First impressions USA

[daotalay]

Everything is bigger in America, and I don't mean that as a compliment. The first time I open a refrigerator on any visit back here, I find myself paralyzed for the first few seconds, just gazing into its cavernous depths and thinking, Who actually needs that much refrigeration?Milk comes in massive gallon-sized jugs, vehicles are monstrous and

Comments

[drabheathen]

Dude! My mom lives in Chapel Hill! Go to the Weaver St. Market for lunch if you haven't been, it is a lovely hippie co-op/restaurant with bulk bins and friendly people everywhere.

[daotalay]

Done! We had brunch there today after the awesome(!!) Germany-England World Cup game and it was indeed adorably hippie and nice. Thanks, Anna :)

[sethrates]

I think a lot of the reactions you have to "America" are really exactly the same ones you'd have if you went to Virginia from San Francisco, or from Ithaca for that matter. Come to think of it, I've been to German towns where food stands were hard to find, and I know a German couple with a rather large refrigerator. And I am sorry that you are offended by the gallon jugs of milk; you don't have to purchase one if you don't think you can drink it all before it goes bad.

Because of my line of work, I know a lot of Europeans who spend an extended period of time in the United States, and a lot of Americans who spend time in Europe. Most of us keep perspective about two facts: first, the differences that bother us are often matters of style rather than substance; second, in matters of substance, each continent has its advantages and disadvantages.

You must know those things too, but it doesn't come across in what you wrote here at all.

[daotalay]

Well, I'm sorry if you're offended, and I'm certainly sorry if other people, who expressed their feelings far more tactfully, are offended. But since you've been reading for a while, it ought to be clear that I criticize Germany at least as often as the US (if not far more often), that I maintain a deep degree of fondness for both countries, and that there are generally always good impressions along with bad, as there are here.

These here are also first impressions, as I made clear above, and if you hang on for the ride, I can say with a fair degree of confidence there are plenty more positive ones coming up over the course of the next two weeks.

[sethrates]

If I ought to have been more tactful in this context, then I certainly apologize. That's the important part of this message, but I'll explain what I was thinking below anyway.

I'm not really offended, it's just that I'm a debater at heart. I probably wasn't responding to a set of first impressions in the way you expected at all. I saw what you wrote as "taking a position" on various issues, and "rebutted" with the general argument that you weren't really communicating a nuanced perspective on your criticisms. If your tone had been more like "I'm taken aback by these things that are different," I wouldn't have reacted that way - intercontinental differences drive me nuts all the time.