"The scale and grandeur. I'm used to nature being small, but everything in America is bigger - bigger storms, bigger mountains, bigger horizons. Even the sky seems more. People in America are casually dealing with everything from alligators to bears, pitching tents on the sides of cliffs and walking their dogs through literal wilderness, I genuinely feel like a hobbit watching Aragorn saunter through Middle Earth like it's nothing."
There's no denying it--everything is bigger in America. While that can sometimes be a bad thing, when it comes to our beautiful natural landscapes, it couldn't be better. This Reddit user quickly picked up on that fact and seems to be enjoying our massive landscapes--let's just hope they don't run into any alligators or bears!
"I always hear complaints about the portion sizes, which is fair, they're big. But we gotta give America credit how socially acceptable it is to take the leftover food home. As a frugal Dutch person, this mesmerizes me and I'm very sad this is not as acceptable here."
If you walk into an American restaurant, there's a pretty good chance that you'll end up ordering more food than you can actually eat. It may seem second nature to ask for a to-go container for us Americans, but restaurant leftovers are clearly not the norm in the rest of the world. We don't know how good we have it!
"The variety of groceries! I want sugar free? Boom...everything. Oh there's something we have at home but here's 30 varieties of it! Special dietary restrictions? Don't have to order it...here's the stuff at the local target! I'm in Canada and although there's a decent selection of these things, it's much better in the USA, cheaper too."
Sometimes the sheer variety in the grocery store can seem overwhelming, but if you're not used to having a million variations of every product, it seems a whole lot cooler. It's true that the items in the grocery store can accommodate pretty much every diet out there, but you might have to look a while to find what you want!
"It just seems like Americans generally are a lot more open and hospitable to strangers than I'm used to at home. Like, they'll just strike up a casual conversation with you just while you're standing at a street crossing or whatever. I remember one afternoon I went into a bar in Austin for a beer, and the guy next to me just sits down and says 'Yep. So I just drove a truck down from New York. Helluva trip,' and we chatted for like an hour about his road trip hauling wood."
If you're looking to chat up strangers, you can't do much better than coming to America. On the one hand, we can be a little loud and obnoxious sometimes, but that talkative spirit has its good points too. You'll never be at a loss for conversation in America, and you never know what wild stories you're going to hear!
"I was in Tampa Florida two years ago. I was impressed with the drive through aspects of everyday life. I’ve seen Drive through Restaurants but never before Drive through Pharmacies - Drive through Banking - Drive through Oil change for your car."
We Americans love our convenience, and that's led to some pretty ingenious (if not unnecessary) inventions like the glorious drive-through. Why walk into a store when you can just sit in your car and be waited on? And this Reddit commenter is right--it's not just restaurants. If you can imagine it, there's probably a drive-through version of it somewhere in America.
"Road trips are the best! I try to go on a road trip every few years and it's always a delight. Anyone who wants to visit the US should focus their time on renting a car and driving across the country or at least part of the country. There is so much to see."
If you're looking for a good old-fashioned road trip, you have plenty of options in the United States. We have thousands of miles of roads in our country, and many of them take you through some unbelievably scenic and beautiful spots. You don't even need to have a plan to have a good road trip in the US--just hop in the car and drive.
"Entrepreneurial spirit. In a lot of countries, including my own, failing at a business you started is seen very negatively, to the point most people will never try, as opposed to the USA where a business failing is seen as a normal part of the process and you just keep trying, taking the lessons you learned forward."
We Americans don't always get things right, but we don't let it get us down when things go wrong. Countless businesses have tried and failed to succeed in the United States, but we don't see that as a bad thing. Those business owners have learned valuable lessons that they'll apply to their next projects.
"That you can buy a used car for cheap, even if you work minimum wage. In my country even as a college graduate and a full-time emergency room nurse I can barely pay for my 150cc motorcycle, let alone a car."
We'll admit that we never would have guessed people like the used car situation in the United States, but this Reddit user thinks it's pretty sweet! Normally, used cars conjure up images of automotive problems and sleazy salesmen, but if you're in desperate need of a set of wheels, we guess the wide availability of cheap options would be a nice thing.
"I love how spread out the infrastructure is across the country. Literally massive multinational companies are headquartered in so many smaller cities. Manufacturing can occur in even more towns. Here in Australia our population is so concentrated in our 3 biggest cities, it's difficult for big business to survive elsewhere. So they move to the big cities and perpetuate the problem. Half our population is in those 3 cities."
While there may be some unique opportunities in American cities, we really do have a lot of businesses spread out across the entire country. Whether you're looking for a specific job or a specific product/service, there's probably a good chance that there's something similar in your area.
"Verbal communication skills. When people are interviewed on tv they can really explain in detail what happened and it is easily understood. It’s like everyone has a communication major. In Australia we generally are really bad at this. for example - interviewing eyewitnesses to shark attacks in Australia 'yeah nah it was pretty bad.'"
As an American, this is kind of a confusing one because we've heard some pretty terrible communicators in our country. However, maybe things are even worse in other countries! Who knows. One thing is for sure--even if we're not good communicators, Americans always have plenty to say!
"How madly diverse it is. Admittedly I’ve only seen it on tv but the fact that the Bronx and Texas are the same country is mind-boggling."
One thing that even Americans tend to forget about the United States is this--we're a huge country that spans thousands of miles and hundreds of millions of people. With a country this massive, it would almost be weird if weren't so varied and diverse. No matter how you want to live your life, you're likely to find like-minded people in America.
"The power and quality of their film and TV industry. They can make dreams and fantasies come to life. Jurassic Park to me as a child was like all my dreams had come true."
Even though some countries may hate our guts, we here in America have one thing that the rest of the world can't get enough of--movies and TV. Our media may not always be the highest quality or the most groundbreaking, but it absolutely dominates the global entertainment landscape like no other country.
"Indonesian here. The rugged wilderness and national parks. The fact that seems like in most places you can get away from dense urban jungles to the forest in just an hour or two drive is amazing."
Despite having some truly massive cities, a large chunk of the American landscape is still wilderness. It's truly a sight to behold, and, like this Reddit user pointed out, in a lot of places in the United States, you can go from city to the great outdoors in a matter of minutes or hours.
"That services just work. Living in a third world country makes you sad when you compare the efficiency of the services available in your country with those of first world countries such as the United States or Canada, the fact of being able to do almost everything over the Internet without having to go to a stupid government office to wait hours because of the inefficiency of the people who work there."
We may have the forever-slow DMV, but a lot of services in the United States run a lot more smoothly than that. We have our fair share of inefficient bureaucracies, but Americans are experts at making a process as quick and painless as possible. It's one of those things you don't appreciate until you don't have it anymore.
"I like how open-minded the people are and how much they seem to enjoy varied interests. I've found in my country, we tend to be pretty judgmental of anything we aren't used to seeing, and most people have basically the same hobbies."
American society really embodies the spirit of "it takes all kinds." Even if it's not our cup of tea, we like to live and let live when it comes to the unique and the eccentric. Your mileage may vary, but I think you'd be surprised at how many open minds and warm hearts you're likely to find in this country.
