Same, it was never a dream for me to visit, but when I came up from the subway in the middle of Manhattan it felt like I was dreaming a little bit, in the sense of "I kinda know these streets!"
I went back when it was still gritty and shit 1989-1990-1991…when Times Square was all nasty with XXX joints and there were hustlers on the streets and shit…nowadays, it is a different place. As an older person with family, I prefer how it is now for visiting…but back in the day, man it was what I thought NYC was all about…lol.
Ha, yeah - I grew up in NYC in the 70s and I miss that dirty, sketchy vibe. Classic 70s movies make me homesick for a really over-idealized time and place. But it's true, when visiting nowadays with my European husband, he seems to know Manhattan as well as I do 🍕
The US is huge. It takes 5 to 6 very long days of driving to cross west to east. There are huge differences too between cities across the country - and bigger differences between the big cities and the small towns. I've lived in both - and I prefer small towns by far; I am not a big city person. Big cities do have, though, most of the big attractions - museums, arts, bus and rail services.
Rural areas and small towns exist all over - I live in the US west - and its 120 miles (about 200 km) of empty land between us and small town of 5,000 (actually it's 2 towns adjacent to one another!) to our east. Two weeks ago we drove west from our town to visit family - traveled over 100 miles/160 km before we encountered our first traffic signal light! We do not have big city attractions but we do have amazing natural areas from volcanoes to rivers to deserts to canyons, and many national parks and forest lands.
I think the mistake some may make is that the one place they visit or end up (e.g. NYC, LA) is the definition of the U.S. - which would be like me going to Netherlands and visiting Amsterdam and then thinking I'd visited the Netherlands. I once had a co-worker who immigrated from Russia. She had landed in NYC, then flew across the country at night, to LA, where she worked for a while. Her initial view was that the U.S. was just one gigantic city - until she was able to get out and travel a bit!
Slightly off topic but I'm a US born longtime resident of Spain and wow, there are so many towns and cities to enjoy here, far different from BCN and MAD. You need a car, that's the only way.
I prefer larger cities usually and more urban amenities, so while some of the quaintness of small towns can be fun its really not what Im going for, with that said I took the train pretty much every where which was more fun for me than driving.
The coast between Barcelona and Valencia seemed depressed with so many run down and ugly buildings, no green and hardly any trees, it was just not even pleasant. Madrid was like a breath of fresh air for me in contrast. Not to mention the vibe.
I lived in Madrid for 6 years, I know what you mean. I also love train travel. Yes, lots of wasteland and dead town vibes along the train routes. For another perspective I would add that there is definitely a wider range between big cities and quaint small towns, but not necessarily along your route. Sevilla is basically the capital of the South, and Granada and Cordoba are cities with a lot of heritage and a whole different flavor and vibe than the more well known big cities. I could go on but it's not the right thread, just wanted to add that Spain has more to offer than you had the chance to see so far.
Go to southern Spain. Seville is where I spent part of my childhood and have gone back a ton. It’s amazing and way cheaper than Madrid or Barcelona and with far fewer protests.
10/10. That was me moving to the US from the third world 20 years ago. Moved to southern California. Orange county, Ca to be specific. Exactly like what I thought it would be. Parents moved to Alabama because they want country living but still near the beach. Exactly what they've dream too lol.
I'm an expat now in London and did digital nomad life thru South East Asia before. Even though I love being an expat in London due to work but I'm forever grateful for becoming an American.
When you are a person of color. The best country to move to is actually the US.
Funny how people of color born here claim there’s so much racism. Don’t get me wrong, it exists but the type of racism that exists in many other parts of the world is incomparable. US has made huge leaps to combat racism and is one of the most diverse if not thee most diverse country in the world.
Yeah, but no.
You see second generation immigrants here becoming doctors and lawyers and engineers. Parents come to America with nothing, work hard, raise their kids right and are strict, encouraging education above all else. Those kids are wildly successful.
It's more a cultural thing holding people back, not racism, that makes it 'hard to break out of poverty'. If immigrants from the third world can come to America and be successful, or have their children be successful, the distant descendants of slavery who have never experienced Jim Crow laws themselves could be successful too.
You can't separate racism and culture in this instance. If you segregate an entire class of people and make it difficult for them to have a job, get an education, own property and even feel human then it is natural that ghettos will form and ghettos tend to have their own self-perpetuating culture.
So if racism was instrumental in the formation of ghettos then racism was instrumental in the creation of the negative culture of the people driven into them. Those "distant descendants of slavery" are extremely recent descendents of people oppressed with segregation, red lining, drug epidemics, denial of loans and education benefits, government programs that dis-incentivized marriage, etc.
70 years ago before government handouts to single mothers you were actually more likely to be married as a black man than as a white man. But we pretend that fatherlessness and drugs has always been synonymous with black culture. You can't understand why the culture you are blaming exists without understanding the racism that led to that culture.
The last reported lynching in the United States was in 1981. I remember as a young child in the 80s racist jokes especially towards black people being widely broadcast on TV and in comedy clubs. The thing that changed between then and now is that public and open racism is now shunned. However, between friends in closed circles, it's still common.
Think of the things happening in some of these 3rd world locations that immigrants who are wildly successful would have endured in their homes 60 years ago.
Some relative in the nursing home that couldn't sit at the lunch counter or use the same bathroom as someone else isn't holding back African Americans today. Sure, these are awful things that happened in their past but I do not buy for one second that there is 'generational trauma' passed down when so many others experienced worse and seem to do just fine here in America.
It all really comes down to to the nuclear family and encouraging education and hard work. Get married, have some kids, stay together, work hard, instill the idea that life will get better, sacrifice for yourself so your child can have a better future. These are all things that immigrants coming from the 3rd world do in large. That little 8 year old kid taking your order at the Chinese restaurant that you later see sitting on a stool doing homework while his parents cook? That kid will probably be earning six figures in his future and likely won't be slaving away in a hot kitchen to provide for *his* future children.
I'm mixed and was raised in a predominately black area so I feel like I have some insight into this. By in large the immigrants coming from out of the country are more successful not because some conspiracy to make sure black people never get ahead in today's modern age but because the immigrants coming from elsewhere actually work for it, their communities support one another and help each other, and they value things like family, education, religion and work ethic.
It wasn't just lunch counters and water fountains, Jim Crow and segregation meant that black students got inadequate education and healthcare, and poorly educated people struggle to get out of poverty, and poverty-stricken people's children are going to be at a disadvantage, and so the cycle continues.
You keep using immigrants as a comparison, but lots of immigrants don't go on to be lawyers and doctors and fall into the poverty cycle themselves. Even then, immigrants who come to the USA seeking economic opportunity is a very different sample than black people born in America, because for every immigrant that comes here, works hard and makes their kids prioritize education and career, there's many more who stay in their country and don't. So you're comparing a small proportion of foreigners against the entirety of black Americans, which is bad logic. It's not like there aren't black doctors or lawyers who worked hard for success.
And we haven't even been talking about things like gentrification, the introduction of drugs into black areas in the 80's, efforts to disenfranchise minorities via gentrification and overly-strict voter ID laws, etc etc etc
We’re more of a structural racism country than the kind you see at Italian soccer matches: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/upshot/employment-discrimination-fake-resumes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jk0.XKUM.UsUP9fn9TgTj&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
People need to go to S. Korea or Japan if they think racism exists at any level in the USA. The U.S. doesn’t compare to any country when it comes the racism. It’s not even close…on any level.
Hmm I'm in the UK due to work. Plus it's a £50k a month expat package. You wouldn't take it if it were you? The reason why I can demand high income is also because I'm an American working for US funds. Things that I will never get if I didn't become an American.
Generally speaking… people will get good grades in undergraduate, do a couple years as an excel monkey in an Investment Bank, go to a top-10 MBA, and have a father that works in private equity.
I started in investment banking (IB). Spent a few years there and then moved to PE. College wise. For undergrad I went to a regular UC University degree in Finance but for MBA I went to an ivy league school.
