OFF-TOPIC: 16 People On Things They Couldn't Believe About America

[Ben in LA]

Interesting read, especially since I'm jaded because I love here. Can any of our friends from abound add to this?

http://thoughtcatalog.com/michael-koh/2013/11/16-people-on-things-they-couldnt-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/#VPv4gLQKlp2etDWj.01

[Stavros]

My own experiences of the US have been mostly as a tourist although I did one work assignment in LA some years ago, something I would not want to repeat.

Walking.
As a European, I am used to walking a lot and this must be one reason why I prefer New York and San Francisco to, say Los Angeles. I don't drive, so other than walking I am dependent on public transport. I used to own a bicycle but for complex reasons currently do not.
New York and San Francisco are as interesting to walk around as European cities -as is also the case in cities in other parts of the world. In addition, though, and particularly at night, walking in American cities is not safe, or that is how I feel. So I feel there is a lot of urban American that I will never see outside city centres, because walking is just not done. I also have known Americans who get tired after walking for more than 10 minutes.
But, where public transport does exist, it seems to me to be cheaper and more efficient than the UK and Europe but there are wide variations in all these places so it is hard to be exact about it.

Food
Food in the US is to my mind in general of poorer quality than I am used to in the UK - but in the case of fresh fruit and veg France, Italy and Spain are better than the UK. The humble tomato in the UK is by comparison a royal feast in summer in France and Italy. The food I have eaten in the US in average restaurants and chains is poor; too much of it is processed; and the portions are enormous, enough for two people at least. I know there are gourmet restaurants in the US, and probably the 'ethnic' places, like Chinese are better value, but I am not convinced. I have had a good Chinese meal in Chinatown in New York, but a Chinese place I went to in LA (Hollywood) was nothing special.

Coffee
Americans are known as a nation of coffee drinkers, so why is your coffee, on average, so poor? The one place in the US where I had a good coffee was in a specialist Colombian coffee shop in Manhattan, I think mid-town just off 3rd Ave West, but most of the coffee I have drunk in the US was just that, average. Incidentally in Canada it is almost impossible to get a good cup of coffee. They have a chain -Tim Horton's- and the coffee is actually undrinkable. It looks like hot brown water, and tastes like hot brown water. I like my coffee black.

Alcohol
In a bar in the US, the measures for spirits like Whisky and Vodka are larger than in the UK -I don't know but outside nightclubs, ie, in a regular bar, the drinks are also cheaper -this might make a night out with friends a cheaper and more enjoyable experience, but does it have a negative effect on drinking habits, encouraging people to drink more than they should?

Work
I think Americans work harder than Europeans. Americans not only get into the office earlier than most -ie before 8am, their attitude to work is more serious. Perhaps you need to relax a bit more.
Crucially, outside some specialist/professional work -my impression is that the average American earns less than the average European -I suspect Americans are working harder for less reward now than they were in, say the 1960 and 1970s.

Air Conditioning
In warmer parts of the country or in summer say on the East Coast, it is hard to get used to being in 80 degrees on the street and 60 inside -it makes dressing appropriately difficult for someone not used to it. I tend to be overheated outside, and cold inside. I wonder if that is why so many American men wear a vest underneath their shirt? I find that uncomfortable but maybe that's the best way to balance body heat in different temperatures?

A few thoughts.

[Ben in LA]

The best Chinese food in LA isn't in the CITY of LA (Chinatown excluded)...it's in certain parts of the San Gabriel Valley (like Alhambra, Monterey Park, and San Gabriel). No, you can't just walk there either.

[dderek123]

Americans were a lot friendlier than I assumed they would be. Up in Canada you always hear about how Canadians are so much nicer and polite than our southern neighbors. I was pleasantly surprised the few times I visited. I experienced more rudeness when I was in Quebec City.

[maaarc]

Americans were a lot friendlier than I assumed they would be. Up in Canada you always hear about how Canadians are so much nicer and polite than our southern neighbors. I was pleasantly surprised the few times I visited. I experienced more rudeness when I was in Quebec City.

WoW!!! That's surprising to me - I went to winter Carnival many moons ago with a few friends and we had a fantastic time. I've always enjoyed a great time while visiting Canada.
Some observations concerning my trips to Montreal and Quebec over the years:

1) There's a disproportionate amount of beautiful women in Canada - most especially in Quebec. In all my travels I have never seen so many beautiful women as I've seen in Quebec City.

2) Almost without exception I've found the people to be friendly - at least compared to the people who inhabit my home state of Massachusetts :)

3) I've hung out in a a lot of seedy/sketchy places all over the globe - however, I've never seen so many fist fights in my a life as I witnessed in Quebec city during carnival. These weren't fights to the death - more like hockey fights - lets kick the shit out of each other and then go have a beer type thing. I'm grateful that as visitors it seemed the locals considered us off limits and or not worthy of their attention for this type of "fun"

I'm surprised your experience as a native? has been different.

[broncofan]

The best Chinese food in LA isn't in the CITY of LA (Chinatown excluded)...it's in certain parts of the San Gabriel Valley (like Alhambra, Monterey Park, and San Gabriel). No, you can't just walk there either.
My experience is that LA is a great city but it requires much more investment of time to appreciate. I am not criticizing any tourists on the thread because I know that given a month as a tourist I wouldn't be able to find the best places to eat or sights to see. It's one of those places where it helps if you have a friend tell you where to go...we had a thread a while back about all the sort of cult classic restaurants in LA. LA is truly a mysterious and lively city...but a sprawling mess at the same time.

New York on the hand you can buy a Fodor's guide and figure out where to go, or a Zagat guide to find where to eat and you will find it enjoyable.

I wanted to ask Stavros if he also found walking in Manhattan unsafe. I lived there in 2004 and I walked everywhere (within Manhattan) and mostly felt pretty safe. I agree generally about the challenges of walking in most American cities. Dangerous and often not designed well for walking.

[bluesoul]

1) There's a disproportionate amount of beautiful women in Canada - most especially in Quebec. In all my travels I have never seen so many beautiful women as I've seen in Quebec City.

2) Almost without exception I've found the people to be friendly - at least compared to the people who inhabit my home state of Massachusetts :)


i agree with these 2 points (although personally i think vienna and prague have far hotter women per square mile than any other city in the world). that said though women in quebec were pretty damn fucking hot. so much so that whilst at jean lesage i had to excuse myself to run to the bathroom to rub one out

boston is probably one of the worst cities i've been to (the absolute pits of hell being detroit). when you drive in cities in the united states you always get these signs that say "welcome to [insert city name here]" and detroit had the most beautiful one i'd seen (in the east coast). that however betrayed the rude awakening i was to experience. from rude drivers cussing you out, pot holes not to mention i got there when the city was experiencing one of the worst heat waves EVER

i did however end up getting some serious head in a friends laundry room from a french girl who was visiting so i ended up winning