I don't know about you but I grew up with an image of the United States and North America, the way it was portrayed by the media in Britain. Many people in the UK think they know what "America" is like because of the saturation U.S media there.
But I found when I actually came to Canada and travelled around the States, while some things were as I expected them to be, I was completely gobsmacked by other things that were COMPLETELY different.
Here are a few.
1/ I was amazed by the fact that cultural traffic only goes one way. I naively assumed that because we’ve grown up with American culture and taken a big interest in American things that there would at least be a little traffic the other way. Nada!!! Zip!!! I traveled right across the U.S when I first came here and not only did people know nothing about the U.K despite being very friendly it was clear they didn’t want to know either. I was amazed that British TV was relegated to repeats of ‘Are You Being Served’ on PBS. It’s the same with music, books etc. It’s all on a completely different wavelength. This was slightly tempered by the fact that settling here in Canada, I realized I knew nothing about Canada either. Canadians seem to
be a little more interested in where you're from until they start looking at their watches.
2/ Not the Hollywood image. If you grow up watching American TV, the U.S seems like either people rollerblading along Sunset Boulevard or gritty New York cops with a job to do. People never tell you about parochial towns and endless strip malls with morbidly obese, strangely dressed people. It's upsetting to learn that cities with great names you’ve heard all your life like Philadelphia actually having totally
decrepit abandoned urban centres that make Kirby look like a vicar’s tea party. In fact the U.S (and Canada) have just as many “crap cities” as Britain has crap towns,
In the case of Canada, I grew up with the usual images of lakes, mountains, forests, clean air, prestine water etc. It was a bit of a culture shock therefore to end up in a totally flat stressed-out city half the size of London with people from everywhere imaginable in the world, faceless suburbs that stretch into infinity, smog advisories all summer and the nearest mountain about a thousand miles away.
(Western Canada does live up to the stereotype however).
3/ Climate extremes. I was kind of braced for the winter but the summer humidity at first killed me. You see those pictures of Washington DC in the summer all the time all over the world. What you don’t see are the gasping, sweltering people
stumbling around a city that was built on a swamp. When I visited Washington, I thought, OK this is it, the humidity’s going to suck my brains out with a straw.
Now I’m actually quite used to the humidity and like the way you can spend long summer evenings in shorts.
What about you? What totally threw you here. What was completely different to the image you had in your head growing up in Britain?
I was actually happy to find that the US wasn't what was stereotypically portrayed in the media and that the people had the same everyday concerns as the rest of the world.
Obviously the weather extremes were a bit of a shocker but mostly because we had a blizzard the month after moving here.
Fortunately for me I had been around Americans for 3 years before coming here so I had already learned a lot from them that eased the shock somewhat.
Taken overall I think the biggest surprise to me was firstly how safe it is where I live, and secondly that government is extremely localised. As Lee says, in New England at least, it is all very parochial, very localised.
In the UK I lived in Rainham, which is part of Gillingham, which is joined to Chatham, which is part of Medway (pop. 251,200) and so on and so on. Gillingham council controls very local things like street lighting and the rest by Kent County Council.
On the other hand, the town in which I now live (pop. 33,161) controls its own schools, lighting, even owns the cable company! It holds frequent town meetings at which we all have a voice. I can get on the phone and talk to anyone on the Schools Committee if I have a problem with my children's education; I can call the electric company if there is a power outage - and get an answer! If I want something to change in my town I can do something about it. I never felt as if I had that power in Kent.
I would miss that side of things back in the UK.
Yes, there were more than a few surprises, although I too have been around Americans for some years before making the move.
However, as with most things in life, you get used to changes - you don't always have to like them, but you do get used to them. I think the thing that most gets to me is how disorganized everything "government" is. Unfortunately they don't seem to have heard of appointments, it's all a case of "stand in line". My time is obviously far less important than theirs, I mean they get paid to make me stand in line, I'm only loosing money to stand there, and who cares about me as long as I "have a nice day" when they're done with me!
