What were you suprized about when you saw the U.S. for the first time?

Question

be as rude as you like

Answer 1

coming from france: we landed in houston airport once, and i have to say, the obesity rate is incredible!! also all the big cars and the health care system is pathetic. but otherwise that's about all i have to complain about

Answer 2

The size of the grocery stores!

Answer 3

I can't really say, I was 3 months old when I went to the US for the first time :)

No need to be rude in my experience, I love going there and catching up with my family as most of them live in the US. However I'm always surprised when I go there at how friendly most people I get to meet are.

Answer 4

The incredible beauty of the natural features in the US. Oh, and also, when I first visited the Statue of Liberty there were a whole flock of pigeons which were enormous - almost the size of a small turkey!

Answer 5

I moved from Canada to California at a younge age, and I remember being startled that there were so few trees but so many people had pools.

Answer 6

Here is my observation on what people think when they first arrive in the U.S.:

-Nearly everyone is stunned that we have so little support for visitors.  Everything is in English.  There is hardly anyplace to exchange money.

-Nearly everyone is disappointed that public transit in the US (outside of New York and Washington) is horrible.

-People visiting who arrive in Texas or Chicago, especially, notice how fat most people are.  

-People arriving in New York are usually dismayed by how unhelpful and rude people are to them.  Sorry, New Yorkers.  That's your rep.

-People arriving in LA are hypnotized by the view of a million swimming pools glinting toward their airplane.  Then, if they rent a car, they discover the "other" LA.  Traffic.  South-Central.  Gangs.  Graffiti.

-I have talked to Asian immigrants who were in disbelief at the amount of food in the supermarkets.

-I have spoken with Russian and central European immigrants who were completely overwhelmed by the amount of advertising hitting them.  They just were not used to it.

-The great distances separating things in the US are hard to get used to for most visitors who travel after they arrive.  The huge size of the "flyover" states ... that it takes four hours by jet to go from LA to Chicago ... that it takes 10 hours by car to go from Washington to Boston even though they are 2 centimeters apart on that U.S. map they brought with them ... that even in California, it takes four hours to go from San Francisco to Hearst Castle and five hours to get to Yosemite.

- That the Pacific Ocean is so d**n cold anywhere north of Carmel even in the middle of summer.