Thread: What do you like about the US?

I love the fact that my mother and I can speak Polish in public in the US without getting dirty looks like we got in Austria. I love the fact that people are more informal, and it seems less likely to offend someone by not treating them with the respect they "deserve" because they have a PhD or are older than you or something. I love the fact that I can be friends with someone who is from Pakistan and Muslim. I love it that a three hour car trip away can be considered a day trip. I love that I could put my feet up on a coffee table if I wanted to and if I had a coffee table (which I don't). I love it that my college professors knew and respected me as an individual. I love it that people in their 60s can get their college degree here. I love it that one can change one's mind about one's major in college, and then after graduating have a job that has nothing to do with what one studied, and then in mid life switch careers if one so desires. I love it that not everyone here looks like they might be distant relatives of mine (unlike in Poland) and that it is ok to not catch all cultural references and expectations because people are not assumed to know the culture necessarily, and cultural fault-pas are thus more expected and more acceptable.

I love American Gladiators.

I love the fact that Americans are not even from America.
They are a collection from the entire planet, whos grandparents travelled there to seek a better life.
America is a country, that if it learns to live peacefully with its own people, can become a great country once again.
I do hope you make it.

culture diversity. i like that i can sit on the train and here 4 different languages being spoken at once.

i also like the entertainment and amusement parks here.

women wearing almost nothing in the summertime.

I love that we're still free to speak our minds (even though we might get an IRS audit for it, and the NSA is listening)

I like that people tend to be bolder, compared to Canadians at least. It's socially acceptable for people to speak their minds. That may be viewed as a bad thing, as it results in having to hear a lot of stupidity, but I see it as a good thing. Particularly where I live, the social norm is to keep to oneself and it's very odd that someone will bring up a conversation topic that may be controversial, like religion, except maybe behind closed doors with people you know well. The only socially acceptable form of aggression is passive aggressiveness, which unfortunately seems pretty common here. Where I live, there's this facade of niceness that most people have, but it's fake, and most people aren't really interested in getting to know others. People here are like... hobbits or something.

There are places within the US that people are like that too, but in general, from what I've witnessed the people seem more exciting and genuine in the US. People don't try quite as hard to put on acts, aren't as afraid to be different and are more laid-back. In the US, you'll hate more people, but at least they're being honest with you so you can make a proper judgment, and the few friends you do make will be genuine. Here, it's harder to form an opinion of a person either way because it's hard to tell what's really on their minds. You'll make less enemies, but less friends too.

I also like that booze is about 4 times cheaper in the US.

Diversity. Even in the most homogeneous areas you can find Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Italian and French cuisine. Sure, Argentina has notably better barbecue, pizza and ice-cream (and bakeries on par with san francisco) but even in the metropolitan Buenos Aires you won't find much else, and if you do it's a novelty. Furthermore, the women are generally much more attractive in Argentina, and they're all my type (thin, pretty brunettes, the occasional blonde) but in the US if you want an asian girl, latina girl, native girl or any other kind of flavor they're readily findable. That came of misogynistic, sorry.

There's also tons of diversity comparing different regions of the United States. In Argentina people are much more affectionate and I was a little rattled when I came back to the US and noticed how cold, distance and frankly homophobic the culture is (seriously, men are not allowed to hug and kiss on the cheek here, which I think is silly. If you don't have a boner it's not gay). Everyone also has much larger "personal space" bubbles here than in Argentina which I find unnecessary. However, while this is generally true, there's a lot of difference between, say, Boston and the rest of the country. In Boston, people josh complete strangers in a friendly way and speak their minds openly and honestly. I much prefer this attitude than, for example, Utah, where speaking your mind to a complete stranger is not even remotely encouraged. The diversity in California alone is ridiculous, in the county where I went to high school the entire west side of the county considered the rest of it a bunch of stupid yuppies and they considered the west side a bunch of worthless hippies.

I also like that I'm from the culture that controls Hollywood. While the international box office assures that only the most useless blockbuster trash will ever get made by major studios there's a rich plethora of comedy being made that I can actually laugh at because I'm from the culture making it all. The last foreign comedy I found funny was Death at a Funeral.

This may also be cultural, but I'm damned thankful for the indie music scene. I like how I can go to virtually any town over 30,000 people and find a few local bands that absolutely kick ass. One of Argentina's drawbacks is I did not care for their local taste in music and the clubs all played poppy dance music from like a decade ago.

The Mountains. I love camping and there's plenty of space to do it in. If I want, I can disappear into mountains so deep that I could avoid human contact for the rest of my life. I also love snowboarding.

The Beaches. 'Nough said.

The Basketball. Americans are really good at it, so it's actually entertaining to watch.

The Drugs. The War Against Drugs did one thing right, it literally flooded the entire country in nearly every type of drug you can imagine. Thanks to innocuous drugs like marijuana being illegal it's actually easier to get stuff like acid and DMT.

State and Federal separation: There is one thing I like about the US, and it's that states can go ahead and run themselves without waiting for congress to figure their shit out. Thanks to this, marijuana is currently recreationally legal in two states and they've had such success that next election cycle we're bound to see more. Yeah there's drawbacks, some of the laws that get passed in Utah and the Bible Belt are just plain frightening, but you can always move.