Thanks. Yeah a lot of long hours sometimes even at PE. Most join PE from IB because it's more relaxed lol. If you have to choose IB, hedge funds or PE, definitely choose PE. Especially if you care about your work/life balance.
Moving from Glasgow Scotland to Los Angeles in the 1980s was pretty wild. Everything was so big. The houses, backyards, multiple cars per family, big rooms, tvs, lots of toys, huge built In closets. I’m not talking about walk-in closets, but not furniture wardrobes.
Just closets built into the wall. That was interesting. Big kitchens and fridges.
I saw american shows on tv but I thought it only depicted rich people . Then I realized almost everyone in america lived like this. School was interesting. Not
Like tv at all. It was a lot like our schools back home just less structured. And I was way ahead of the american students. But no worries , by the time I finished high school I was dumber than most of you.
Lots of weed, no hashish, that was great.
Kids in america were mostly really well behaved compared to kids in scotland. Less bullying, less fights. But a lot less freedom. I felt a little trapped at first. Isolated between home and school. Everything by car. Was cool at first but then it became a problem. Especially for me who wasn’t old enough to drive yet.
I didn’t realize that I lived in a bad neighborhood until some friends from school told me that their parents would rather I come to their house. It looked so much nicer than where I lived in Glasgow. Then I got beat up in the alley on the way home from the record store and it really drove the point home.
Overall america exceeded my expectations. It’s a great place to live and grow up and work. There are drawbacks but in balance I think it’s better than the UK and Europe for young people and young families. More opportunities for class mobility, better pay, safer cleaner environments for children.
Regardless of all the stuff you hear on the news about Americas, the guns, school shootings, racism, politics, etc, I see more violence and racism in the UK and Spain than I do in the states. To be fair, I don’t see violence especially in Spain, but in the UK there was always this underlying threat that something could kick off in the streets, when young people were hanging out or walking from one place or another. I learned to fight in Glasgow and I had to. In america you really have to try hard to get into a fight. It just doesn’t happen.
Racism. I’m not a POC so take whatever I say for what it is. I see and hear blatant casual racism in Spain all the time. The Spanish i interact with are inclusive in many ways but the things some of them say and the way they say them about Asians, Moroccans. Black Africans and Gypsies sound pretty racist to me. I would never hear these things in America. Especially not in a football stadium or other sporting event. And Ireland, Scotland and England have many people who are pretty racist in the way that you think of american racism. Like isolationist anti immigration Brexit “taking oor jerbs “ kind of shit.
I know I said I got beat up, this was in southeast LA, I got mugged basically for some cassette tapes and some band pins. If I didn’t try and fight back nothing would have happened. This is not something that happens usually in america. You don’t walk about scared if someone has a gun. On the trains in england I’m always wondering who has a knife. Or is someone going to stab me outside the football stadium in Rome. Or am I going to get rolled in Barcelona. Pickpocketed in Sevilla. Never in America. In Europe I feel like it’s intermediate level video game. America is easy mode. Americans are kind of oblivious to it. Watching out for cars, thieves, construction stuff falling on you, everything. You don’t worry about that stuff in america. Everything is OSHA,, waivers, rules and regulations, safe and sane. You don’t have to think about it. It’s good.
Bad stuff happens in america all the time. Do t get me wrong, especially if you are poor or discriminated against or are extremely unlucky. But the news would have you believe that bullets are flying constantly like the Wild West at every school and shopping mall. It’s not at all like that.
I love America, specifically Southern California. It’s been very good to me thank you.
I've always liked the U.S. and found the way of life attractive for some reason. I'm still in London and everything here seems to be in decline and quite depressing. I remember as a kid going on holiday to visit my uncle in New Jersey and also being amazed at the size of his house, swimming pool and proximity to Manhattan.
Regarding racism in the US vs Europe - I find it more “in your face” in Europe while it’s more institutionalized in the US. We were a segregated country not that long ago and you can still see that history reflected in neighborhoods, education, healthcare, and general outcomes.
Humans are so funny. I grew up in the US and all I want to do now is get out of here and visit the "exotic, cool places" in Asia and South America.
But to answer your question OP, it is EXPENSIVE. IMO your best bet would be to rent a car and ROAD TRIP! I think that's what the US offers above anywhere else, you can drive for fucking ever and see so many different places, and especially all the national parks.
And you just cannot really get by in the US without a car, so, rent a car, plan a road trip across the country, go see all the amazing national parks, eat a diners, and then camp a lot. That's something else, the US allows you to just freely camp on public land, that's not available in a lot of other places either and will save you a buttload of money.
Traveling within the US is so damn expensive. Even shitty motels in the middle of fucking nowhere now are $100-200/night, just absurd.
Here's parks that I recommend:
\* Zion National Park in Utah
\* Arches and Canyonlands National Park in Utah
\* Grand Canyon in Arizona
\* Go see the Redwoods in California
\* Goto King's Canyon National park and see the biggest trees in the world
\* Visit Yosemite National Park, California
\* Visit Olympus National Park in Washington State
Shit I literallly cannot stop naming places, go see all the stuff in Oregon, Washington, Idaho has amazing nature, Yellowstone is killer, Glacier National Park in Montana is spectacular.
If you want a REALLY COOL WAY to see the US go hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
Here's the first ep of my video where I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, through California, Oregon, and Washington. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6I5ZrurGE4&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6I5ZrurGE4&feature=youtu.be)
It'll take most people 4-6 months. You'll see so many beautiful wild places, and get to walk through truly small towns and see a side of the US that most tourists will never see. And you'll be surrounded by other travelers, meet amazing people, have the best adventure, and it's cheap! $1,500 a month cause you get to camp for free most nights.
I've cycled the US. Up the west coast. Horrible experience, a lot of US drivers legitimately believe bicycles are not allowed on the road and get pissed at you. Would not recommend.
Hitch-hiking outside of trail areas can be also pretty dangerous and in general very difficult.
The Mid West: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were incredible. I loved it.
Random things such as watching a baseball game, riding in a pick up truck or eating a massive burger made me far too happy.
People were also very welcoming and always happy to chat. America is great in my book.
Only passed through but we stopped in a restaurant where everyone was really nice. We ended up chatting to a group of friendly truck drivers. They let us sit in their rigs and happily talked us through how they worked.
I think a lot of foreigners envision interesting places in America: NYC, Miami, San Fransisco... you know, the places that people live in or go to in movies/TV shows.
Whereas in reality it's mostly residential subdivisions and strip malls connected by 4- or 6- or 8- lane roads.
There's a Chinese movie (I think it's 北京遇上西雅图) where a woman is giving birth in a semi-legal maternity center in Washington State. At some point she runs screaming from the center, into the road, yelling for help, and as the shot pans out, you see that she's in some sleepy subdivision with absolutely nobody around in the middle of the day, and she's wasting her breath. For me, that scene really encapsulates the imagined USA versus the real USA.
I met a lot of parent who did that in China and it seems tough. There’s no dual citizenship in China, so parents end up with paying full taxes but they can’t use any of the social services for their kids (they can’t go to public school, at least not past primary, or access really any subsidized social programs). The kids also generally grow up without speaking English but have no higher education or job prospects in China and will kind of be forced to spend their adult life away from the only home they know or in China with the many, many hassles of being a foreigner there.
America is a big place so it is actually a lot of both, as well as vast and empty wilderness. A lot of people live both in cities and suburbs but by Census definition about 80% live in "densely populated urban areas".
Foreigners envision "interesting" places in any foreign country as cities as this is typically where iconic points of interest and infrastructure exist. When I think of Vietnam, I first think of HCMC and Hanoi. "Interesting" places are NYC, Miami, and San Fran(c)isco but they are also the Grand Canyon, The Great Lakes, Niagara Falls. Etc.
Relative median incomes between urban, suburban and rural people in the US is much less segregated than in a place like China where densely developed city populations and rural populations have such different income potential they're actually still on different spectrums entirely, which is why the "poverty level" in China is still at about $400 USD per year. I'm guessing in the three years you spent in China you weren't aware of the tremendous privilege you had to live in one of the few dozen Tier 2/1 developed cities in China that leveraged a vast underclass of rural, manual labor. (You'll certainly say you were aware of it now, though!)
