The USA is hardly some mysterious place hidden on the map. Even people who have never been there usually know quite a bit about it, mostly through TV, movies, books, the news, and other media. Still, seeing a country on screen is very different from experiencing it in person, and travelers can end up noticing plenty of things they never expected.
One Redditor asked users to share the biggest culture shocks they experienced during their first trip to the US, and the responses covered all kinds of surprises. We gathered some of the most interesting ones below. Scroll down to read them.
#1
All the streets looked like movie sets: very nice houses, no garbage and lots of trees.
Image source: asperta, Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
there’s so much sky. any time i say this to anybody, they look at me like i’m nuts. i live in a huge british city where there are skyscrapers and huge buildings everywhere all densely packed together and i feel like in a way it “blinds” you to anything else around you. then on top of that, you’ve the fact it’s always so rainy and overcast and grey here and everything feels so lifeless.
when i went to the states and drove around random smaller, residential parts of socal where everything’s a lot smaller and way more spread out, i saw so much sky.
it’s really hard to explain but it really hit me, especially during the gorgeous sunsets and sunrises and palm trees and greenery… like it snapped me out of everyday autopilot mode and reminded me there’s a whole, massive, beautiful world out there and that i exist in it, not just in my own little grey one.
Image source: rigathrow, Jeffrey Eisen / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#3
The size of Lake Michigan. I asked other passengers what ocean we were flying over.
Image source: Eknoom, Charlie Wollborg / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#4
I came from a small island. The fact that you can drive in a straight line for hours is so weird.
Image source: pookela_kini, Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#5
How difficult it was to exist without a car.
I could see the store from my hotel, but there was no pavement, no safe crossing, and a six-lane road between us.
It was physically close and somehow a 20-minute drive away.
Image source: Kindly-Reality4804, Lisa Lova / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#6
How unbelievably humid it was in New Jersey and then, after a 30 minute drive over the state border heading towards upstate New York, how clear the air had become and how radically different the landscape was.
Additionally, when we traveled back to New York City and tried to take a famous yellow cab from outside Penn St Station, the cabbie could barely speak passable English, and didn’t really know how to drive his cab to our hotel in Brooklyn.
I don’t know how the cab licensing works in Manhattan but I had assumed that he would have known how to at least get to the Brooklyn Bridge. I had to guide him using my phone’s GPS because his had run out of battery.
Image source: MusicusTitanicus, James Genchi / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#7
The border control questions. Having to officially declare on a form that I wasn’t traveling with a medieval catapult.
Image source: Ridge_Capital, Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#8
I’m from arctic Canada. I knew 1 black person.
In grade 9 I went to Baltimore for my aunts wedding and seeing so many black people in real life was mind blowing, because even the limited TV I was watching back then was pretty white washed. Mom had to tell me not to stare many times
Image source: CaribouHoe, Sash Margrie Hunt / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#9
The quantity of food. I’m English, and if there’s a large option I’ll buy it because I love to eat. On our first morning in the US we went to get breakfast and I ordered the large breakfast, without looking at what it contained. The first things they bought me were 8 slices of toast and a literal dinner plate full of bacon. I could not comprehend that.
Image source: Oilswell, Adrian Infernus / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#10
That NYC was pretty much exactly like on TV and in movies. This was in 1976.
Image source: Teaflax, Colton Duke / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#11
So much visible homelessness and mental health issues
Image source: RichoDemus, Clay LeConey / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#12
The fact that a 3 lane per way road was not a major highway… Just a street
Image source: thorondrol, Abdullah Guc / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#13
The portion sizes. I ordered a small drink and accidentally hydrated a family of four.
Image source: PenitentPedant, Karolina Grabowska / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#14
(Brit here) The service. I had been travelling with work and my last destination was Washington DC. We were staying in Georgetown. I needed food but I wasnt particularly hungry. I just wanted something to get me by after a few days of flights and poor diet. I ended up getting a pulled pork sandwich with fries. I thought this would be… well a sandwich with some chips. It was massive. I barely made a dent in it. Delicious as it was.the girl serving me looked utterly distraught that I didnt each much and didnt want to take it with me. (Im in a hotel). I felt so bad for her for not eating all my massive dinner.
Image source: lurking_not_working, Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#15
Not me but I had this question with a friend. They said the weirdest thing was the medicine commercials and that there was so many of them.
Image source: nasgax, James Anthony / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#16
People actually say “Have a nice day!”… and somehow they mean it.
Image source: Hot-Summer5151, A. C. / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#17
I assume this question is related to the world cup, but I visited the USA for the first time exactly one year ago today, I’d already traveled to many other countries before that and I never was interested on visiting the USA, because of all the bad things one can read on the net on top of the current political situation, ICE, etc. on top of that I was visiting Texas which leans more to the right and it clashes with my views.
How wrong I was, I was IMMENSELY impressed by the warmth of the people (and the climate too!) and how educated most of them where. There wasn’t a single day where I was out on the street and a random person wouldn’t strike some conversation, compliment my tshirt, or my hat. Seriously I was incredibly glad to have been wrong on this, I was very surprised and just going around the city was already a lot of fun when considering all these interactions, I’d love to visit again for a longer time.
Image source: nukc, Gabriel Tovar / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#18
Seeing squirrel and deer roam freely
Image source: Middleofnowhere123, Pearse O’Halloran / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#19
Size of cars, pickup trucks specifically and freedom to fill up your own fountain drink.
