So when does the Tim Horton’s open?
We did indeed stop at a Horton’s in MI-I thought it was in the UP, but it might have near Detroit*. I asked the guy behind the counter (because I love Tim Horton’s) if they were expanding into the US, and he said, nope, AFAHK, it was just this little corner of MI…
*we went into Canada via Detroit, and back to Chicago via UP–I am almost certain it was in the UP that we stopped at Horton’s because I remember thinking, “last Tim’s before we get home.”
No matter where it was-the baked goods are still excellent!
And be prepared for lots of comments like, “I love Ikea!” or “I love Swedish meatballs!”–people tend to try to find some kind of connection. (I for one I so tired of being met with “you’re from Chicago? bang bang” in UK…Al Capone’s been dead for decades).
When are you coming?
The UP could never be the tropics, (the weather is too nice for that), and Canada already has a tropics: the Canadian Sun Parlour, South and East of Windsor, centered on Leamington and extending out onto Point Pelee, from which you have to travel North to enter Michigan.
I thought the “banana belt” of Canada was Victoria. The weather was quite nice there…
No, no, that’s “Lotus Land”, although the only banana farm in Canada was in BC (near Osoyoos, in the Okanagan).
I am coming at either 9th of november or the 17th (that is the holiday of week 45 or 46. do americans keep track of week numbers?).
I might have decided on an essay topic: I want to see if there is any connection between the quality/distribution of mental care and between different geographical parts of Detroit. I find this interesting because of the “donut-effect” mentioned in this thread.
In any case, I’ll be in America by November. I will keep you all posted, maybe we can arrange a meeting of some sort? Thank you all for the replies.
No, we don’t keep track of weeks (at least not typically; there may be a few lines of business that do).
I’m sure your time in Detroit will be very interesting to you; I would guess that it would be hard to pick an American city that is more different from typical European cities.
If you do have time to leave the Detroit area and want to visit a big city, I can highly recommend Chicago (I just spent a week there). Lots of interesting stuff to see and really very easy to get around without a car. Also - extremely friendly people. We pretty much asked our way to places; never encountered anyone who acted inconvenienced because we were stopping them to ask something. Of course the weather might make it harder to get around in the November - February timeframe.
Good luck! Let us know how things are going.
GT
Week 45? Um, no we don’t keep track of the weeks like that. About the only time we count days is for the shopping days until Christmas! You are coming right before our Thanksgiving (the last Thursday in November), and the Christmas shopping season will be in high gear. We don’t have numbered holidays here, only fairly traditional Christian based ones with some federal ones (President’s Day in Feb) thrown in.
I can answer your question right now, with no research at all: yes, there is a vast difference between the quality/distribution of mental care and different geographical parts of Detroit. Mental health care in this country is quite poor, IMO, and the fewer resources a community has, the less likely it is to support such things. I hope you are given access to the uni’s library databases-there’s bound to be research that backs this up. (and I’d like to be wrong).
You are coming in a gray, cold, and wet time of year. November is fairly bleak in the upper midwest. Compared to Sweden in winter, it may seem balmy and sunny–I don’t know! Anyway, we are happy to have you come and please post about your American experiences-we’d love to explain/sympathize/defend etc our customs and habits. 
Detroit in November? Could be worse, although no examples come to mind at the moment.
We used to count weeks, but that was in a manufacturing environment and we have shipped so many manufacturing jobs out of the country so that we could resort to being only a “service industry” country that no one remembers calendar weeks any more.
The Falk Company, formerly a division of of the Sundstrand Corporation, now owned by RBS Global (formerly Rexnord), used to publish (and still may) a promotional calendar based on weeks, called (with some levity) the Falk Date.
Today (Friday) is 07375 or 07-37-5 (2007, 37th week, day 5; Sunday (under Falk reckoning) is 0 and Saturday 6, although I did know an odd factory that called Sunday 7), not to ber confused with 07257, the Julian Date (257th day in 2007), which is not to be confused with the Julian Calendar or the Julian Period.
There is a Wayne State University clinical psychology prof who studies community-based programs. His name is Paul Toro, web site is here:
http://www.clas.wayne.edu/unit-faculty-detail.asp?FacultyID=401
If you are not into stealing a car, you should at least rent a Ford GT while you are in Detroit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqLuXmUbqlc
Detroit in **February **comes to mind immediately as being worse. February is the LONGEST month (especially for one having fewer calendar days!)
But at least in February there is snow, and with snow there is skiing, albeit only very limited cross-country skiing in Detroit. In Novermber there is only cold rain.
BTW, winter is on the way – it snowed three inches in Pickle Lake, Ontario, a couple of days ago. In case anyone is wondering, no, you should not visit Pickle Lake. Trust me on this. http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/PickleLakeLow.htm
Aww, just after the joys of Halloween and Devil’s Night ! Nothing says Visit to Detroit like watching parts of it burn on the news, dang. Sure, most of the drama is manufactured by the media now, but it’s an interesting bit of city tradition.
I’ve never heard the term “donut-effect” but that’s a very apt description, you’ve nailed it. I think you’ll have no problem at all finding differences in the availability and quality of care between Detroit and the metro area.
