5 Things I Thought About America As A Brit
The first time I visited the ‘Land of the Free’ was when I was 14 and it was over Halloween, which is the first thing I noticed, that Halloween is bigger in NYC compared to England. I only visited New York City when I first visited just to get a feel and a vibe for the place, and the vibe was BUSY, and homeless crazy’s, well not like the English ones anyway.
There were obvious points in the Big Apple like food sizes, loud people and terrible takes on sport. We went to an NHL game and people weren’t really there for the game, it was the occasion which is defo not the case at home. If you pay for a ticket and take the time to go you might as well watch the game to the fullest.
The second time in the US was summer ’22 as a camp counsellor in upstate New York. Here is a breakdown of some things that I didn’t expect:
- Terrible then amazing weather — The first week/10 days that I arrived, the weather was British. I arrived mid June and expected like 28 degrees (85 degrees for the Yanks) as soon as I arrived but that was not the case. Constant rain, mist and cold nights made the arrival miserable and added to homesickness.
But then the weather just decided to switch up. It rained about 3 times in 50 days with warm weather during the day and comfortable sleeping temperatures at night.
I’m not sure if this is just a rural thing as we were pretty elevated in the hills meaning it got colder at sunset. Either way, it made sleeping that bit easier cause in the UK there are lots of SWEATY nights.
2. Rudeness — I knew it was a stereotype but didn’t actually realise how rude Americans were compared to Brits. Sure, they can be more friendly and lively compared to us English but my god they can be rude without even realising.
They seem to lack basic manners and just seem to not want to say things like please and thanks. This was across everywhere I went and was just normalised by people and from the POV of tourists, it’s just odd.
This obviously isn’t the case with everybody and the people that did realise what kindness was very kind, as with their ‘golden retriever’ way of doing things.
3. Cars — it’s impossible to get around places without cars in terms of medium distances. There are exceptions, like I know about trains going in and out of big cities, like the train service that goes out towards Long Island to NYC and the train from Miami up north towards West Palm Beach.
But getting around places like LA was hell. 2 hour bus rides that were so hot and uncomfortable with no better alternative other than expensive Ubers. This narrative continued even to really short trips.
Why walk 5 mins when you can drive 2?
This made getting around rural places that much harder, as back home even small towns will have train stations that at least will go to bigger ones if you need to go long distances and go to other towns.
Tbf, NYC is just as good as London for transport, but other cities, nope. Buses? Another no. Again, they were there, but were pretty rubbish.
4. Sexism on nights out — In the UK, it’s pretty clear that girls get certain ‘privileges’ on nights out, like dress code or fake IDs and free drinks, but in the States, this is next level.
At camp, we would often go to this local bar where guys would often get ID’d and girls wouldn’t, but this isn’t too different to the UK. But this was taken to the next level when I went on a college night out in Washington.
Me and my friend James were lucky to be invited for a night out with a girl from Maryland University, which is every Brit's dream — A frat house. We had some pre drinks in her dorm with her roommate (which is a weird concept coming from an English university) and then headed to a bar/club.
There were so many girls that we OBVIOUSLY not 21 (I mean I also wasn’t 21) but far more girls than boys got away with it. But even when I was inside, I would see guys that have just met a girl and would buy them a drink. In the UK, girls have to earn the drink and at least entertain the guy for a bit before ultimately walking off to find another sucker to do the same thing.
We then went to the frat house and me and James were so excited. For context, it was me and James with 6 other girls, which is important. When we got there, there was a ‘bouncer’ who was just a frat member, but their job was to check the boy:girl ratio, to make sure it wasn’t a sausage fest. The guy on the door wasn’t impressed by the ratio somehow, but because me and James were Brits, which amazed them, we were allowed in, but told to “bring more girls next time.”
Inside, there were obviously mainly girls, who got free drinks but guys had to pay 5 dollars per can. Like, what? Anyway, it was a great night but it threw me the female privilege
5. Polarised wealth — I was lucky enough to work at a high end summer camp, where it would cost about 15 thousand dollars per child for a full summer, meaning I knew a lot of very well off children and families.
But whilst travelling I noticed lots of poorer and homeless people in areas. It was most seen in big cities but this is common in any big cities, but when going through towns and smaller places, people would often look scruffy and when talking to them they would not be too happy with their finances. This was even with the lower house prices compared to England with generally better houses.
I guess this conundrum is a global issue but it was just something that jumped out at me.
In general, I sought of expected everything because everyone who goes to America talks about it. Well, that’s it for now, and shoot any questions or comments.