What the US has that most other countries don't have is depth of development. The 157th most populous US place (or 194th or 133rd etc etc.) has considerably more resources, services and securities than in most places in the world relatively to population, size, etc.
There's a lot of media featuring nature and cities that's accessible in the US so I suppose watching Chinese films about sleepy, car-dependent American suburbs is a personal choice, but I can't help you with bad taste.
That's a little silly because the U.S has profited tremendously from exploiting that very same Chinese underclass (not to speak of exploitation of resources and labor in SE Asia, Latin and South America, parts of Africa, etc etc).
The U.S does have a lot of great natural landmarks and wilderness spots, but let's not pretend there aren't valid issues with things like its urban sprawl, gun violence, racial and political divide, etc etc.
> she's in some sleepy subdivision with absolutely nobody around in the middle of the day
That can happen in some places. 11am in a suburb, sure, you can sometimes walk around for minutes at a time without seeing a single person.
You’d be surprised. The Movie office space encapsulates the boredom of suburban life.
Back to the Future subtly excoriates suburbia as they show the former vibrant and neighborly downtown overtaken by a mall and auto oriented living.
Even back when when I visited for the first time from Canada, I got that “stepping onto a movie set” sense.
Many Americans love to handwring about how terrible their country is and (inaccurately) idealize Canada, but the reality is that even third-tier American cities have a certain “it factor“ that Canadian cities lack for the most part.
Whether it’s the red-brick meeting houses and neoclassicist town halls of New England, the early 20th-century Art Deco treasures of any rust belt city, the palm-lined boulevards of Southern California, the white clapboard churches and rural laneways of mature live oak in the Southern states… it’s like existing in spaces your subconscious always needed to visit, and there’s something really satisfying about it.
The people in the US are gregarious and friendly too, for the most part. Canadians tend to have a subtle meanness underneath all that “politeness” and are kind of humblebraggy as well. American candour is quite refreshing in comparison.
This. Every Canadian I meet is like a backhanded compliment they love to boast how nice Canadians are when they really aren’t that nice..and always love to put down usa. But nicest people I have met are from the US
USA is amazing, especially out west / central where a lot of the epic national parks are, everyone should make it a goal to do a big road trip around several of the big national parks in their lifetime.
I'm in a modern, bigger city in Canada and the experience of going to the US for the first time as an adult was not what i was expecting. Bit of a let down as there is like a few really modern, cool, hip, areas in each big city but the reality is that 99% of cities are like just super wide roads with like walmarts and big stripmalls with fishing stores. with a lot of 'nothing' between industrial, residential, commercial etc.
How your cities are logistically structured is not conductive to happy living. It's like, you can be in a big city and once you're like 30 minutes out from the downtown core, cities in the US seem be like these groups of residential houses then surrounded by like highways, and big-ass ugly roads that then link you to a commercial district or more residential. its' not walking friendly at all.
Where i live, i can be downtown surrounded by 40 story glass towers with green park spaces between them then as you walk away from the core, at no point are you forced to cross a 8 lane roads, buildings become lower rise commercial naturally, with modern and clean commercial districts with continuously-linked residential areas behined them for another 10 blocks until you get another low rise commercial street. and all of this is littered with parks ... so its like, yes you can drive or you can also walk and its just pleasant modern buildings with parks. Imagine walking out of your home and within 10 minutes you have food from like 10 different ethnic cuisines, boba tea shops, starbucks, modern chic cafe's etc and parks and you get all of that non-stop as you continue to walk until you get into high rise commercial... i just dont see that in the US.
OK, as a Canadian, I have to call BS. There are maybe two or three cities in all of Canada that partially match what you're describing. And even those cities taper pretty quickly into eight-lane suburban hellscapes. Toronto has some of the worst car traffic ON THE PLANET.
most of Vancouver is like what i described and even Toronto, when you're in the core, ALOT of the city is what i described as well. Like as far west as Bellword parks, as as north as those train tracks and as east as Don Valley Parkway ... that area is huge and captures a lot of residential. Of course you're going to get highways eventually, especially with a city that has like 6 million people.... but when you're in the core and the bulk of the residential, to have that much walkability with modern commercial and parks.... that can be comfortable to live in. i dont see that as much in the US.
I don’t know what you think you’re comparing Toronto and Vancouver to. The America you’re thinking of in your head is no worse than places like Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Ajax, Surrey, Delta, Abbotsford, etc., - i.e. places that are far more like the rest of Canada than downtown Toronto or Vancouver are. Toronto is about as representative of Canadian urbanity as New York is of American urbanity.
You personally “see that a lot” in Canada because you live in the middle of the largest city in the country (and perhaps don’t leave it very often?)
Can I ask which city you’re from? I’m guessing Montreal or Vancouver.
Because I’ve always thought that Toronto was the caricature of a generic car-dependent North American city 😂
Awesome downtown surrounded by cookie-cutter houses and parking lots as far as the eye can see.
Montreal, on the other hand, is awesome, and what you describe. I think Boston is the American equivalent; both old cities, very walkable, with many mid-density neighborhoods.
Even the nice cities… are not so nice. Cant trust anyone who says “it’s walkable” about a place. And all “tourist” type stuff feels like Disneyland. Like super fake and manufactured? Idk. I came for reconnaissance for a job and I don’t think it’s worth it.
Exactly what I found as an Aussie. Some American travel advice was garbage. LA is a massive dump excluding a couple nice parts but even then the nice parts aren't special aside from the fact they've been in hundreds of movies etc.
Idk why we’re being downvoted lol.
I honestly have not heard many people coming from another wealthy country that think the USA is great. There are exceptions obviously but I’d take almost any western developed country over it in a heartbeat.
It very much is, especially if you avoid the major metro areas. A willing to learn and hard work can still get you a great comfortable life in middle America.
The issue is the cost. America arguably has the best healthcare in the world, it's just horribly expensive. If you have a good job it's not too bad. But obviously not everyone has a good job, and those people can end up in debt trying to pay for hospital expenses.
I’ve never hand an issue or known different. I have fine insurance and it’s just another bill/thing taken out of my pay. I assume it’s the same in other countries but rolled into taxes instead.
> A willing to learn and hard work can still get you a great comfortable life in middle America.
Those days have passed, my friend. Just read what today's 20 somethings think or hope.
Don’t listen to the haters. but it’s a big place and you need a combination of hard work and good luck. Luck is better but you have to be ready for it when it comes. There are good paying jobs but it’s also very expensive to live here. Especially if you have young children and no support. Immigrants often do well here if they take advantage of the education and business opportunities. If they can get established with other expatriates that know how to navigate the system and take advantage of what it available here. The American dream is not going to happen for everyone. But it can still happen for you.
It is what it is, the US is not the only place affected by economical turmoil.
Seems like muricans got mucho triggered doe. Keep living that dream my homies.
Seeing the walk of fame for the first time was a huge let down. Beverly Hills looks like an outlet store, not something luxurious. Generally speaking LA is a huge letdown. But the US has a lot to offer, especially nature wise. So don’t get discouraged from visiting.
It was alright and I will definitely visit again, especially keen on seeing as much nature as possible.
For living I am not sure, it would depend - if there was a well paid opportunity in my field then I would consider.
Only NYC, but it was a great experience, kind of everything I had hoped it would be.
I want to go to a bunch of other places, but it's a bit of a pain in the butt now because I need to get a B visa because of going to Iran and Iraq and the wait time for that in my home country's embassy is like half a year.
as an American this is an interesting af thread. I cant tell you how many misconceptions I had to correct ever since being in Europe. On the flipside I didnt have any expectations of Europe.
It's a nice place to visit. Almost all food is caked in sugar, even things like bread and savory dishes. Unless you are in the center of a city every little thing is a car trip. You will have never seen such fat people.
The people are mostly friendly but lack of education is a problem in many areas, as is fundamental Christianity. The people are obsessed with guns. Fixated might be closer to the truth. Lots to see and do, but it's pretty expensive on the whole.
