America vs the rest of the world

[fish2plus2]

for people who have lived outside of the US for more then one year, and then returned - if you like America better, can you please explain why, especially things other then friends and family or language barriers.

[dcb777]

Brazil, b/c they have lots of protitutes who all speak portuguese. Obrigado.

[WhoIam]

I haven't quite hit the one year mark, but I'll comment anyway. I wouldn't say I like living in the US better or abroad better, they're just...different. As an expat, you're always an outsider. At first this is great because people want to talk to you, girls give you more attention, etc. Other peoples' mundane reality is your exotic adventure. Eventually there are times when you don't want to stand out and just want go about your business in a normal fashion. For example, when I was in Australia, every conversation I had would generally follow the format of "Where are you from?/Are you American?/Why are you here?/Are you a student?/How long are you staying?/How do you like Australia?/I want to visit New York." This was fine at first, but after a few months I just wanted to scream out "CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN ME BEING IN [censored] AUSTRALIA?"

Of course in the US you're just a regular Joe and that soon gets old.

I miss things like being able to easily watch/BS about football. I miss being able to make clever cultural references to semi-obscure things. I miss black people. I miss internet service that is fast, cheap, and reliable. I miss the 3 or 4 TV channels I like to watch.

You say to talk about things other than the language barrier, but this is huge. At least when I was in Australia and New Zealand, I could go to a pub and chat with someone who spoke a language closely resembling English. Here in Thailand I'm restricted to maybe a 100-word vocabulary. I'm extremely lucky that my roommate is both American and a poker pro.

[J-Mac]

I am 23 and have lived abroad for 11 years, as a result of my parents working for the State Department, and the US is my favorite country.

This is not necessarily standard for diplobrats. A lot of my fellow ex-pat youths rejected the US with the same philosophy that all rejectors seem to have, one that I've never really understood.

It might have something to do with the places I lived: Ethiopia, India, Morocco, South Africa. Since I grew up there and lived there, they weren't really "exotic", they were just poor, dirty, uncomfortable. Overseas, everything looks worn down: the shopfronts are dirty, the paint on signs is chipped and peeling, all the cars are a few years old and fringed with rust and dust. There are beggars, there is desperation, there is crime. In South Africa, most people rarely leave the security of their gated homes if they're lucky enough to have them, or they could be one of the thousands who live in ramshackle tin huts along dirt pathways, living in a kind of poverty I have never seen, or could even imagine seeing, in America.

Every summer we'd vacation stateside, and I remember being young and landing, getting into a shiny rental car and driving down big, wide, clean highways lined with lush green grass. Everything looked fresh and clean. There were more radio stations and more TV channels, and the stuff I heard and saw would be what people would be listening and watching a few months later when I got back abroad. Many people scoff at it, and sometimes rightly so, but a lot of people overseas love American pop culture. The world watches our movies and our TV shows and a lot of people resent it, but we wouldn't put McDonald's in Rome and Paris or Starbucks in Vienna if the Romans, Parisians, and Viennese weren't going.

Plus, in a lot of the places I lived in, the people had nothing and also had nowhere to go. My parents were flooded with requests from people who wanted to get the hell out of wherever they were and come to America. I still believe that that is because America really still is the land of opportunity. Here, with talent and hard work, you CAN make it. That's just not true in some of the places I've been.

I love the freedom of America. Now, the older and more aware I get, the more I see where the gaps in 21st century American freedom are, and it absolutely kills me. And it's a quick point for detractors to harp on, and I agree that the erosion of our freedoms is terrifying. But I still feel bound by nothing, and I visualize this freedom as a vast expanse of American road with horizons far in the distance.

Plus, I have some good old fashioned patriotism. I love that I am a citizen of the country that wins more Nobel Prizes and Olympic gold medals than any other. I love that a few dozen incredibly smart men sat in Philadelphia 220 years ago and just thought up some ideas that changed the world. I love the Gettysburg address. I love that Americans are the world's hardest working people. I love that the only people who have ever walked on the moon are American. I love that America helped give birth to the airplane, the television, the personal computer, the Internet, jazz, Motown, soul, and hip-hop. I love that America has one of the highest GDP/capita rates in the world despite having three hundred million people, and that its economy is still growing. Three hundred million people with above average access to good roads, hospitals, schools. Wow.

It's not without it's flaws, and some are quite serious. I don't always agree with her politics or her decisions. And there are things I love and miss about every place I've lived and been. And America is not the best at everything in the world, but it IS the best at a lot of things, and it's pretty damn good at a lot of other stuff.

tl;dr and oversentimentalized, but I do love this country. God Bless America.

[miajag]

Nice post J-Mac.

[cking]

I lived in europe for 3 years during high school. It was fun to go out to bars and stuff as a high schooler but in the end, you go to the grocery store or the common shopping areas (not high end) and everything just seems a step or 2 below the US in some way. It's hard to explain but its just more ghetto and half assed. Think it goes back to what a poster said about the US being the hardest working country, b/c it is. 30hr work weeks in europe just dont cut it, especially when you factor in doing even the std 40hr/wk won't cut it for people who really want advancedment in the US. Other countries hold themselves back as part of culture not b/c they are lazy, but they do hold themselves back and it shows. Then they hate on us b/c not only do we not hold back like them we go above and beyond to make more money and succeed in the world.

Poster above really hit alot of points i agree with.

[katyseagull]

This is a great post. I really enjoyed reading it.

[WhoIam]

You have a point, but the US is also the place where you can work two full-time jobs and still not be able to adequately support your family. Where we have only a fraction of the vacation time of other industrialized countries. Sure, we make more money on average than other countries, but are we really happier and better off because of it? Other countries have different attitudes--it's not GDP uber alles. Americans on the whole are some of the most miserable in the industrialized world. Obviously a developing country is going to compare unfavorably in every way, but maybe equating money with value (in the general sense of the word) is not necessarily a positive thing.

For the record, I don't hate the US and I think it would be hard for anyone not to include it on a list of their top 5 or 10 countries.

[NU Star]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a great post. I really enjoyed reading it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought you only posted in the lounge?

[daryn]

she is welcome here