One of my most hated things is to pop to the supermarket (doesn't seem to matter which one it is either) collect the one or two items I needed and then go to the "express" checkout only to find a line of people in front of me who want to pay for their bag of chips with a credit card, or the little old lady who thinks no one notices she actually had 35 items in the "10 items or less" line.
Kentgirl, which electric company are you with? I'm thinking of switching! lol. I have problems getting to a "live person" at all on the phone with any companies I've tried to contact. The average time it takes me to get through any automated system until I get a person on the other end is around 9 minutes. (It actually took me around 20 minutes of dealing with this impersonable "you can tell me, I can help you" machine to get through to a representative a while ago.)
Hey, but what do we expect, after all this is the world superpower! :razz:
I think what surprised me most was the lack of customer service. I had a stereotypical view that is the US the customer comes forst. What I found was even though most people are much friendlier than they are in GB, there is NO customer service whatsoever. No follow up, very poor handling of complaints. I think it is basically because of the volume of business that maybe available here.
I was astounded at the rate the retail units changed hands and how businesses just shut up shop after a few months.
I was also astounded at the ignorance of the people, I did not expect them to know as much about the UK as I did about the US, but they no nothing about anywhere. They have not even heard of major countries.
I was also amazed at the banking system. I had no idea that a bank could have a few branches and is localized to one town, county. I absolutely busted a gasket when I was asked to pay for cheques.
I was also very upset about the way it is accepted that you are going to get completely fleeced here at every opportunity. Closing costs, medical costs, and many other incidentals.
I did not expect that American cars would be sooo excrutiatingly horrendous.
And we won't even go into the religious lunatic thing they have going on here...
Nope, I must say I am extremely disappointed with the USA and cannot wait to leave.
Kentgirl, which electric company are you with? I'm thinking of switching!
My town owns its own electric company!
Time for my bi-monthly post.
Seriously, if you don't like it, by all means leave!
Just to address a few points. In reference to "Americans know nothing of the British", well the Brits know nothing of the USA either, I would grant you that the news programming in the UK will, and always have more of an international slant, including all things political. But they know nothing of the culture here save what they see on TV in dramas and comedies like Friends. They fly enmasse to Orlando and think they have visited America.
Banking - You check around and find the best bank you can. You don't have to pay for cheques or any other service. Banks make money here as they do in the UK, you find one whose service suits you best, whether a local branch or on-line, take your pick.
Customer Service - Absolute bollocks that it's better in the UK, I can return anything here with no problem, most people go out of their way to help you and if you find it different where you are - move!
You don't like standing in line?? Ever been to a Brit labour Exchange?? Half the time in the UK you can't make appointments, just go and wait, not for nothig ar we known as the "nation that loves to queue"
Grocery express lanes? Do they even have them in the UK, and what is wrong with using a debit or credit card? Only a couple of months ago many people on here were whinging about how the brits don't use cash, and how you can swipe your card practically anywhere. Now when we have that facility you still don't like it!!
No thanks, I will stay here. I don't mind the odd visit but it's to see people and friends not the country, that has gone to the dogs. read the bloody papers, nothing but a nation of chavs with a propensity for violence, lager and a complete preoccupation with bubblegum faux rap music, football, sex, football, property markets and trying their hardest to make sure the criminals have their due rights afforded to them, immigrants (whether legal or illegal) have their share of the social welfare system and lapping up to George Bush.
Come to think of it, why is Moo STILL here?
Not having been back to the UK for 15 years I'm not sure I can compare, but here's what surprised me.
We first came to Sacramento, (state capitol) central valley, lots of heat, The swimming pool froze at our in-laws in Modesto at our first Thanksgiving.
How Sacramento was incredibly provincial. Going into a bank to send money home and being asked what sterling was and where England was.
The ability to leave everything out on the lawn overnight and not have it nicked. This has changed over the years to the point of some dillholes stealing the festive wreaths off doors last year.
On coming to the Bay area, how flimsy the houses are, considering we can go from 54F to 80F back to 54F in the course of a day and how cold it gets in winter.