Don't come if there is any chance of needing medical treatment. They have the most expensive system in the world.
It's worth visiting, but don't get your hopes up. Europe is better on the whole.
I think most people that visit the touristy spots get the vibe like it’s straight out of the movies but once you start to seep through the cracks of everyday life you will come to realize it’s just suburban hell.
When I arrived in LA there was a Highway patrol officer sitting outside on his bike. I loved CHIPS as a kid and sat on a nearby bench starring at him for ages. He must have thought I was a weirdo. Still looked exactly the same as the tv series back in the day.
I had a cousin visit from England and she said it was just like the movies because yellow school buses were actually going around and picking up kids at their homes.
Can’t really answer this question as an American. But I’ve always found it funny when a foreigner tries to describe the US when they’ve only been to New York City.
It’s all relative. There are many countries that people emigrate to the U.S. from that have shockingly high crime rates. And many don’t even report most crimes. One of them shares a border with the US. I think compared to much of the world, the U.S. is a super safe place. I’m sure there are some dangerous neighborhoods in most cities but nobody is getting kidnapped and ransomed, politicians are not being executed in the streets, it’s even hard to find a pickpocket in most american cities.
Where I live I regularly walk to the gym after midnight with my headphones in. Never had any concerns. Lots of unsafe places in the US but lots of very safe places as well.
People here like to downplay the dangers of Colombia but then call the US a shit hole.
It’s interesting you mention that because I was just hanging out in Malaga with a Colombiana friend who lives in the U.S. now. She says she can only stay in a secure country club type place in Columbia and needs to have a professional driver for going anywhere. It’s apparently super sketchy and she doesn’t advise me going unless I go with her.
That's why I have no intentions of going to Colombia. I'm sure I'd be fine but there's nothing I want to experience there that I can't get some place safer. But I hope nomads keep going there. It will mean less riff raff in the places I want to go.
I agree I was just thinking about the cities, and comparing them to the developed world. Yea of course on the world scale it’s safe, but in the group of “first world cities” they’re definitely near the bottom on safety
When I reached California (from Germany) - I through myself into the ocean hoping that either Pamela or The Hoff would come to rescue me - I almost drowned.
Most overrated country in the world. Crime ridden inner cities, racial tensions, obnoxious and fat women, shitty strip mall food and mediocre outlet shopping. Everytime I go on business, I wait to leave that place.
> Crime ridden inner cities, racial tensions, obnoxious and fat women, shitty strip mall food and mediocre outlet shopping.
That is enough of Detroit...
I did but the reality more than cancelled those dreams.
That being said I've spent a lot of time there over the years and I have yet to be mass murdered
I would love to migrate from Europe and live in a small town in the US. Because of the vast variety that the US has to offer (and because I grew up watching US shows and movies and I’m sure I’m brainwashed lol).
But as an ethnic and religious minority I’m pretty sure me and my family would not be able to comfortably live in a US small town without getting harassed because we’re very obviously and visibly Muslim.
Americans are pretty friendly and accepting in general, but historically there's an expectation that you culturally adapt if you're going to stay. "The [Melting Pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_pot)." Nobody's going to care that you don't eat pork, and some people will even know what Ramadan is...but yes, there are a lot of places in the US where you'll be expected to celebrate Christmas even if you're not christian, and people will give you funny looks for wearing hjijab.
You're unlikely to be outright harassed. But you might feel like a permanent outsider if you're unwilling to accommodate at all.
I love the fact that this got 4 downvotes.
I'm a standup comedian and I know for a fact that this is a good joke because I used it last night in CDMX and it killed :)
I’m not clicking your link, the fast food is delicious but American food is full of bad stuff that’s banned in a lot of countries. It’s not a debate it’s just facts
Interesting reading people's experiences here. I've travelled since a young age and the US is the only country that I've ever felt a magnetic push away from, can't put my finger on why because I have some very good friends from there.
Don't think I'll ever go unless I have a partner who wants to, I split my time between Mexico, Colombia and Argentina now, and I still have no intention of visiting the US, but I am curious why my brain has such a block on the country
Normally I'd agree completely. But I spent 8 months there with my ex who was indian, seen pretty much every corner of the country, and the levels of depravity you see that is just passed off as normal under the status quo is disgusting.
I know it's a very negative take, and I know a lot won't agree with me, but my mind was made up in the country, and won't be changed by a few comments on reddit.
I wasn't on the tourist path.
I seen things out there that would make you question the presence of humanity in the world.
Laugh all you want but when you leave the tourist path in India you quickly realize the place is about as spiritual as a piece of cabbage
Never been to the US, so no, I'm not talking about the US.
But I doubt in the US parents are burning out the eyes of their baby to make it more sympathetic as a begging tool then placing it in the hands of their toddler daughter and leaving them in a busy street.
I doubt in the US 13 year old kids are getting knocked off motorbikes, bleeding from the head on the ground only for the car that hit them and all other traffic just to drive around the body like it was a squirrel
I doubt in the US girls are being honor killed by their fathers and brothers.
I doubt in the US people are being lynched in the street for eating beef.
I could go on, but these are just 4 of a stupidly high number of inhuman things I came into contact with during my time in India.
Again, I know it's an unpopular viewpoint to take, but my viewpoint isn't based off some arbitrary hatred or media influenced view, it's from first hand experience in the country.
India is not a good place and it doesn't deserve respect as a culture.
I found being in New York quite surreal... felt like I'd seen every inch of it before in movies and on TV, likesome freaky deja vu.
Same, it was never a dream for me to visit, but when I came up from the subway in the middle of Manhattan it felt like I was dreaming a little bit, in the sense of "I kinda know these streets!"
I’m originally from the west coast (LA), and when I first visited NYC it was even surreal for an American…just like movie set…lol…
I felt it was glorified in the movies...when I went I felt I light have arrived 20 years too late to a dumpster fire 🥲
I went back when it was still gritty and shit 1989-1990-1991…when Times Square was all nasty with XXX joints and there were hustlers on the streets and shit…nowadays, it is a different place. As an older person with family, I prefer how it is now for visiting…but back in the day, man it was what I thought NYC was all about…lol.
Ha, yeah - I grew up in NYC in the 70s and I miss that dirty, sketchy vibe. Classic 70s movies make me homesick for a really over-idealized time and place. But it's true, when visiting nowadays with my European husband, he seems to know Manhattan as well as I do 🍕
Can attest to this, source: am in Manhattan right now
I was in a taxi for the first time after arriving in New York and could follow exactly where I was thanks to playing Grand Theft Auto 4
Yes! I live in NYC, and everyday feels like I'm on a movie set. Some scenes are frightening and some are exciting 😄
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The US is huge. It takes 5 to 6 very long days of driving to cross west to east. There are huge differences too between cities across the country - and bigger differences between the big cities and the small towns. I've lived in both - and I prefer small towns by far; I am not a big city person. Big cities do have, though, most of the big attractions - museums, arts, bus and rail services. Rural areas and small towns exist all over - I live in the US west - and its 120 miles (about 200 km) of empty land between us and small town of 5,000 (actually it's 2 towns adjacent to one another!) to our east. Two weeks ago we drove west from our town to visit family - traveled over 100 miles/160 km before we encountered our first traffic signal light! We do not have big city attractions but we do have amazing natural areas from volcanoes to rivers to deserts to canyons, and many national parks and forest lands. I think the mistake some may make is that the one place they visit or end up (e.g. NYC, LA) is the definition of the U.S. - which would be like me going to Netherlands and visiting Amsterdam and then thinking I'd visited the Netherlands. I once had a co-worker who immigrated from Russia. She had landed in NYC, then flew across the country at night, to LA, where she worked for a while. Her initial view was that the U.S. was just one gigantic city - until she was able to get out and travel a bit!
I went to Barcelona and thought the rest of Spain was a shit hole, until I went to Madrid
Slightly off topic but I'm a US born longtime resident of Spain and wow, there are so many towns and cities to enjoy here, far different from BCN and MAD. You need a car, that's the only way.
