
Oh, and the reason I didn’t mention anything negative about the Americans is that no German has ever told me anything negative…I guess they are very polite and tactful, too. If I had to guess, I’d say that the negative ideas Germans have about us are that we are slightly flaky, materialistic, spoiled (in that the whole world knows our culture and most of them our language) and perhaps insincere.
Also, Germans tend to be blunt while Americans dance around an idea, which makes for very interesting conversation!
Hrm. Well, I have lived in the United States for 21 years and I have never seen lightning bugs either. They’re strictly a midwest/east coast (?) phenomenon. And when I was in Ohio this summer, I watched for them. No dice.
Pssst, Yojimbo, next time you have a hankering to see more of the U.S., come visit us in the San Francisco Bay Area. We guarantee a good time.
It’s weird, Kyla. Usually we have about 3 weeks here in Ohio where lightning bugs have the run of backyards (IIRC, you weren’t here for that time–it usually centers right around the 4th of July), but I only remember seeing one or two. I blame it on the weird weather we were having.
I’ve just (today) returned from a two-week stay in Chicago, and I’ve spent a little time in LA as well. Off the top of my head, the Americans I met were, generally speaking, very informal and eager to chat, and far less reserved than us Brits. The only very occasional downside was that I did sometimes feel uncomfortable with people who to me seemed almost aggressive in their communication.
Yep jabe. Had a great time and I have to say VT is the one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. Much nicer than Bromont 
And Kyla SF is top of my list of places to go to in the States. A friend of mine and poster here micilin was in SF and loved it. You’ll have to have a dopefest for me when I make it
lightning bugs?? I thought the scientific name was “fireflies”.
I have heard quite often in my travels the “Americans have no culture of their own because they are such a young nation” thing and it never fails to irritate me without end. Anyone who says this is both extremely ignorant and extremely stupid and very possibly is compensating for feelings of inferiority. Generally it’s people who have never been to America and have no desire to do so. They are happy in their little world of ignorance. The only correct response to this is “you, sir (or madam, as the case may be), are an ignorant idiot”.
As for people with more open minds and who have actually travelled here, I have seen all sorts of reactions. From liking to disliking many things in particular. It depends much more on the visitor than on the site. Foreigners, like Americans, come with all sorts of different tastes and preferences.
I just spent the last couple of days showing around DC a group of 5 Chinese people. They spoke very little English and our communication was very limited. They were on a tour where they spend one or two days in each city (a total waste of time IMHO). They had very little understanding of what they were seeing and seemed mostly interested in taking pictures of themselves in front of famous places so they could say “I was there”. Sort of the stereotype of what American tourists are like. I guess all humanity has a lot more in common than we think.
I had a hard time trying to explain the divison of powers and the three branches of government. So the Supreme Court, the Capitol, the White house, the Old Executive Building… they were just government buildings.
When lunch time came, we had to head for chinatown so they could find familiar fare and not be forced to eat foreign stuff. Of course, the food was quite Americanized to suit American taste and so was not 100% Chinese (for which I was grateful). All the dishes were good and one was delicious but I could not quite find out what it was. But the meal was entirely a Chinese affair with Chinese manners (eating with your chopsticks from the common dish, spitting stuff from your mouth to the tablecloth, everybody picking their teeth with a toothpick etc)
I took them to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception because I happen to live nearby. They were impressed as they were with any monumental building or statue, regardless of the meaning.
When we went into the gift shop we had some surreal exchanges. There were many religious figures for sale. What is all this? they asked. Try explaining in a few words Christianity to people who have hardly heard of it and you can hardly communicate with.
>> Virgin, what is virgin? Is doll for children? Christ? What is that? He does not look good here, he looks better here. Same man yes?
I can see what missionaries who went to preach there were up against.
>> Yes these figures are like Buddha for you. (still a bit puzzled, they are all government workers, therefore members of the communist party, therefore prohibited from professing any religion). Yes, like Dalai Lama in Tibet , I say. Oh, they recognize that name: “Dalai Lama, bad man, we do not like him”.
That morning, in front of the White House, they were handed some free newspapers in Chinese. When I asked them what they were about, they said Falun Gong (the sect banned in China).
I cannot say what their impression was of this country but I am quite sure they understood little of what they were seeing and probably many of their impressions, good or bad, were misconceptions.
This weekend they are in LA visiting Disney, Hollywood etc.