What did you notice the first time you came to the US.

[Anonymous]

First visit was in December 1986 (from Jamaica). First thing I noticed was how freaking cold it was and there was ice on the street - fell flat on my butt the first morning i left my mother's apartment. i have to say that I loved the skyscrapers - I was the dork walking around Manhattan with my eyes always turned upwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised that little girls wore bathing suit tops. We lived on the Mediterranean, spent a lot of time at the beach and we just wore bathing suit bottoms. A few weeks after we arrived we were invited to a pool party and showed up in our bathing suits (sans tops) and were sent home. I was 5

8:31 poster here. I was surprised at that too! I think I wore bottoms only until I was 6 or something!

I'm from the Midwestern United States, and this floors me, too. We wore swim bottoms only until about the same age (late 70s). I think the times have changed a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm American but lived overseas for many years and whenever I came back to the US, I noticed how much taller and fatter people were here. And louder. Things here were very overstimulating- too much traffic noise, too much everything. There is just so much more here- more money, more stuff, more choices in the stores. It was pretty overwhelming for a while.

I could have written this post - felt exactly the same way after living in Europe for several years. Everything was so big, so noisy, so overwhelming and the distances seemed so great. I'd wander into the grocery store and be there forever - so many choices to make. I'd gotten so used to having 2-3 choices for every product, not 30!

[Anonymous]

I noticed how sexist the men are, even the 'educated' ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised that little girls wore bathing suit tops. We lived on the Mediterranean, spent a lot of time at the beach and we just wore bathing suit bottoms. A few weeks after we arrived we were invited to a pool party and showed up in our bathing suits (sans tops) and were sent home. I was 5

8:31 poster here. I was surprised at that too! I think I wore bottoms only until I was 6 or something!

I'm from the Midwestern United States, and this floors me, too. We wore swim bottoms only until about the same age (late 70s). I think the times have changed a bit.

me too. From Ohio, and never wore a top when I was a kid. Ran around the neighborhood without one til someone complained. Really, what was there to see?

[Anonymous]

Hah, this topic could easily be changed to say "What did you notice the first time you came to the "Big City". I'm from the South, and I was SHOCKED at just about everything I saw in the city. Not a single farm or tractor, hah! I thought I would just about die when I went to NYC. When my Grandparents came up to visit me it was like they entered a different world. I felt pretty bad for my Grandpa though, he tried to talk to everyone he saw, and people just kinda gave him that look, lol.

My Husband is from Korea and he says the first thing he remembers is the milk. And grocery stores.

Also, the whole overweight thing, there are no overweight people in different countries? I see quite a few, lots of overweight old grandma's and such. I only bring this up becuase someone I know from a European country always talks about all the overweight people here and how she is so shocked by it, but she is overweight so I don't really get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I noticed how sexist the men are, even the 'educated' ones.

Compared to where?? I've been a lot of different places, and can't think of a single place where women have better standing. Maybe Sweden...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the whole overweight thing, there are no overweight people in different countries? I see quite a few, lots of overweight old grandma's and such. I only bring this up becuase someone I know from a European country always talks about all the overweight people here and how she is so shocked by it, but she is overweight so I don't really get it.

I am PP from FSU. Sure, we have many overweight people, my mom is one. But THAT overweight looked so unnatural. It scared me. However, someone told me, you never know if the person is fat because he/she is lazy and eats junk or because of the medical conditions. So I learned not to judge at least trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised that little girls wore bathing suit tops. We lived on the Mediterranean, spent a lot of time at the beach and we just wore bathing suit bottoms. A few weeks after we arrived we were invited to a pool party and showed up in our bathing suits (sans tops) and were sent home. I was 5

That makes me sad to think of a 5 year old being sent home from a pool party!

[Anonymous]

My husband (coming from Europe) was surprised at how many people here go to church on a regular basis. Given the way Hollywood represents the U.S., he thought that people only ever went to churches to get married.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was born in Brazil, and moved to London when I was 10. Came to the US (Boston) at 18 for college. I was absolutely amazed at the size of the malls, would go shopping ALL the time, especially since the British currency was so strong. I was also slightly annoyed by the inability to get alcohol legally, as well as confused why everyone wore jeans. I loved the supermarkets and drugstores, and was also a bit floored by the number of overweight people.

Lastly, I was amazed at the size of the American bikini/bathing suit. I wore my Brazilian bikinis all throughout college and after, until I got pregnant and felt a bit indecent.

That's funny. In high school, I had a friend that had just arrived from Brazil. She kept saying the swimsuits in the US are so BIG! I was like, what? They weren't big to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from US, 1st generation, but just want to say I love this thread. My immigrant family still constantly talks about the odyssey to the US and their first impressions even though it was 50 yrs ago. Their first impression: where is the gold the streets are supposed to be lined with? (Seriously, this is what they thought...)

I heard this from my in-laws also. They said they would say that to Italians he knew to get them to come over here.

[Anonymous]

I noticed that evryone worked all the time. Crazy hours and always connected. Sadly, I have fallen into that pattern, too. I miss getting out of work at 3, hitting a cafe for a drink and smoke and then running an errand or going home to relax some more. Didn't think about work again until the next morning. I was also impressed with how everyone basically follows the rules of the road. In Greece, a stop light really means proceed slowly. The abundance of options is overwhelming and I have a hard time making decisions because of this. There is much more processed food available here. There are also more conveniences that I know I couldn't do without: clothes dryer, full size dishwasher, ac. I actually regret becoming attached to a microwave.

[Anonymous]

My husband, who first came to the US from South America as a adult, was surprised by the amount and size of appliances in American homes (multiple microwaves, large washer/dryers, multiple fridges, etc). He was also surprised by the amount of personal cars on the streets as opposed to buses and public transportation.

It also took him a while to get used to the fact that people, when walking by each other, stare straight ahead while walking quickly as opposed to saying hi and taking time recognize others. His observation - "The US is supposedly the place where people from all over the world want to visit or live, yet everyone looks so mad and serious".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything was bigger and people were just faster and kept more to themselves.

Would be interesting to know where everyone came from. I came over from Germany.

This is interesting- I came from Germany. People were slower, and were much..friendlier in a more forced way. I came from Berlin, and moved to the South. What about you?

Fashion was years behind (late 70s/early 80s). Candy/chocolate wasn't nearly as tasty. Gum was much better. Tons of choices in chips, lousy cheese selection....great burgers, bad bread. (yeah, it's all about the food!).

And yes, people were much heavier.

PP referencing 70s/80s fashions. Curious to know when you came to the US?