1) Patriotism The first thing I noticed about Americans after moving here is that they're a very patriotic breed of human beings. How did I realise this? There's American flags... everywhere. They're on campus, in the town square, you can buy them in the local supermarket, and I've even seen them in people's front gardens. It would be an odd sight indeed for someone in the UK to have a flagpole on their front lawn, I can tell you that much. As for buying flags, you will probably only ever see them being sold in shops when there's a royal jubilee or wedding, or if the Football (Soccer) World Cup is coming up. Me, and every other British person I know, make constant jokes about how our country is the worst. We get joy out of trashing our country... I've learned that I can't do this in America. Differing humours and such haha! Most Americans don't seem to be able to criticise their country in the way that British people can do so easily. But I guess there's nothing wrong with a strong patriotic allegiance to your country just as long as you're not bordering on nationalism, which doesn't seem to be the case with the Americans that I've met. They just love their country - fair enough. 2) Money It just makes no sense to me. It's not just that it's just a foreign currency, but it's because all the paper money looks the same and both the paper and coin sizes have no relevancy to the amount that they are worth. I picked up Euros and the Norwegian krone faster than dollars. Firstly, the paper money generally looks like the same green-ish colour. I am constantly confusing the $1 and $20 notes because they look pretty much the same. On top of this, THEY ARE ALL THE SAME SIZE!! In the UK, you'll find that paper money gets bigger the more value it has. A £5 is smaller than a £10, a £10 is smaller than a £20, and so on. Plus, they all differ in colour; a fiver is green, a tenner is orange, a twenty is purple. As for the coins, what is going on?! The words dime and nickel are meaningless to me (quarter made sense, I mean it's just a quarter of one hundred so that's easy to get). I know what they are now, but when I first got here I had no idea what the cashier was asking me for when she said I needed to give her an extra nickel. Again, the size thing makes no sense. Ten cents is a smaller coin than the five cents. And the five cent coin is very similar to the 25 cent coin. In the UK, you can tell the value of a coin by it's colour, shape and it's size. Whilst, I really love seeing the different images on my quarters, the money overall is just too confusing for me. I didn't realise I would struggle so much with it. 3) Guns In the first week, when they were making all of the international students attend special orientation classes, the study abroad staff asked us what we were most concerned about when coming to study in the USA. The universal answer was 'guns'. So yeah, this is how the outside world views America. Most of us come from countries where guns are strictly regulated and the scenario of a possible shooting is not even something that we ever need to think about. There have been no mass shootings in the UK in 2016 and yet the US has had more than I can even count on my two hands. Guns are very rare in the UK so you can probably imagine my shock upon receiving an email the other week telling me that a student from my college had accidentally shot his friend just around the corner from campus. His friend was okay, but it's kind of stupid to think that he even had a gun. Firearms are not allowed to be on campus, but how can you tell who is carrying a concealed firearm or not? It's a pretty scary thought for this Brit over here who has never had to think about that before. The first time I ever saw a gun was last year, and even then it was only being carried by a special force of armed police, who were stationed in the large train stations across London after the city was put on a high terror alert after the recent European terror attacks. In this case, the carrying of firearms actually made me feel safer. Part of this is because I trust the British police force, whereas my perception of the American police force is slightly blurred because I am aware that they all carry firearms and shoot willy-nilly. Plus, from my understanding, you can't crack a joke with police officers over here like you can in the UK. I see police joking around with tourists and taking photos in London, but I'm guessing that's not a sight I'm going to see here... maybe that's because the police here are so wary that anyone could be carrying a concealed firearm so at the same time I understand why they seem a little more uptight. They're at a higher risk of potentially being injured or killed. 4) Republicans In UK, a republican is someone who wants to end the monarchy and have a republic government instead. These kinds of people are typically very left-wing and quite liberal. In the US, a Republican is someone who is right-wing on the political spectrum, and they are far more conservative that British republicans. It's a very interesting difference. 5) Please and Thank You From my experience of being here, the words 'please' and 'thank you' are not used as often. For example, when I'm ordering in a restaurant I would order my food and then add a 'please' or a 'thanks' on the end. To me, it's just being polite. I'm used to using those words whenever someone is doing something for me, even if it's part of their job. From what I've seen, Americans don't always do this. Normally this is something I would perceive as being rude, but I've figured that it's just part of the American culture and not actually rude at all. 6) Cars If you drive an automatic in the UK you're instantly considered to be not that great of a driver. You obviously can't handle the skill needed to drive a manual like everyone else (or don't have the time or money to get driving lessons for an automatic, which makes sense). In contrast, I have yet to meet someone here who can drive a manual. To be fair, automatic's are so much easier and it makes me question why automatics aren't more common in the UK. Whenever I drove to sixth form there was always this very steep hill that I had to tackle, which could have been made so much easier if only I was driving an automatic. Another noticeable difference is that cars here are a lot bigger than in the UK. Quite a few that I've been in have the ability to seat 7, or even 8, people. Most people in Britain only own cars that can seat five people. The UK is more urbanised so maybe having a smaller car is seen as necessary for parking in the cities or...I don't know, I'm just trying to make up reasons why this is even a difference but honestly I just have no idea. Furthermore, public transport sucks unless you're in one of the big cities. If you're not, then good luck getting a bus or train to where you want to go. The study abroad staff at my university back home weren't kidding when they said make friends with Americans who have cars (which wasn't too hard because most people seem to be able to drive here). | 7) Toilets ...oh sorry, I meant to say the 'bathroom'. You wouldn't believe how often I received strange looks for saying 'I'm going to the toilet'. It's as if I'm saying something extremely dirty. One of the American students told me that it's consider a bit vulgar to tell people you're going to the toilet and you instead say 'bathroom' or 'restroom' (I discovered that in Canada, or Toronto at least, the word 'washroom' was more commonly widespread). However, Americans don't seem to understand privacy. What's with the huge gaps around the doors. I don't want to be able to see people peeing, and I'm sure they don't want to see me. Can we just extend the doors a little more please to eliminate the gaps, thanks? 