I never thought about it that way.
Here are the absolute best responses:
1.
“You have a whole aisle in your supermarkets dedicated to just cereal.”
“Red Solo cups are not just a Hollywood prop.”
“The TV ads for prescription medication always get me.”
“Everything is sweet.
The beer was sweet, the bread, the traditional home-cooked meals, and the cheese.”
“Asking ‘How are you doing?’
without wanting to know how anyone is doing.”
“Yellow school buses are actually a thing in America.
I honestly thought it was just a cartoon thing, but nope!”
I couldnt believe it when I visited.
Every news program seems much less like news and more like reality TV."
“There was a 24-hour pharmacy across the street from our apartment.
Nothing shocking there, except that it ALSO sold booze and cigarettes.
What the actual fuck, like…”
9.
“The huge number of flags everywhere.”
“Aerosol cheese products.”
“You guys have air conditioning in your house???
I was astonished.”
“Severely bike-unfriendly roads/urban layouts.
Everything is mostly designed for car traffic.”
“That you have extremely violent shows on daytime TV, but you censor nudity.
How will a boob harm you, but stabbing and blood splashing are normal?”
“The toilet water being so high.
Wiping was terrifying!”
“The Pledge of Allegiance.”
“you’re able to buy milk in gallon-sized containers.”
“Dessert for breakfast things like pancakes, syrup, fruit, sweet waffles, etc.”
“Attack ads against political opponents, and ads for law firms or lawyers.
These kinds of ads are illegal and considered unethical in our country.”
“In the supermarket, you have like 100,000 different versions of each food.
I had never seen so many different types of Oreos in my life.”
“Talking really loudly in public places.
“Paying for an ambulance.”
“Wearing outdoor shoes inside the house.”
“That you guys don’t include taxes in your prices!
“That you’ve got the option to get fired just like that and have no income.”
“Identifying as your heritage instead of your nationality.
“Sending Christmas cards with a professional photo of your family on the front.”
31.“Tipping.
I felt like shit after finding out.”
“That our police cars are black and white.
I dated a British guy, and he was in awe seeing the real-life black-and-whites.
He thought they were only in movies.”
“American kids eat straight sugar.”
“That the waiter takes your credit card when you pay in an American restaurant.
Here in Europe, you always keep the card with you when you pay.”
“Seeing guns just hanging there like casual groceries in Walmart.”
“On Halloween, masked people come to your house and knock on your door asking for candy.
Mostly it’s just packs of kids, but sometimes whole families.”
“The idolization of politicians.”
I was not prepared to sip on carbonated mouthwash.
Why on earth is it called beer?”
“Drive-thru banks and even pharmacies.
If you drive for five hours in Europe, suddenly everyones talking funny and the cheese is different.”
“You have those angry sinks* that chop shit.”
“The concept of getting into university because you’re good at a sport.
This was mind-boggling to me.”
“Higher education can cost upward of $50,000 per year.”
“The lack of annual paid time off from work.
“Just how empty parts of the nation are.
“Huge gaps in the sides and bottoms of toilet stalls that people can see through.”
“The drinking age being 21.”
“The school sequence of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.
I have to translate this in my head every time I hear it.”
“The obsession with high school.
The discounts you could get were ridiculously fantastic!”
“Iced tap water that arrives at your table immediately when you sit down at a restaurant.
It’s such an amazing thing!”
“The fear of clowns.
“What the hell is a pep rally?”
“Everything is loud.
The TV ads, the billboards, the radio, the air conditioning.
Everyone is trying to get heard in a country where being number one is the only acceptable goal.
It’s a loudness war to get to your brain, and it’s exhausting.”
“I’m from the UK, and I’d never seen refillable drinks before.
“How much laws vary from state to state.
“The importance of high school sports.
My high school built an entire complex for our soccer and football teams.
But our choir department didn’t have enough funding to have a single concert.”
“Chanting ‘USA!’
for no apparent reason.”
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
