The Paradise States of America!
My, what a nice place you have here!
The city I lived in was a perfectly fine, clean and safe place to raise a family, yet I was astonished to hear from so many who asked me what life back home was like. What also shocked me was how often I was blamed for the election of our current President. I gently reminded them that most Americans voted for somebody else, but due to our system using the Electoral College, the results were different.
While I love my country and count myself as a patriot, I can assure you paradise does not exist everywhere here. there are good and bad all over. So if you're planning to travel to the States, do some homework before you arrive. You might have it just as good right where you are.
Only one political party
On paper, the USA has two major political parties, the Democrats, and the Republicans. In reality, they are two sides of the same corporate coin. In Europe and most of the world, you have a parliamentary system where in theory, a small party at least has some chance to win seats. This is much more representative of real democracy in action.
Fun with food
If you'd seen my face you would have howled with laughter when I ordered French fries at a mall. They came (for some reason) with gobs of mayonnaise on them. Nope, nada, nil - Americans put ketchup on fries, Mayonnaise goes on a sandwich. I sent it right back. Salami on a pizza? NOPE. We like pepperoni here, I spent 5 months searching in vain for a pepperoni pizza in Germany, LOL! Paprika potato chips? NOPE! I can laugh about it, but I'm sure others find our food choices bizarre as well. And that's what makes life interesting, it would be a boring world if we all thought alike, right?
The college actually had healthy snacks in the vending machine! I should have taken pictures as no one here believes me! Lol
Soccer
Nope. BORING! (Nothing ever happens) We would rather watch paint dry. Moving right along... lol!
The good ol' UK
I LOVE the UK. The accents, the rich history and the Monarchy. However, I kept hearing the same complaints about the weather in Britain. Dreary and cold is what I heard and the stated desire to move someplace warm. I like their Prime Minister's "Question Time" (we need to import that over here) and just the general cleanliness I saw in the short time I was there. If I'm amazed about how clean Europe was, that should tell you a little bit about things back home. :)
Your airport screeners were also polite and professional which I'm also not used to. Very nice. Why would anyone want to leave?
Do you really wanna move here? (Just a few examples)
Florida: Sinkholes, Hurricane’s
California: Earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires
Kansas: Tornadoes (remember The Wizard of Oz? they weren't kidding...)
New Jersey: They don't call it "The armpit of the country" for nothing! Lol!
South Dakota: Freezing cold, almost no people. They call this "The Badlands" for a reason...
Nebraska: More cattle than people - Cattle: 6,150,000 People: 1,868,516 just imagine the smell... Any questions? :)
The grass isn't always greener - except in Colorado...
No matter where you are, there are wonderful things about your own country that you can take great pride in. The sense of history I saw "over there" was ever-present. The ability to drink a beer in public was so refreshing. We're finally catching up with the "green stuff" and the state of Colorado seems to be leading the nation in turning weed into a viable business. So that might be a good spot to land in.
We had a little fun taking a lighthearted look at other places. Be proud of where you come from. We all have something unique to share with the rest of the world. What has your experience been when visiting other countries? And remember, do your research before you come here, or this little honey might be waiting for you! :)
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Having served in the military I had the opportunity to live in and visit many countries. I lived in Japan for 2 years, Korea for 1, Iraq for almost 2 (2 separate tours), Afghanistan for 9 months, Thailand for 2 months, and the Philippines for 2 months. I also have visited numerous countries including Mexico, Italy, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, and Germany.
After all of that and nearly 30 years of my life I finally landed in The Great State of Texas!!! I'm here to stay for now (unless the opportunity arises to visit abroad again).
I am glad you had a good time and were a good ambassador for America.
Thank you for your awesome service for America. As a fellow Veteran (and a patriot) I have alot of respect for anyone who makes the sacrifice to serve. I've often said, you don't really appreciate this country until you leave it. Oh, and I almost forgot... Don't mess with Texas! :)
I have some family over there in Iowa and I would love to visit them (Nothing permanently). Next time when you visit Europa I offer you a free accommodation and tour (If you want to visit Croatia or Bosnia & Hercegovina), and by that time you will have my blog done about all historic places you can visit.
What a kind offer from you. You come from a very interesting corner of the world with alot to offer any traveler. I hope you get your chance to visit "The Hawkeye State" Iowa.
Wow, that is really cool to get invites from other countries! You really have the "Southern hospitality" already.
@evernoticethat has helped me with my baby steps here and always has a good piece of advice.
LOL - I spent most of 1988 in Luxembourg, as research assistant to a German doctoral candidate, and fell completely in love with Europe while I was there; especially with Trier, the closest German city to us, which was founded in the 1st century by Caesar Augustus as his summer palace.
The wealth of Roman ruins in the area are completely amazing.
What cracked me up the most was that every time I had to present my passport, which was relatively frequent as we traveled around, the guys at the border would automatically start asking me about Miami Vice, as I lived at the time in Florida, and all passports from the Tampa Bay area are issued in Miami.
I actually developed a taste for fries with mayo, though to be honest I had stopped using catsup years before, and the street food there was outstanding - worlds above and beyond your average hot dog or breakfast burrito cart.