8) Fast Food Restaurants I really wish this was a stereotype, but I've discovered that it's not. You wouldn't believe how many fast food chains there are in the US. In the UK the only really popular fast food chains are McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Greggs and Pret a Manger. Five Guys is beginning to emerge in the UK too, but apart from this I can't actually think of any other popular fast food chains, and only two of those fast food chains I mentioned are actually British. Here, there are too many to even list, I just don't even know. But I have to give it to Americans, they know how to do fast food that tastes good...it just may not be that great for your body and health. 9) Reserved vs Outgoing Americans are a lot more forward, and this sometimes makes for uncomfortable social interactions when you're a Brit who isn't used to this kind of social conduct. I'm not used to make small talk with strangers who are behind me in the grocery store, or being asked really private and intrusive questions by people I've only just met. Americans are very outwardly friendly and seem to have different personal boundaries from what I'm used to. I'm not saying that this openness is a bad thing, just that I don't think I was really prepared for it. When I first moved here, it was slightly overwhelming but now I am starting to get used to it a bit more. 10) University Left this one until last because most of my experience in the USA has consisted of my time on campus and in classes so I have a lot to say about it. A huge difference between both countries style of higher education is that in the US you are encourage to take a broad spectrum of classes, whereas in the UK your studies are very focused. Whether this is better or worse is really down to personal preference. I for one love this! It has enabled me to take classes outside of my singular chosen field back home (which is great for anyone who still has no idea what to do with their life after university). You can do a major/minor degree in the UK, but for the most part people just choose to do one subject. Plus, you have to decide the subject you want to study months in advance whereas I was still messing around with my schedule after I arrived in the US. I think this flexibility is great. One thing I keep being asked is 'do you find the work harder or easier here?' and the truth is, it's a lot easier but there is definitely more work. Let me explain, in the UK you generally do not have a multitude of assignments during the semester, and midterms are not even a thing. Most people just have research papers or exams to do at the end of the semester. Whilst this may not seem like a lot of work, there is a lot more effort that has to go into the work in order to get a good grade. In the US, I have found that, although you get a lot more work, the work itself is generally easier and not as much is expected from you. When I write papers back home, I am expected to cite 10-15 sources. I wrote a paper here that only needed 1-2 cited sources. Also, in the UK class participation isn't really expected of you unless it's a seminar. And even then, you don't need to participate. If a lecturer asks a question, you can normally hear the crickets in the room as the tumbleweed rolls by. You can probably guess how surprised I was when the teacher asks a question in the class here and hands are flying up left, right and centre. To be fair, this was the case in secondary school for me, but in university lecture halls, no one ever puts up their hand. If they have questions, they'll see the teacher at the end. Exams and tests aren't taken as seriously either. Here, you just take tests in the classes. Any timed examinations that are taken in the UK have to be taken under 'exam conditions'. Examples:
Campus life is great. In the UK, first years usually live in the university's halls of accommodation, but after that most universities leave you to go find some student housing to rent. Plus, the campus and the halls are all spread out so it has less of a community feel to it. I really love that about my host university. Granted, it's a small university which is why it may feel more like a community than a larger US university would do, but either way I'm really enjoying it. Roommate? What? I've never had to share a room with anyone in my life ever and suddenly I'm having to share with a stranger. This was a weird concept to me. Thankfully, my roommate is great. She's also an international student so we're both in the same boat and can adjust to this whole new culture together, but sharing my personal space with someone who was initially a stranger is still a weird thing to have to do. In the UK, you will have your own room, maybe even your own bathroom, and share a kitchen within a flat of possibly 4-8 people. |
What I have said in this article does not reflect on all Americans, this is just from my observations of being in Cleveland, Ohio for the past few months. This post is not meant to offend, it's just pointing out some differences that I have personally observed from living and studying in both countries, with the way in which we both think, act, interact with others, and how our societies differ. Some of these things I've pointed out are just downright facts (like about the education system, for example). Others are reflecting on how, we as a people, act. Obviously, with all things, you can not generalise an entire group of people. Some Americans and British people may be reading this article thinking 'I don't do that' and that's fair and I understand that. These are just from my personal experiences.
If you have had other experiences, please share in the comments below!
If you have had other experiences, please share in the comments below!