How we can send visitors to San Francisco in June, they set off in shorts and T shirts and despite all warnings don't take extra clothes and come back with colds cos SF is roundabout 60F in summer whereas we're hovering in the low 90'sF.
The joy of the refusal to use metric, which I never understood and don't want to.
The ignorance of the world outside America. In the early 90's world news never left America. The internet was in it's infancy and we got no news of the world outside.
The passion for sports, without rioting, religion, without discretion or tolerance, and the amount of food people expect on a plate for one person.
The number of people who not only don't speak English, but make no attempt to and are illegals driving without insurance, licence, etc.
The beauty of the countryside, the vastness of it.
The precociousness of the children and the cult of the American Princess.
The flat out greed and materialism of the women.
This weird idea that you can bond in a shopping mall.
The can-do and go for it attitude not found in England where people just look at you and say you're too old to do that, you couldn't do that, etc.
The fresh fruit and veg in California. Almost made me a vegetarian.
And the applause. Applause for absolutely everything. An actor's wife has had a baby, round of applause. A politician makes a statement, pauses for breath, a round of applause. A chat show, someone says something, evryone applauds, there's no conversation, it's all statements punctuated by applause.
When i first came here it made me think of trained seals.
grin grin shock
Climate Was prepared for the highs and lows but still was gobsmacked when it happened.
Customer service May be because we live in a small town but it is way better than I was used to in UK
Local government/police/schools etc Still confused about how the town is run even after 6 years....Mind you, the establishment confuses itself as far as I am concerned....a very inept system IMO.
Space How much space and how rural most of the States are as soon as you get out of the cities. I didnt think there would be this much space with 'city-countryside-countryside-countryside-city' instead of 'city-city-city'.
Mind you UK is getting so as it is just one giant city.
Mandy
1/ I was amazed by the fact that cultural traffic only goes one way. I naively assumed that because we’ve grown up with American culture and taken a big interest in American things that there would at least be a little traffic the other way. Nada!!! Zip!!! I traveled right across the U.S when I first came here and not only did people know nothing about the U.K despite being very friendly it was clear they didn’t want to know either. I was amazed that British TV was relegated to repeats of ‘Are You Being Served’ on PBS. It’s the same with music, books etc. It’s all on a completely different wavelength.
I've always been intrigued that American authored books get to the UK readers with words like "sneakers", "restroom", "allowance" and so on still present; whereas British authored books are published over here with American words substituted for the English versions. So, reading a book based in Birmingham last night, the main character took an "elevator" to her office, her child was in "grade school" and instead of abseling, they went "rappeling"....
BoltonBoy, why is no one else allowed an opinion? They should "just leave" because there are a few things in the US that they think might be handled better in the UK...? :roll:
Yes, many Americans have the outlook on life that if it is out of their little world it is not important and therefore of no interest to them. You get a similar attitude in the UK - why should I be interested in other people/countries, the government should be fixing what is wrong at home first. And as far as knowing about anything other than their own country - lol try working with people who know where Spain is but haven't a clue where York is! And no, I'm not joking. I have worked and know many people in the UK who fly off to Spain for their holidays every year but have never set foot outside of their own town to explore their own country. The furthest they have ever been is to their nearest airport to hop on a plane to somewhere warmer. Never been to London and couldn't even tell you what the second city of England is, the capital city of Scotland or Wales, or where the M1 runs! shock
My reaction to moving to the US is similar to comments already made - the weather in that I knew it was more extreme than the UK but never imagined it would be so extreme. Safety - much safer than you get the impression of when watching the TV in the UK. I even had someone tell me that I was a terrible parent for wanting to take my children to a place where they will be shot. I love the interraction with the schools and how I actually have a say in my children's education. And also how happy the teachers all seem to be. How friendly everyone was. I know a lot of it is just surface friendly but it still helped with settling in. Neighbours were there offering help and there was always someone to go and ask if I was really stuck (not that they would understand what I was after but it certainly broke the tension sometimes lol )
Oh, and being very laid back. didn't expect that at all.