Image source: LivingMarionberry160, Ajit Sandhu / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#20
People are a lot more friendly if you are black with a forign accent than if you are black with an American accent
Image source: noisyturtle, Natalia Blauth / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#21
that so much of the USA is so empty
Image source: Cold_Structure5853, Mohan Nannapaneni Image credits: / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#22
My son drove some company associates from the Netherlands and Great Britain from Cleveland to Indy on business.
One of them fell asleep as soon as they left the airport and woke up 2 hrs later and asked if they’d left yet.
Everything looked the same, just flat, lol.
Image source: big_d_usernametaken, Tom Fisk / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#23
My middle eastern friend:
Restaurant portions, as well as being served extras that you didn’t order (like ordering ham & eggs snd getting ham & eggs and a biscuit and potatoes)
Using distance measurements like a block or a football field
The 13th floor being awol from all tall buildings
Countdown timer for pedestrians crossing the street
The bs we call couscous
Image source: the-largest-marge, Nick Night / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#24
17,398 sizes shapes and brands of every common household item on sale in a store, and plastic-wrapped individual produce.
Image source: the-largest-marge, Mike Jones / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#25
How much everyone smiles and starts conversations with complete strangers
Image source: DuskyWink, Jimmy Jiménez / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#26
Visiting Niagara Falls NY… 2 minutes from the falls and I had never seen poverty like that in my life
Image source: No_Criticism_5861, reza hoque / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#27
Open carry, scared the living crap outta me just seeing some random old guy walking around strapped in a Walmart.
Image source: throwRway6777, KDavid Montero / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#28
Landed in Atlanta in July – the HEAT. The humidity. How bright it was. The speed of everything, the size of everything. The shock of driving on a freeway and feeling like I would die.
The immense choice of everything. Freedom to speak openly and loudly is shocking. Paying for healthcare is still shocking after 2 decades here.
How kind & friendly most people are here. How truly awful a very few can be.
Biggest shocks overall: how people just accept that outrages like mass school shootings are just a normal part of life and cannot be stopped.
How politicians here are so blatantly corrupt and self-serving, yet are liked, tolerated and voted back in again time after time.
Image source: DerryAtlanta1688, Ronny Sison / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#29
The sheer size of your forests. Flew from North Carolina to Boston and looked down on forests for most of the trip. Appalachians perhaps?!
Image source: Cecil_Nairobi, Ahmed / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#30
When I just moved to the US I was flabbergasted by the vending machines. My first ever American drink in America was a grape Fanta can from a vending machine in New York. It was the best drink I’ve ever had.
Image source: Affectionate_Ant9929, Erik Mclean / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#31
Homeless veterans with oxygen tanks.
Image source: Elliethesmolcat, LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#32
People talking about Jesus. Not preachers, just people conversing normally. Weird as hell to me.
Image source: wineandsnark
#33
Seeing elderly people working. Places like Walmart etc. I was in tears seeing that
Image source: Routine_Lychee9923
#34
How dated so much of the infrastructure was. I’ve been to a lot of the big cities and it honestly felt like nothing had moved on from the 90s at best.
Image source: TallAnalyst1997
#35
There are more Mexican chefs in Chinese restaurants than Chinese chefs
Image source: rice007
#36
Being asked how well done I want my hamburger cooked at a restaurant
Image source: OTDR
#37
How BIG everything is. Roads, buildings, food portions, people, attitudes, tourism, tips, voices, drama …. everything.
Image source: coffee_and-cats
#38
How kind the American people are.
If you believe a fraction of what you read on places like reddit you’d think they were all evil incarnate.
Image source: SoirBleu85
#39
How good the food was and how much you get for so little.
Image source: swift_gilford
#40
It’s a land of good and bad.
Good: The people are amazing. I drove from north to south and everyone I met from Minnesota to Pensacola was extremely friendly and welcoming. The food was great and portions were huge. Walmart and target are fun to explore. The nature parks are amazing!
Bad: Advertising EVERYWHERE. You can’t drive down the highway withoit a billboard every half mile. Can’t enjoy the scenery because of the billboards in the way. The price on the price tag is not the price you pay. Have to add tax. Tipping is crazy. I don’t understand why it’s simply not added to the price. You’re guilted into tipping for buying a bottle of water.
Image source: DubaiDave
#41
When I first arrived in the US I used to go to the supermarket for entertainment. The abundance was overwhelming. A whole wall of milk products in every conceivable variety. Gallon jugs of chocolate milk fer crissakes! Who drinks a gallon of chocolate milk? That’s a special treat you order in a restaurant occaisonally. Where I had come from there was just one kind of milk, sold in leaky 1 liter bags and if you didn’t get there before 11 am you were SOL.
Image source: zvuv
#42
Distances everything is so damn far even into the cities and buses are useless.
Image source: Bear_necessities96
#43
Most Americans are not their politics. Don’t let our media convince you that we’re all rabid, slavering loons.
Most people, yes, even ones who skew MAGA are decent and polite.
Image source: KaiserSaladSpinner
#44
We went to Michigan for my son’s soccer tournament. Visited Michigan State university.
Then we decided to go to Detroit and see Eminem’s house. We saw the ghetto and was surprised how deep the ghetto was. It was almost 40 mins drive though the ghetto.
Im from Asia and seen many Asian countries. But I have never seen so much poverty with abandoned houses. This is not the stuff they show you on TV.
It was a good eye opener for my kids as well. And yes, we were too afraid to get out of our cars.
Image source: SagHor1
#45
How loud people are, I genuinely thought it was just a stereotype it’s like some of you are hard of hearing.
Image source: Grotbagsthewonderful
#46
Shocked that there’s people working 12 hours or more, 5/6 days a week to survive
Image source: FarBlueberry6481
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