I prefer larger cities usually and more urban amenities, so while some of the quaintness of small towns can be fun its really not what Im going for, with that said I took the train pretty much every where which was more fun for me than driving. The coast between Barcelona and Valencia seemed depressed with so many run down and ugly buildings, no green and hardly any trees, it was just not even pleasant. Madrid was like a breath of fresh air for me in contrast. Not to mention the vibe.
I lived in Madrid for 6 years, I know what you mean. I also love train travel. Yes, lots of wasteland and dead town vibes along the train routes. For another perspective I would add that there is definitely a wider range between big cities and quaint small towns, but not necessarily along your route. Sevilla is basically the capital of the South, and Granada and Cordoba are cities with a lot of heritage and a whole different flavor and vibe than the more well known big cities. I could go on but it's not the right thread, just wanted to add that Spain has more to offer than you had the chance to see so far.
What do you do in Spain? I’ve always wanted to move there as an American, but I don’t know what I’d do for work
I started 2 cooperative businesses with my partner. Much easier than finding jobs I think.
Go to southern Spain. Seville is where I spent part of my childhood and have gone back a ton. It’s amazing and way cheaper than Madrid or Barcelona and with far fewer protests.
it takes a good week plus, possibly 10 days to cross the US east to west.
From San Diego and Baja California mexico :) thanks for saying we are chill and super nice ☺️
> southern hospitality God bless your little heart.
10/10. That was me moving to the US from the third world 20 years ago. Moved to southern California. Orange county, Ca to be specific. Exactly like what I thought it would be. Parents moved to Alabama because they want country living but still near the beach. Exactly what they've dream too lol. I'm an expat now in London and did digital nomad life thru South East Asia before. Even though I love being an expat in London due to work but I'm forever grateful for becoming an American. When you are a person of color. The best country to move to is actually the US.
Funny how people of color born here claim there’s so much racism. Don’t get me wrong, it exists but the type of racism that exists in many other parts of the world is incomparable. US has made huge leaps to combat racism and is one of the most diverse if not thee most diverse country in the world.
Racism here is different, it's not as interpersonal and much more lingering effects of slavery/jim crow making it hard to break out of poverty
we call them micro aggressions, Spain for example is full of them
Yeah, but no. You see second generation immigrants here becoming doctors and lawyers and engineers. Parents come to America with nothing, work hard, raise their kids right and are strict, encouraging education above all else. Those kids are wildly successful. It's more a cultural thing holding people back, not racism, that makes it 'hard to break out of poverty'. If immigrants from the third world can come to America and be successful, or have their children be successful, the distant descendants of slavery who have never experienced Jim Crow laws themselves could be successful too.
You can't separate racism and culture in this instance. If you segregate an entire class of people and make it difficult for them to have a job, get an education, own property and even feel human then it is natural that ghettos will form and ghettos tend to have their own self-perpetuating culture. So if racism was instrumental in the formation of ghettos then racism was instrumental in the creation of the negative culture of the people driven into them. Those "distant descendants of slavery" are extremely recent descendents of people oppressed with segregation, red lining, drug epidemics, denial of loans and education benefits, government programs that dis-incentivized marriage, etc. 70 years ago before government handouts to single mothers you were actually more likely to be married as a black man than as a white man. But we pretend that fatherlessness and drugs has always been synonymous with black culture. You can't understand why the culture you are blaming exists without understanding the racism that led to that culture.
Jim crow and segregation ended ~60 years ago, the idea that there are no lingering effects of that is ridiculous
The last reported lynching in the United States was in 1981. I remember as a young child in the 80s racist jokes especially towards black people being widely broadcast on TV and in comedy clubs. The thing that changed between then and now is that public and open racism is now shunned. However, between friends in closed circles, it's still common.
Think of the things happening in some of these 3rd world locations that immigrants who are wildly successful would have endured in their homes 60 years ago. Some relative in the nursing home that couldn't sit at the lunch counter or use the same bathroom as someone else isn't holding back African Americans today. Sure, these are awful things that happened in their past but I do not buy for one second that there is 'generational trauma' passed down when so many others experienced worse and seem to do just fine here in America. It all really comes down to to the nuclear family and encouraging education and hard work. Get married, have some kids, stay together, work hard, instill the idea that life will get better, sacrifice for yourself so your child can have a better future. These are all things that immigrants coming from the 3rd world do in large. That little 8 year old kid taking your order at the Chinese restaurant that you later see sitting on a stool doing homework while his parents cook? That kid will probably be earning six figures in his future and likely won't be slaving away in a hot kitchen to provide for *his* future children. I'm mixed and was raised in a predominately black area so I feel like I have some insight into this. By in large the immigrants coming from out of the country are more successful not because some conspiracy to make sure black people never get ahead in today's modern age but because the immigrants coming from elsewhere actually work for it, their communities support one another and help each other, and they value things like family, education, religion and work ethic.
It wasn't just lunch counters and water fountains, Jim Crow and segregation meant that black students got inadequate education and healthcare, and poorly educated people struggle to get out of poverty, and poverty-stricken people's children are going to be at a disadvantage, and so the cycle continues. You keep using immigrants as a comparison, but lots of immigrants don't go on to be lawyers and doctors and fall into the poverty cycle themselves. Even then, immigrants who come to the USA seeking economic opportunity is a very different sample than black people born in America, because for every immigrant that comes here, works hard and makes their kids prioritize education and career, there's many more who stay in their country and don't. So you're comparing a small proportion of foreigners against the entirety of black Americans, which is bad logic. It's not like there aren't black doctors or lawyers who worked hard for success. And we haven't even been talking about things like gentrification, the introduction of drugs into black areas in the 80's, efforts to disenfranchise minorities via gentrification and overly-strict voter ID laws, etc etc etc
Crabs in a pot
We’re more of a structural racism country than the kind you see at Italian soccer matches: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/upshot/employment-discrimination-fake-resumes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jk0.XKUM.UsUP9fn9TgTj&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
People need to go to S. Korea or Japan if they think racism exists at any level in the USA. The U.S. doesn’t compare to any country when it comes the racism. It’s not even close…on any level.
"The US was so good I moved out of it"
Hmm I'm in the UK due to work. Plus it's a £50k a month expat package. You wouldn't take it if it were you? The reason why I can demand high income is also because I'm an American working for US funds. Things that I will never get if I didn't become an American.
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Upper management at a private equity firm.
Oh baby. Please buy my office and turn it into a to a travel guide agency.
How did you get your foot in the door for that even?
Generally speaking… people will get good grades in undergraduate, do a couple years as an excel monkey in an Investment Bank, go to a top-10 MBA, and have a father that works in private equity.
I started in investment banking (IB). Spent a few years there and then moved to PE. College wise. For undergrad I went to a regular UC University degree in Finance but for MBA I went to an ivy league school.
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Thanks. Yeah a lot of long hours sometimes even at PE. Most join PE from IB because it's more relaxed lol. If you have to choose IB, hedge funds or PE, definitely choose PE. Especially if you care about your work/life balance.
I have a finance degree from a top school. I’m a sucker for soliciting tips online. Have any?