Pretty cool that you’ll get to enjoy an American Thanksgiving, remember overeating is tradition and wear your fat pants. 
Right. We all drive those. It’s standard issue, as is a pump-action shotgun, a case of ammo, and Spock’s Guide to Babies.
Rewind about ten years ago. A buddy of mine from Canton came over for the night for Halloween. We were walking around during curfew on Devil’s Night. A helicopter came up from nowhere and shined a light on us. My buddy started running, but I grabbed him and held him there, telling him that if we ran, it looks like we’re up to no good. We stood there for a few seconds, and they went away.
Good times.
Detroit has always had a…unique local music scene. Many strange genres and permutations of popular American music originated in Detroit, which is responsible for AC/DC, the White Stripes and Insane Clown Posse, among others. IMO most of that stuff is horrid–but whatever’s actually going on in the local music scene there will probably open your mind at the very least, and you might find something you like. It’s also quite probable that you’ll find a local band there that explodes on the national/international scene a couple of years down the road, and you can brag to your friends that you saw them first (even if you think they suck ).
The urban US is indeed more dangerous than many major European cities, but most people never have a problem. America is not as violent as the movies make it out to be, although each city has a couple of neighborhoods that you may not want to meander around at night. I don’t know anything about that situation in Detroit, but the locals will be able to tell you all you need to know. “Unsafe to be in a big American city after dark” is an exaggeration; for the most part there’s nothing inherently unsafe about walking around after dark. College campuses in general are pretty safe, but the main thing is, crime happens wherever people are lax about their personal safety and someone is looking to capitalize on it. Considering that I’ve lived in major American cities for 21 years and I’ve never had a problem, and I don’t know that many people who have been victims of crime, I doubt that anything will happen to you in three months.
Don’t let the other Dopers freak you out. I lived in Washington, DC, which has a higher crime rate than Detroit, and as long as I stayed out of the nasty parts of town I never felt unsafe. Again, the key is to talk to the locals.
One thing that may be a good idea is to go to the university’s police department headquarters (which will generally be on campus, although the level of police involvement varies between schools) and pick up some pamphlets that will tell you how to stay aware of your personal security, and put your mind at ease.
BTW, if you can survive a Swedish winter, the Detroit winter will be nothing to you.
I also second eleanorigby’s suggestion to visit Chicago. Try the pizza and the hot dogs there. (Oh, God, the food in Chicago!) And BTW, public transportation is fantastic in Chicago–most people there don’t have cars–although walking can be a little more dangerous, since the streets are wide and more people drive through red lights there than anywhere else in the US.
Also, some stores will take euros. They don’t advertise it, but I bet most of the chain stores will take them. When I worked at Borders, I saw Canadian, Mexican and European money change hands.
It’s probably a better idea to change your money at the bank, because otherwise the store will set the exchange rate.
I don’t know how licensing works in Michigan, but I can bet it’ll be a pain. If I were you I would start making arrangements now–and talk to the DMV in Detroit. Depending on state law, if you can get a driver’s license in Sweden before you go over there, you may be able to just start driving as soon as you arrive.
Try this.
Oh, please. Don’t fill his (her?) head with that crap. :rolleyes:
Don’t go mouthing off about shit you don’t know about. Murder victims in America are, by and large, people who pissed off a business associate/drug dealer/lover’s gun-toting husband.
OTOH, the stuff like locking your car and home, yeah, you gotta do that. Car theft is pretty common. But that doesn’t mean just walking around Detroit in the middle of the day will get you popped, just because someone wants target practice. That doesn’t make any sense.
Make sure you check the bill for “Gratuity”–if you see that, with an amount next to it, that means you’ve already been charged for the tip automatically. Some restaurants do that whenever they hear a European accent, because they assume you don’t know to tip. 15% of your total bill is standard; if you haven’t already been charged gratuity, and the service was decent, leave your tip in cash if at all possible. If the service was absolutely horrible, and you want to tell them that, leave just a couple of pennies–if you leave no tip at all, they’ll just think you’re inconsiderate. Some people tip 5-10% for sub-standard service, and some people tip more for good service. If you go to a coffee shop or someplace like that and there’s a jar or plastic bucket next to the cash register, they expect tips too, and the same rules apply.
Not true, but what is true is that they can’t make a living wage without tips. It may be worse in Michigan than here; a lot of places, tip-eligible workers make less than half of the normal minimum wage.
You’ll only confuse people if you give dates that way here. I have never, not once, not ever, met anyone who counts the weeks in a year. Month and date is the standard way–but keep in mind that we use MM/DD/YY, not DD/MM/YY (so 12/05/07 means December 5, 2007, not May 12, 2007). Also, “holiday” here means Christmas, Easter, etc.–the word you’re thinking of is “weekend”.
Oh, and if you get invited to a Thanksgiving dinner, go! Try a little bit of everything. And definitely eat too much. The misery of being overstuffed is part of the tradition.
Don’t forget watching the Lions play. Big time on Thanksgiving.