Favorite and Least favorite things about the US

chalad07

Okay, this is being written from the perspective of an Irish person living in the states, but it would be interesting to get some Americans perspectives too, as well as ex-pats,

Favorite thing: I kind of find this hard to express, but i think the easiest way to say it is Optimism. There just seems to be a sense of 'can-do' in this country. If i meet someone in Ireland and they tell me 'oh yeah, i'm a stand up comic', and look at them twice, but over here it seems more normal. Like if someone wants to be an actor, then go for it. You want to play for the Yankees, then give it your best shot. There doesn’t seem to be the sense of begrudgery that you def. get in Ireland. Success is met with respect instead of suspicion. Suppose it can be summed by saying: i just like the attitude

Least favorite thing: The only thing i can think off, is that some people here are very insular in their views. Everything is from a US point of view, and world events pale in insignificance compared to US events,


Anyways, what are your favorite/least favorite things about the US and A?

wyk

chalad07 wrote: »

Favorite thing: I kind of find this hard to express, but i think the easiest way to say it is Optimism. There just seems to be a sense of 'can-do' in this country.

As an American, I have some differing viewpoints from the Irish I spend time with in Ireland, that's to be expected. What I didn't expect was the fact they are very negative at times, and have a completely different attitude when it comes to taking on a task. Yeah, I would say Americans have a more eager, willing, and positive outlook on life.

If I meet someone in Ireland and they tell me 'oh yeah, i'm a stand up comic', and look at them twice, but over here it seems more normal. Like if someone wants to be an actor, then go for it. You want to play for the Yankees, then give it your best shot. There doesn’t seem to be the sense of begrudgery that you def. get in Ireland. Success is met with respect instead of suspicion. Suppose it can be summed by saying: i just like the attitude

This is an issue I had with some locals and co-workers. It often seemed like I was assumed to be lying unless I could prove otherwise. Basically, the opposite of the attitude and treatment you get in the states. When people do not know you well. It makes me wonder about the type of people the Irish are...

Least favorite thing: The only thing i can think off, is that some people here are very insular in their views. Everything is from a US point of view, and world events pale in insignificance compared to US events,

Spend some time there, eventually you will understand why. The U.S.A. has only recently been surpassed in size by the EU. And even nowadays, being as the EU is an ally, most of the news from there is treated as lackluster, and essentially unimportant as it does not affect an American in their daily lives. What DOES affect them is when Russia starts building up arms and the Government wants to push tax money into the military, when the middle east lower oil production, when Mexican drug cartel violence spills accross our borders, and when China raises the costs of labor. Otherwise, keeping an eye on the rest of the countries and Europe is mostly a past time some Americans and investors and travelers partake in. Even if something does directly affect US politics and economics, it is rarely seen instantly. The country is so huge that changes usually happen more gradually there.

Then there's the fact that there is very little you can do about world politics other than write a congressman or campaign for a different president. The Federal government that handles international affairs is several times removed from the local government your average American deals with day to day. The head of state in most countries is the leader of the country. In America, he is your Governor. The Governor only handles state matters. Your representatives nationally comprise of your local House Representative and your 2 state senators. There are 435 in the House and 100 in the senate. So as a member of a state, even if you had a Senator under your finger, they are only 1 of 100 that help make the laws and guide the Federal government. If both of your Senators were democrats(as they are in California) then they had little, to no influence in Federal matters while the Republicans and Bush were in power. This tends to make the average American feel quite removed from national, let alone, international politics.

Add to that the fact that the two international neighbors America has are Canada and Mexico. Our worst worry about Mexico are the immigrants and drug issues. Otherwise, they really don't make much news. Then there's Canada...uh...Canadians are angry at Americans for not knowing much about Canada. Americans argue, 'What's to know?". Me? I'm upset the Expo's left Montreal, eh.

Outside of that we have Cuba, which rarely does anything newsworthy other than talking too much to Russia.
The Dominican Republic? Uh...great cigars and baseball players.
Jamaica? - good rum, mon.
Puerto Rico? - Uh, can't they vote now? Does the Chupacabra get a vote?
The Bahamas? - lovely beaches.
Belize? - Great tax haven.
Antigua? - Unlike the Brits, Americans know to avoid it.
South America? - lots of Coca, huge spiders, Nazi deportations, and the occasional coup.
Shrug. Other than hiking the cost of bananas, nothing much going on over there.

I wonder what yer average Irishman knows of these places, anyways. How much Mexican news do the Irish watch? In other words, just how pale are things, really? Or are you simply looking at things from the perspective of 1 of 4.5 million Irish in a world of Europeans? That would be a different world perspective than an American would have, wouldn't it? I think one could argue that it's ignorant to assume that Europe is where the 'world events' are at for everyone. World events differ depending on how they affect you.

Anyways, what are your favorite/least favorite things about the US and A?

I dislike how far away a bar is or the shops etc.. I miss garlic sauce. I miss breakfast rolls, too. I miss it being green everywhere. I miss pubs. And I miss how close continental Europe is.

WYK

hoser expat

Fave thing about America is the convenience of everything....shopping, public transport (in general), the consumer is king. I miss that now that I live in Ireland. They also do have a can-do attitude, I completely agree.