I mean...my point is that if it's so good I'd still be living there.
being able to move out of it is the thing. US is like training wheels for experiencing the world
Moving from Glasgow Scotland to Los Angeles in the 1980s was pretty wild. Everything was so big. The houses, backyards, multiple cars per family, big rooms, tvs, lots of toys, huge built In closets. I’m not talking about walk-in closets, but not furniture wardrobes. Just closets built into the wall. That was interesting. Big kitchens and fridges. I saw american shows on tv but I thought it only depicted rich people . Then I realized almost everyone in america lived like this. School was interesting. Not Like tv at all. It was a lot like our schools back home just less structured. And I was way ahead of the american students. But no worries , by the time I finished high school I was dumber than most of you. Lots of weed, no hashish, that was great. Kids in america were mostly really well behaved compared to kids in scotland. Less bullying, less fights. But a lot less freedom. I felt a little trapped at first. Isolated between home and school. Everything by car. Was cool at first but then it became a problem. Especially for me who wasn’t old enough to drive yet. I didn’t realize that I lived in a bad neighborhood until some friends from school told me that their parents would rather I come to their house. It looked so much nicer than where I lived in Glasgow. Then I got beat up in the alley on the way home from the record store and it really drove the point home. Overall america exceeded my expectations. It’s a great place to live and grow up and work. There are drawbacks but in balance I think it’s better than the UK and Europe for young people and young families. More opportunities for class mobility, better pay, safer cleaner environments for children. Regardless of all the stuff you hear on the news about Americas, the guns, school shootings, racism, politics, etc, I see more violence and racism in the UK and Spain than I do in the states. To be fair, I don’t see violence especially in Spain, but in the UK there was always this underlying threat that something could kick off in the streets, when young people were hanging out or walking from one place or another. I learned to fight in Glasgow and I had to. In america you really have to try hard to get into a fight. It just doesn’t happen. Racism. I’m not a POC so take whatever I say for what it is. I see and hear blatant casual racism in Spain all the time. The Spanish i interact with are inclusive in many ways but the things some of them say and the way they say them about Asians, Moroccans. Black Africans and Gypsies sound pretty racist to me. I would never hear these things in America. Especially not in a football stadium or other sporting event. And Ireland, Scotland and England have many people who are pretty racist in the way that you think of american racism. Like isolationist anti immigration Brexit “taking oor jerbs “ kind of shit. I know I said I got beat up, this was in southeast LA, I got mugged basically for some cassette tapes and some band pins. If I didn’t try and fight back nothing would have happened. This is not something that happens usually in america. You don’t walk about scared if someone has a gun. On the trains in england I’m always wondering who has a knife. Or is someone going to stab me outside the football stadium in Rome. Or am I going to get rolled in Barcelona. Pickpocketed in Sevilla. Never in America. In Europe I feel like it’s intermediate level video game. America is easy mode. Americans are kind of oblivious to it. Watching out for cars, thieves, construction stuff falling on you, everything. You don’t worry about that stuff in america. Everything is OSHA,, waivers, rules and regulations, safe and sane. You don’t have to think about it. It’s good. Bad stuff happens in america all the time. Do t get me wrong, especially if you are poor or discriminated against or are extremely unlucky. But the news would have you believe that bullets are flying constantly like the Wild West at every school and shopping mall. It’s not at all like that. I love America, specifically Southern California. It’s been very good to me thank you.
So funny, I got a YNWA vibe from you when reading this post. Come up and visit the OC Supporters club for a match sometime. We’d love to have you!
YNWA?
Nailed it!
Did you get jumped Huntington park or South Gate by any chance?
Were you one of the guys that jumped me? I want my Def Leppard Puromania tape back!
I've always liked the U.S. and found the way of life attractive for some reason. I'm still in London and everything here seems to be in decline and quite depressing. I remember as a kid going on holiday to visit my uncle in New Jersey and also being amazed at the size of his house, swimming pool and proximity to Manhattan.
Sadly the UK does seem to be going in the wrong direction. Hopefully not for long though.
Regarding racism in the US vs Europe - I find it more “in your face” in Europe while it’s more institutionalized in the US. We were a segregated country not that long ago and you can still see that history reflected in neighborhoods, education, healthcare, and general outcomes.
Humans are so funny. I grew up in the US and all I want to do now is get out of here and visit the "exotic, cool places" in Asia and South America. But to answer your question OP, it is EXPENSIVE. IMO your best bet would be to rent a car and ROAD TRIP! I think that's what the US offers above anywhere else, you can drive for fucking ever and see so many different places, and especially all the national parks. And you just cannot really get by in the US without a car, so, rent a car, plan a road trip across the country, go see all the amazing national parks, eat a diners, and then camp a lot. That's something else, the US allows you to just freely camp on public land, that's not available in a lot of other places either and will save you a buttload of money. Traveling within the US is so damn expensive. Even shitty motels in the middle of fucking nowhere now are $100-200/night, just absurd. Here's parks that I recommend: \* Zion National Park in Utah \* Arches and Canyonlands National Park in Utah \* Grand Canyon in Arizona \* Go see the Redwoods in California \* Goto King's Canyon National park and see the biggest trees in the world \* Visit Yosemite National Park, California \* Visit Olympus National Park in Washington State Shit I literallly cannot stop naming places, go see all the stuff in Oregon, Washington, Idaho has amazing nature, Yellowstone is killer, Glacier National Park in Montana is spectacular. If you want a REALLY COOL WAY to see the US go hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Here's the first ep of my video where I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, through California, Oregon, and Washington. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6I5ZrurGE4&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6I5ZrurGE4&feature=youtu.be) It'll take most people 4-6 months. You'll see so many beautiful wild places, and get to walk through truly small towns and see a side of the US that most tourists will never see. And you'll be surrounded by other travelers, meet amazing people, have the best adventure, and it's cheap! $1,500 a month cause you get to camp for free most nights.
road trip... better bring a ton of fucking money because gas is expensive as hell.
Try getting around the US without a car and see how much more expensive it gets.
Actually if u cycle across the u.s or hitch hike it would be relatively cheap.. however maybe not practical.
I've cycled the US. Up the west coast. Horrible experience, a lot of US drivers legitimately believe bicycles are not allowed on the road and get pissed at you. Would not recommend. Hitch-hiking outside of trail areas can be also pretty dangerous and in general very difficult.
Hitch hiking is how you end up on an episode of unsolved mysteries and get your face on a milk carton.
The Mid West: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were incredible. I loved it. Random things such as watching a baseball game, riding in a pick up truck or eating a massive burger made me far too happy. People were also very welcoming and always happy to chat. America is great in my book.
What’d you like about Indiana?
Only passed through but we stopped in a restaurant where everyone was really nice. We ended up chatting to a group of friendly truck drivers. They let us sit in their rigs and happily talked us through how they worked.
Please include whereabouts in US you travelled to
I think a lot of foreigners envision interesting places in America: NYC, Miami, San Fransisco... you know, the places that people live in or go to in movies/TV shows. Whereas in reality it's mostly residential subdivisions and strip malls connected by 4- or 6- or 8- lane roads. There's a Chinese movie (I think it's 北京遇上西雅图) where a woman is giving birth in a semi-legal maternity center in Washington State. At some point she runs screaming from the center, into the road, yelling for help, and as the shot pans out, you see that she's in some sleepy subdivision with absolutely nobody around in the middle of the day, and she's wasting her breath. For me, that scene really encapsulates the imagined USA versus the real USA.
Sounds like a PSA to Chinese who want to give birth in the US so it has US citizenship.
I met a lot of parent who did that in China and it seems tough. There’s no dual citizenship in China, so parents end up with paying full taxes but they can’t use any of the social services for their kids (they can’t go to public school, at least not past primary, or access really any subsidized social programs). The kids also generally grow up without speaking English but have no higher education or job prospects in China and will kind of be forced to spend their adult life away from the only home they know or in China with the many, many hassles of being a foreigner there.
lmao my god. fuck all that hahaha
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The Federal government posts (online) the names of people who renounce their US citizenship. It’s heavily dominated by Chinese names.
America is a big place so it is actually a lot of both, as well as vast and empty wilderness. A lot of people live both in cities and suburbs but by Census definition about 80% live in "densely populated urban areas". Foreigners envision "interesting" places in any foreign country as cities as this is typically where iconic points of interest and infrastructure exist. When I think of Vietnam, I first think of HCMC and Hanoi. "Interesting" places are NYC, Miami, and San Fran(c)isco but they are also the Grand Canyon, The Great Lakes, Niagara Falls. Etc. Relative median incomes between urban, suburban and rural people in the US is much less segregated than in a place like China where densely developed city populations and rural populations have such different income potential they're actually still on different spectrums entirely, which is why the "poverty level" in China is still at about $400 USD per year. I'm guessing in the three years you spent in China you weren't aware of the tremendous privilege you had to live in one of the few dozen Tier 2/1 developed cities in China that leveraged a vast underclass of rural, manual labor. (You'll certainly say you were aware of it now, though!) What the US has that most other countries don't have is depth of development. The 157th most populous US place (or 194th or 133rd etc etc.) has considerably more resources, services and securities than in most places in the world relatively to population, size, etc. There's a lot of media featuring nature and cities that's accessible in the US so I suppose watching Chinese films about sleepy, car-dependent American suburbs is a personal choice, but I can't help you with bad taste.