And I liked soccer before I got there. I used to go with my mom and sister to watch local games in L.A. before I moved to Florida. And my husband, being Polish, is a die hard fan of European football.
What I missed most of all was aloe gel, which was my face moisturizer of choice, and which was pretty much impossible to find anywhere I went. I could find creams containing some aloe, but no straight aloe, and I went through serious withdrawals! ;-)
But the funniest thing I found was that most of the people I met assumed that I was British. My accent is straight up West Coast, with a side of Southern, having lived in the South for about five years at the time, and pretty much zero dose of the British Isles, though that is my heritage.
I finally asked a Danish friend in my German class about it, and after thinking about it, she said "Well, you wear a lot of black, and you're very polite."
It still makes me laugh. ;-)
The British people are super polite and decent. What a great country! I could live in the UK no problem. Their accents are awesome! I loved Germany as It was so quiet at night and no gunshots. In the five months I lived there (just got back) I never heard any gunshots at night or any major (or minor) crime.
Just a couple days ago, 4 kids were killed in my city overnight. I keep warning foreigners to do their homework before moving to America. There are good spots and bad spots. For instance, if you had a choice between my city and anywhere in Vermont, head to Vermont.
Where does this Mayonnaise on French fries thing come from? They did the same thing to us in Kenya! A huge plate of fries with MOUNDS of Mayonnaise on it, that was also sent right back! lol
The lack of pepperoni pizza is what shocked me the most. In the US, it's the number 1 pizza topping. Didn't Germany invent the sausage? lol But the kindness of the German people was astounding, what a wonderful country to raise children. Germany was clean, quiet and safe.
I haven't made to the UK yet, though that's where most of my ancestors hailed from, but I've had a lot of British friends in the States and I agree, they default to politeness, which I've always valued.
I loved Luxembourg, and Germany, France, Belgium and Poland as well, and found like you that the cities were (mostly) clean, the people were lovely, and there was very little crime, and none that I witnessed.
Interestingly, after growing up in L.A., where most of the natives were naturally polite (the tourists were all over the spectrum), I moved to Tampa, Florida in my twenties, only to discover that it actually had a higher murder rate per capita than L.A. Oops.
And, truthfully, the number of gunshots I've heard in either place, I could count on one hand.
Unfortunately, one of those was aimed at me, or at least my car, and after having my car window shot out mere inches from my head, that was what convinced me to leave L.A. once and for all. I had a serious feeling that if I stayed, I would be a statistic, and that wasn't high on my list.
In Middle Tennessee, where I live now, most of the crime is drug related, and centered in the cities, which are a ways from where we live. There is remarkably little violent crime near us.
And people here tend to default to politeness as well, which is lovely, and much appreciated. Rarely have I had so many doors opened for me, and people will apologize if they don't notice, or don't get to it in time. And it's pretty much across the board . . . old, young, male, female, black white, Latino . . . doesn't matter. People around here are just nice. ;-)
We do hear gunshots on a far more frequent basis, but then we live almost directly across the river from a shooting range, and we live in an area where pretty much everyone hunts. Regularly.
But compared to the near-constant wail of sirens past my last home, in Largo, Florida, I'll take it. Most of the time around here, the primary sounds are the birds, the wind in the trees, the forest critters, and our and our neighbors' animals. It's a pretty bucolic lifestyle.
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I always liked travelling overseas as people do things differently. It's fun to learn new customs and traditions. Some of them you might keep and incorporate into your life. Others, you try and then leave behind. Either way, it helps expand your horizons.
Yes, it does, - and the world got alot smaller for me when I went overseas. I found amazing things everywhere I went.
I remember going to the Netherlands on holiday as a child and saying to my parents in astonishment, "Everyone's eating chips (french fries) with ice cream!"
Actually it was mayonnaise - we also usually have chips with ketchup in the UK. Though I quite like them with mayo too!
You know what America needs? Gordon Ramsay. He'd take one look at this mess and say "SHUT IT DOWN!" lol
Haha! Gordon Ramsay is very funny. I once saw him live doing a 20-min cookery display at the BBC Good Food Show and he had me in stitches.
I'm here in Oregon you got us down as good. excellent post. I could relate to a lot of what you wrote. I've been to some of Europe it's a nice place to visit but would not want to live there. I was gald to get back to the good ole USA.
I wish the map was mine, but it looks accurate for your state. I've met some very good people from your part of the country. They seem way more enlightened over there. We need to start importing some of you back east!
That's another place to visit but wouldn't want to live there. I've always have lived in the west thanks but no thanks. thank you for your reply. Steem on.
LOL! I hear you Bro! :)
This guy here telling the hard truths...
I laughed at your food comparison. It's the same here though, ketchups on fries and mayonnaise on sandwich. :D
And that's the irony of it, people who live there wanna live elsewhere and the people who lives somewhere else wants to reside there.
But geez, what you mentioned towards the end of your post regarding the natural disasters on different states...yikes! I don't wanna be a part of a disaster movie in the making. Hahaha!