Least fave thing about America is their insular attitude. I lived in a small town in upstate NY 15 miles from the Canadian border. My neighbour, 65 years old, had lived there his whole life and had never been to Canada. Not only had he never been, he was completely ignorant of it. And that's not an isolated case.

Many Americans have this attitude because in general they don't travel outside of America. I've travelled the world and guaranteed I've met hundreds of Canadians, Kiwis, Aussies, Brits, Irish, but very, very few Americans (except in the really obviously touristy places Venice, Paris etc, where they stand out like a sore thumb).

I love America, to visit as it is very beautiful, and am very glad I don't live there anymore.

Pocono Joe

I am both a citizen of the United States of America and a citizen of Ireland. Lots to love and hate here, but more to love... gotta take the good with the bad. But if I had to break it down to the top two on either ends of the spectrum... Love the freedoms, hate the entitlements.

irishgrover

Most Favorite:
Americans seem to have an in built 'can do, positive' attitude. Their is a genuine belief that with hard work you can significantly improve your situation, which I found for the most part it true. This leads to a great entrepreneurial attitude, which I loved.

Least Favorite:
IMHO there was an inherent racist element running through many elements of society, which over time has lead in a lot of cases to de Facto segregation of society, culture, music, TV etc etc
I worked in DC for years, and it probably exaberated my view on this. Full of reach, predominantly white people during the day, most of whom went back across the river into Fairfax CO. of VA, MD, wherever as the sun went down, leaving the place to poor primarily black residents at night time. The whole thing of the Federal Government not paying taxes in DC, and the locals being disenfranchised, is imho shocking..

Other Least Favorite:
I always thought there was a shocking level of ignorance with the average American. When I say ignorance I mean 'lack of knowledge' as opposed to the most insulting was the term can be used, that is, I am not for one moment questioning intelligence levels, if ya know what I mean.
However having lived there for years I understand and appreciate it much better. For example, growing up in Ireland I have always been bombarded with with information, news, and cultural differences from many different areas. Probably only 20% of the TV I watched, or movies, or books etc can from Ireland. The rest was a mixture of American, British, etc. If watching an hour of Irish news, probably somewhere between 50% and 80% was made up of international news, from all over the place. Also many people I knew, friends, family etc have traveled all over the world and brought back stories, information etc. So by the time I was in my mid 20's I ahd processed a lot of different cultural influences from around the world.
Switch to me in the US of A. The majority of people get their new from the local stations as opposed to CNN or Fox or wherever. Local news stations pride themselves, and market themselves as bringing the audience 'Local News First'. So if I watch an hour of local US news, I get 40 minutes of news on things that have happened no more than 30 miles from me, then national news, and very occasionally some international news. So Americans are not exposed to international News in the same way we are.
Then with regards to other culture, books, music, TV, movies the reality is that 95% of culture that is consumed in the US is created in the US.
Also the USA is a really fecking big place, and it takes great effort and cost to leave it for countries other than Canada and Mexico...

Sorry for warbling on, but to conclude I do think that the Average American is more ignorant than that average Irish person, however I completely understand that is due to the environment, geographic location, their domination of most media types etc., and it's not really reflective of Americans as individuals etc
The reason it annoys me so much though is probably because it gives other an excuse to go American bashing.
Like all places and all people the US has its issues, but I look very fondly on my years there, and will always be grateful to the country and especially it's people for the wonderful opportunities and memories it afforded me
Having said all that, I'm glad to be back in Ireland

MonicaBing

Favourite things would definitley be the optimism, its sooo infectious. As was said previous, consumer is king over there, and the joy of being able to go out at 2am cos i felt like ice-cream and getting it, oh man!

Not so favourite things, would be the attitude in general to anything outside the US. For example, having completed a road trip to Uluru in Australia and taking a tour with a native Aboriginal guide, he explained that whilst its not against their law to climb Uluru, they ask that you respect their History and heritage by not climbing it.

Cue...the ignorent bus load of yank tourists, who parked next to us at the sunset viewing and kept getting into our shots, laughing loudly and stating, " yeah man, well we didn't drive all this way just to get snapshots, were climbing it!, and off they went. I despair at that attitude..had to laugh later when they were in the cultural centre, all red faced and sweaty from the climb, when they read the book about the bad luck" that happened to people who took souvenirs from Uluru and/or climbed it!

brickmaster

I have two favourite things about the states. Firstly I think that the people are generally quite friendly and open. Apart from the big cities, i've found that people will be quite interested to talk to you and hear your story. Each time I go over I receive numerous business cards from strangers I've got talking to. Secondly, I love the outdoors and no where is like the states. I loved california, Utah and colorado just for the sheer open expanse. I loved being a four hour drive from cell phone coverage and completly out of touch with the world. Its what brings me back each year.
What I hate are the chains. Walmart, Ihop, Denny's, Bust Buy etc......... Yes we have chains here but not on the same scale. I hate that no matter what city or state i'm in, once I walk into walmart, I know that the camping section is at the back right of the store, the groceries will be on the left, the clothes up front... You can become so familiar with the brandnames that you miss out on local businesses.

But that said I still love America, particularly the west coast (except LA and other parts of SoCal)