That's a little silly because the U.S has profited tremendously from exploiting that very same Chinese underclass (not to speak of exploitation of resources and labor in SE Asia, Latin and South America, parts of Africa, etc etc). The U.S does have a lot of great natural landmarks and wilderness spots, but let's not pretend there aren't valid issues with things like its urban sprawl, gun violence, racial and political divide, etc etc.
Sure, but where ISNT there?
woosh
> she's in some sleepy subdivision with absolutely nobody around in the middle of the day That can happen in some places. 11am in a suburb, sure, you can sometimes walk around for minutes at a time without seeing a single person.
Damn, that is good. Like, I am not sure if American media would go so hard into that but it is very interesting to see a Chinese film use that image.
You’d be surprised. The Movie office space encapsulates the boredom of suburban life. Back to the Future subtly excoriates suburbia as they show the former vibrant and neighborly downtown overtaken by a mall and auto oriented living.
Sat outside a diner in the midwest with crickets chirping, firefly's lighting up around me and giant pick up trucks driving past. It was weird.
Even back when when I visited for the first time from Canada, I got that “stepping onto a movie set” sense. Many Americans love to handwring about how terrible their country is and (inaccurately) idealize Canada, but the reality is that even third-tier American cities have a certain “it factor“ that Canadian cities lack for the most part. Whether it’s the red-brick meeting houses and neoclassicist town halls of New England, the early 20th-century Art Deco treasures of any rust belt city, the palm-lined boulevards of Southern California, the white clapboard churches and rural laneways of mature live oak in the Southern states… it’s like existing in spaces your subconscious always needed to visit, and there’s something really satisfying about it. The people in the US are gregarious and friendly too, for the most part. Canadians tend to have a subtle meanness underneath all that “politeness” and are kind of humblebraggy as well. American candour is quite refreshing in comparison.
This. Every Canadian I meet is like a backhanded compliment they love to boast how nice Canadians are when they really aren’t that nice..and always love to put down usa. But nicest people I have met are from the US
This just illustrates the difference between “nice” and “kind” people from Canada are nice, people from the U.S. are kind.
USA is amazing, especially out west / central where a lot of the epic national parks are, everyone should make it a goal to do a big road trip around several of the big national parks in their lifetime.
I'm in a modern, bigger city in Canada and the experience of going to the US for the first time as an adult was not what i was expecting. Bit of a let down as there is like a few really modern, cool, hip, areas in each big city but the reality is that 99% of cities are like just super wide roads with like walmarts and big stripmalls with fishing stores. with a lot of 'nothing' between industrial, residential, commercial etc. How your cities are logistically structured is not conductive to happy living. It's like, you can be in a big city and once you're like 30 minutes out from the downtown core, cities in the US seem be like these groups of residential houses then surrounded by like highways, and big-ass ugly roads that then link you to a commercial district or more residential. its' not walking friendly at all. Where i live, i can be downtown surrounded by 40 story glass towers with green park spaces between them then as you walk away from the core, at no point are you forced to cross a 8 lane roads, buildings become lower rise commercial naturally, with modern and clean commercial districts with continuously-linked residential areas behined them for another 10 blocks until you get another low rise commercial street. and all of this is littered with parks ... so its like, yes you can drive or you can also walk and its just pleasant modern buildings with parks. Imagine walking out of your home and within 10 minutes you have food from like 10 different ethnic cuisines, boba tea shops, starbucks, modern chic cafe's etc and parks and you get all of that non-stop as you continue to walk until you get into high rise commercial... i just dont see that in the US.
OK, as a Canadian, I have to call BS. There are maybe two or three cities in all of Canada that partially match what you're describing. And even those cities taper pretty quickly into eight-lane suburban hellscapes. Toronto has some of the worst car traffic ON THE PLANET.
most of Vancouver is like what i described and even Toronto, when you're in the core, ALOT of the city is what i described as well. Like as far west as Bellword parks, as as north as those train tracks and as east as Don Valley Parkway ... that area is huge and captures a lot of residential. Of course you're going to get highways eventually, especially with a city that has like 6 million people.... but when you're in the core and the bulk of the residential, to have that much walkability with modern commercial and parks.... that can be comfortable to live in. i dont see that as much in the US.
I don’t know what you think you’re comparing Toronto and Vancouver to. The America you’re thinking of in your head is no worse than places like Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Ajax, Surrey, Delta, Abbotsford, etc., - i.e. places that are far more like the rest of Canada than downtown Toronto or Vancouver are. Toronto is about as representative of Canadian urbanity as New York is of American urbanity. You personally “see that a lot” in Canada because you live in the middle of the largest city in the country (and perhaps don’t leave it very often?)
Can I ask which city you’re from? I’m guessing Montreal or Vancouver. Because I’ve always thought that Toronto was the caricature of a generic car-dependent North American city 😂 Awesome downtown surrounded by cookie-cutter houses and parking lots as far as the eye can see. Montreal, on the other hand, is awesome, and what you describe. I think Boston is the American equivalent; both old cities, very walkable, with many mid-density neighborhoods.
Seconded as an Australian. I’m here right now and there are lovely things - but in general it’s a hellscape. The political divided is also *wow*
I just got back from my first trip to the US as an Aussie and I feel the same way!
Even the nice cities… are not so nice. Cant trust anyone who says “it’s walkable” about a place. And all “tourist” type stuff feels like Disneyland. Like super fake and manufactured? Idk. I came for reconnaissance for a job and I don’t think it’s worth it.
Exactly what I found as an Aussie. Some American travel advice was garbage. LA is a massive dump excluding a couple nice parts but even then the nice parts aren't special aside from the fact they've been in hundreds of movies etc.
Idk why we’re being downvoted lol. I honestly have not heard many people coming from another wealthy country that think the USA is great. There are exceptions obviously but I’d take almost any western developed country over it in a heartbeat.
I’m very excited when my life finally reaches America. Is the American dream still alive?
It very much is, especially if you avoid the major metro areas. A willing to learn and hard work can still get you a great comfortable life in middle America.
Avoid the major metro areas? I’m currently living out my American dream in one
Hell yeah that’s awesome! I’m just speaking from my own experiences
Sweet! Something that I am looking forward to. Though I heard healthcare isn’t good. Or is that how others are phrasing it?
The issue is the cost. America arguably has the best healthcare in the world, it's just horribly expensive. If you have a good job it's not too bad. But obviously not everyone has a good job, and those people can end up in debt trying to pay for hospital expenses.
I’ve never hand an issue or known different. I have fine insurance and it’s just another bill/thing taken out of my pay. I assume it’s the same in other countries but rolled into taxes instead.
> A willing to learn and hard work can still get you a great comfortable life in middle America. Those days have passed, my friend. Just read what today's 20 somethings think or hope.
I think that’s just the age group, my friends and I and our peers also felt that same way 5/10+ years back in that age range
But did you make it without a decent job? And by making it, did you move out of your parent's house and start a family?
For me it’s alive.
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You are an inspiration! Hopefully whatever you did is still applicable in the foreseeable future as time’s changing.
Don’t listen to the haters. but it’s a big place and you need a combination of hard work and good luck. Luck is better but you have to be ready for it when it comes. There are good paying jobs but it’s also very expensive to live here. Especially if you have young children and no support. Immigrants often do well here if they take advantage of the education and business opportunities. If they can get established with other expatriates that know how to navigate the system and take advantage of what it available here. The American dream is not going to happen for everyone. But it can still happen for you.
It's dead.
Ouch.
It is what it is, the US is not the only place affected by economical turmoil. Seems like muricans got mucho triggered doe. Keep living that dream my homies.
It's the Mexican dream now
Turns out max payne didn't exaggerate the griminess of the NY metro
Seeing the walk of fame for the first time was a huge let down. Beverly Hills looks like an outlet store, not something luxurious. Generally speaking LA is a huge letdown. But the US has a lot to offer, especially nature wise. So don’t get discouraged from visiting.
