How to explain the U.S.?

[berwin]

I wrote this message on the AFS Bulletin Board, and thought that it was a good topic to put up on TravelPunk.

I know that this can sound like a very easy question to answer, but I think there is more to it. I was thinkin today on how I am goin to explain the U.S. to my host family and everyone that I meat while I am abroad.

I believe that the U.S. doesn't just have "one" culture, I mean we don't even have just one language, do you guys know what I mean by this? Anyways, I come from a very very very small town in southwest Missouri. Where you have to drive an hour and a half to get to a mall, or any form of a big city. You actually have to drive 2 and a half hours if you want to get to a "big" city. Anywhere you look all you see is farm land, cows, horses, just a very small rural town.

I mean it's kinda hard tryin to think of how to explain how the U.S. culture is, b/c it is so diverse. I mean, when I meat people from a big city, and I tell them that there are White Suprimist in my town, they are just shocked that there would still be people that think that way (and it does suck to have to live around it too, some people are just too narrow minded). It's hard tryin to put this all down on here, b/c I can't think how to say, but everyone gets what i'm tryin to say don't they? When we try and explain the U.S. to our host families it shouldn't just take us a couple of minutes, it should take us a couple of hours to get threw it all, with all the different raices, and languages, and culture, and just everything, how to explain our landscape and everything like that. I mean I know how to explain everything, it's just goin to take a lot of time to do it.

Brad-Netherlands!
05-06 YP
14 days!!

[U2fan]

Very true, very true....but I find that most people I have met in different parts of the world already know a lot of things about different customs and cultures across the US because they hear about it all the time in the news, on TV, in movies, etc. And most know that we all don't drive convertibles and live in LA like in movies.

[weirdbeard]

Hello everyone,
I think the best way to describe the U.S. or any other country for that matter, is to describe it exactly as is it and as it appears to you. Don't leave out any details for fear of judgement. Even the most horrible stories,facts,etc. can make for an interesting story. I know one thing for sure is that everyone I've talked to from other countries speaks of how f-ing huge evrything is in America, from the food portions to the cars. But just like anyplace in the world it always will have it's good points and bad.
Over and out.

[beergal]

how about going around your town and taking some photos of where you live and then taking them over to show your host family. If not how about your local townhouse do they have any leaflets on the history of the place where you live?

[MeTurk]

The size of everything in the states is preaty impresive, even the countryside. In Ireland there's always trees or a hill in the way so you can never really see off miles into the distance, in America you can and there's big things of in the distance that still look big.

The citys stand out though New York almost looks unreal. We where staying in the hilton in times square and when I looked out the window the buildings almost looked like toys or something. But when your on the ground it did feel like I was getting closer to Europe for some reason. The protions wheren't anywhere near as big as Vegas ether.

Everything is huge

[omisan]

Actually, Berwin, you can draw a lot of parallels between the US and the Netherlands, except for the size thing, of course

Amsterdam, being the big city, is very culturally diverse and -obviously- very open-minded and liberal. There aren't many skyscrapers about, but you can draw comparisons between it and any other large port city in the world: diverse population, many different languages spoken, affluent enough so that people can get everything they want, and a bit of inner-city crime that goes with the territory.

Go to the rural parts up north, and you'll find that they're more religiously conservative, racially opinionated, and many of the folks around that area haven't traveled outside the country much and aren't quite as multilingual.

It's not to say that the two countries are remotely the same, but there are enough parallels that one can draw to paint a better picture.

[berwin]

yea i'm goin to be placed in a small town in the north in Friesland, but it's all good, b/c I come from a small town so it will be easy to relate.

[Somnambulation]

I tell people that our different regions are kind of like thhe different countries in Europe. The south, New England, the mid west, the west coast, appalachia, etc. all have seperate characteristics in the way people are and the way things are done.