I am intrigued. If we learned so much about international affairs in the UK, how come so many people were so surprised by things American, when they got here.
I've been here so long ( almost 43 years) that I have to admit I know little of what actually goes on in the UK.
That is the main reason I came to this forum. Outside of this forum I have to admit to having a view of the UK social scene though our 5 weekly half hour Corry St episodes. Fortunately it doesn't get political.
Most Canadians are not interested or aware of the UK and the few non-expats that make it there each year are not going for the culture, generally.
I suspect that is also true for most brits with regard to Canada.
[quote="boltonboy1 @ Tue Nov 01, 2005 113 pm"]No thanks, I will stay here. I don't mind the odd visit but it's to see people and friends not the country, that has gone to the dogs. read the bloody papers, nothing but a nation of chavs with a propensity for violence, lager and a complete preoccupation with bubblegum faux rap music, football, sex, football, property markets and trying their hardest to make sure the criminals have their due rights afforded to them, immigrants (whether legal or illegal) have their share of the social welfare system and lapping up to George Bush.
[quote]
Not keen on going back I take it? shock
Just the other day I was walking about in my burberry tracksuit mouthing the words to some Snoop lyrics when I saw a cop arresting a Mexican shoplifter. I chucked me can of Carling at him so he started chasing me!
I'll never understand this country. ??? I'm counting the months until I can return to the UK and sign on... and I only just got me blinking 1st Britnet start this week..
Time for my bi-monthly post.
Seriously, if you don't like it, by all means leave!
Just to address a few points. In reference to "Americans know nothing of the British", well the Brits know nothing of the USA either, I would grant you that the news programming in the UK will, and always have more of an international slant, including all things political. But they know nothing of the culture here save what they see on TV in dramas and comedies like Friends. They fly enmasse to Orlando and think they have visited America.
Banking - You check around and find the best bank you can. You don't have to pay for cheques or any other service. Banks make money here as they do in the UK, you find one whose service suits you best, whether a local branch or on-line, take your pick.
Customer Service - Absolute bollocks that it's better in the UK, I can return anything here with no problem, most people go out of their way to help you and if you find it different where you are - move!
You don't like standing in line?? Ever been to a Brit labour Exchange?? Half the time in the UK you can't make appointments, just go and wait, not for nothig ar we known as the "nation that loves to queue"
Grocery express lanes? Do they even have them in the UK, and what is wrong with using a debit or credit card? Only a couple of months ago many people on here were whinging about how the brits don't use cash, and how you can swipe your card practically anywhere. Now when we have that facility you still don't like it!!
No thanks, I will stay here. I don't mind the odd visit but it's to see people and friends not the country, that has gone to the dogs. read the bloody papers, nothing but a nation of chavs with a propensity for violence, lager and a complete preoccupation with bubblegum faux rap music, football, sex, football, property markets and trying their hardest to make sure the criminals have their due rights afforded to them, immigrants (whether legal or illegal) have their share of the social welfare system and lapping up to George Bush.
Come to think of it, why is Moo STILL here?
Customer Service - Sorry old boy, its not bollox, its just poor. Like I said people here are much friendlier which is a nice change, they just make too many mistakes, wrongly delivered parts, incorrect charges on statements, no product knowledge, its just crap and thats all there is to it. And continually moving based on retail support knowledge is a pretty daft idea idea, you must admit.
Grocery Express lanes - Yes I believe they have them in the UK now.
Knowledge of the USA - When I moved here I knew basic American history, the civil war, the war of independence, the war of 1812. I knew about the three branches of government the house of representatives and the role of Senators and Governors. I also knew about the constitution and the names of most states. My knowledge I think is fairly normal far a person with 1/2 a brain from the UK. Most intelligent people in the United States, still thinks the Queen runs the country, we have tea at 4 pm and we are a raving socialist country and the BBC tells us what the government wants us to hear a la 1984. So sorry your argument is complete bollox.
Not all of us want to be here, we are here because of marriage, children, custody issues and all that garbage, if I could leave and keep my wife, trust me, I would..