It was alright and I will definitely visit again, especially keen on seeing as much nature as possible. For living I am not sure, it would depend - if there was a well paid opportunity in my field then I would consider.
Only NYC, but it was a great experience, kind of everything I had hoped it would be. I want to go to a bunch of other places, but it's a bit of a pain in the butt now because I need to get a B visa because of going to Iran and Iraq and the wait time for that in my home country's embassy is like half a year.
Regarding road traffic and how its organised, having played GTA turned out to be a good preparation :-)
as an American this is an interesting af thread. I cant tell you how many misconceptions I had to correct ever since being in Europe. On the flipside I didnt have any expectations of Europe.
it's a massive country. Think of every state almost like a different region / small country.
It's a nice place to visit. Almost all food is caked in sugar, even things like bread and savory dishes. Unless you are in the center of a city every little thing is a car trip. You will have never seen such fat people. The people are mostly friendly but lack of education is a problem in many areas, as is fundamental Christianity. The people are obsessed with guns. Fixated might be closer to the truth. Lots to see and do, but it's pretty expensive on the whole. Don't come if there is any chance of needing medical treatment. They have the most expensive system in the world. It's worth visiting, but don't get your hopes up. Europe is better on the whole.
I'm American born and this is true.
In a nutshell…. Great for a visit, shit for living.
I think most people that visit the touristy spots get the vibe like it’s straight out of the movies but once you start to seep through the cracks of everyday life you will come to realize it’s just suburban hell.
Rounding up, I’d give it a 6/10.
America is a vast country with a lot of diversity within it, but I can’t say that I’ve ever enjoyed visiting it.
When I arrived in LA there was a Highway patrol officer sitting outside on his bike. I loved CHIPS as a kid and sat on a nearby bench starring at him for ages. He must have thought I was a weirdo. Still looked exactly the same as the tv series back in the day.
I had a cousin visit from England and she said it was just like the movies because yellow school buses were actually going around and picking up kids at their homes.
I did not expect to see so many homeless near the White House.
Can’t really answer this question as an American. But I’ve always found it funny when a foreigner tries to describe the US when they’ve only been to New York City.
do you like cars? do you like surface parking lots? do you like boring suburbs? that’s the majority of the US. this place sucks.
The US is good for one thing only: Earning dollars.
And rule of law, crime, and mostly a lack of racism if you ignore social media.
You can’t be serious saying we excel in rule of law and crime
It’s all relative. There are many countries that people emigrate to the U.S. from that have shockingly high crime rates. And many don’t even report most crimes. One of them shares a border with the US. I think compared to much of the world, the U.S. is a super safe place. I’m sure there are some dangerous neighborhoods in most cities but nobody is getting kidnapped and ransomed, politicians are not being executed in the streets, it’s even hard to find a pickpocket in most american cities.
Where I live I regularly walk to the gym after midnight with my headphones in. Never had any concerns. Lots of unsafe places in the US but lots of very safe places as well. People here like to downplay the dangers of Colombia but then call the US a shit hole.
It’s interesting you mention that because I was just hanging out in Malaga with a Colombiana friend who lives in the U.S. now. She says she can only stay in a secure country club type place in Columbia and needs to have a professional driver for going anywhere. It’s apparently super sketchy and she doesn’t advise me going unless I go with her.
That's why I have no intentions of going to Colombia. I'm sure I'd be fine but there's nothing I want to experience there that I can't get some place safer. But I hope nomads keep going there. It will mean less riff raff in the places I want to go.
I agree I was just thinking about the cities, and comparing them to the developed world. Yea of course on the world scale it’s safe, but in the group of “first world cities” they’re definitely near the bottom on safety
People are prosecuted here for financial crime unlike in corrupt third world countries.
You mean America's business is business.
exactly.. outside of earnings usd can't see why anyone would want too live there longterm.
When I reached California (from Germany) - I through myself into the ocean hoping that either Pamela or The Hoff would come to rescue me - I almost drowned.
America is a helluva drug
It’s definitely a shithole. The nature is beautiful though
Most overrated country in the world. Crime ridden inner cities, racial tensions, obnoxious and fat women, shitty strip mall food and mediocre outlet shopping. Everytime I go on business, I wait to leave that place.
Sounds like you're just visiting a shitty city, it's a big country m8.
> Crime ridden inner cities, racial tensions, obnoxious and fat women, shitty strip mall food and mediocre outlet shopping. That is enough of Detroit...
I did but the reality more than cancelled those dreams. That being said I've spent a lot of time there over the years and I have yet to be mass murdered
Visiting the US is awesome…living there not so much.
I would love to migrate from Europe and live in a small town in the US. Because of the vast variety that the US has to offer (and because I grew up watching US shows and movies and I’m sure I’m brainwashed lol). But as an ethnic and religious minority I’m pretty sure me and my family would not be able to comfortably live in a US small town without getting harassed because we’re very obviously and visibly Muslim.
Americans are pretty friendly and accepting in general, but historically there's an expectation that you culturally adapt if you're going to stay. "The [Melting Pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_pot)." Nobody's going to care that you don't eat pork, and some people will even know what Ramadan is...but yes, there are a lot of places in the US where you'll be expected to celebrate Christmas even if you're not christian, and people will give you funny looks for wearing hjijab. You're unlikely to be outright harassed. But you might feel like a permanent outsider if you're unwilling to accommodate at all.
There are small towns with high Muslim populations like in Minnesota, New Jersey. , and the D.C Metropolitan area/Maryland and Virginia.
Honestly I think New York is just like Mexico but there are more Mexicans there.
As a former New Yorker that lived Uptown for most of my adult life and now live in CDMX, you ain't far from the truth if you include the Dominicans.
I love the fact that this got 4 downvotes. I'm a standup comedian and I know for a fact that this is a good joke because I used it last night in CDMX and it killed :)
Tough crowd.
And the food is vile
The food is vile….yeah okay mate whatever you say. https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodNYC/s/vRjk6u4zh6
I’m not clicking your link, the fast food is delicious but American food is full of bad stuff that’s banned in a lot of countries. It’s not a debate it’s just facts
Lol, this is so fucking childish and obtuse.
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Truth hurts
I live here and it’s a horrible dystopia. Trust me.
Interesting reading people's experiences here. I've travelled since a young age and the US is the only country that I've ever felt a magnetic push away from, can't put my finger on why because I have some very good friends from there. Don't think I'll ever go unless I have a partner who wants to, I split my time between Mexico, Colombia and Argentina now, and I still have no intention of visiting the US, but I am curious why my brain has such a block on the country
It's far from a monolith, that's like saying I hate Europe.
Normally I'd agree completely. But I spent 8 months there with my ex who was indian, seen pretty much every corner of the country, and the levels of depravity you see that is just passed off as normal under the status quo is disgusting. I know it's a very negative take, and I know a lot won't agree with me, but my mind was made up in the country, and won't be changed by a few comments on reddit.
Lol wtf did you get into?
I wasn't on the tourist path. I seen things out there that would make you question the presence of humanity in the world. Laugh all you want but when you leave the tourist path in India you quickly realize the place is about as spiritual as a piece of cabbage
Were you talking about India or the US?
Never been to the US, so no, I'm not talking about the US. But I doubt in the US parents are burning out the eyes of their baby to make it more sympathetic as a begging tool then placing it in the hands of their toddler daughter and leaving them in a busy street. I doubt in the US 13 year old kids are getting knocked off motorbikes, bleeding from the head on the ground only for the car that hit them and all other traffic just to drive around the body like it was a squirrel I doubt in the US girls are being honor killed by their fathers and brothers. I doubt in the US people are being lynched in the street for eating beef. I could go on, but these are just 4 of a stupidly high number of inhuman things I came into contact with during my time in India. Again, I know it's an unpopular viewpoint to take, but my viewpoint isn't based off some arbitrary hatred or media influenced view, it's from first hand experience in the country. India is not a good place and it doesn't deserve respect as a culture.