Have you ever visited a country and thought "Whoa, this is so different from home?" How would it be if you had to move to a whole new nation with nothing but Google facts and news reports to go on? That was me when I had to move to the United States from India a few years back! While the cultural differences were huge and I was put into a decent cultural (and environmental) shock for a few weeks, it was an exciting journey to adapt and learn how to live in a whole another society. Here are five major things that I remember the most when I first moved to the States.
1. Left-side vs. Right-side
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I never thought I'd see a car with a steering wheel on the left side (or right if you're facing the car head-on). Nor did I think I'd have to re-organize my road-sense! In India, you maintain left when on the road when walking, but here in the U.S., you keep right. I will admit, it took a while for me to get used to it!
2. Shopping
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It was surprising at first to see that the price you see on price tags don't include the sales tax (especially when you find out about it at the counter)! Being used to carrying exact change threw me off a couple of times. I still don't understand why you can't just include the tax with the price of the product. To me, having both the tax and price combined on the tags really help when having to budget my shopping.
3. Languages, Communities and the Melting Pot
At first, the fact that I didn't have to speak a whole new language state to state was a huge relief. Then again, I did miss that aspect of diversity. However, I was lucky to meet a lot of immigrants like myself and learned that while English is the primary language of the U.S., if you go looking, there are a lot of different communities who all speak different languages from around the world. From Korean to Japanese to French and German, meeting so many people from many different backgrounds helped me understand the meaning of America being a "melting pot".
4. Transportation
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Unless you come to the cities, you are pretty much your own method of transportation. There are only a couple of public transport systems available and no abundance of cabs, autos or the ever-popular mopeds (a.k.a scooter). But, on the bright side, this also means nice peace and quiet if in the suburbs.
5. The Wide Open Space
I can't forget being awed at the endlessly flowing lawns and roads when I came to the States. I hadn't seen nice gardens or yards filled with trimmed grass so commonly (you can only find them in public gardens or estates in India); nor had I actually seen "rolling" hills until I visited the national parks here. Everything is so wide and so open! Even the cities have open park spaces!
There are so many other things that I remember being surprised by, such as the abundance of non-profit organizations, the fact that dogs are actually pets (it's a long story!) and the random acts of kindness people do for strangers every day. Nevertheless, now living here for a while in the States has made me appreciate both the cultures I have been exposed to and makes me want to travel more to other nations to learn the different ways people live their day-to-day lives.
