This is how the US is different from other countries. You will come to realize some significant discrepancies once you visit the United States. It will take you a while to get accustomed to a lot of things here, but there are certain things that you may never get used to.
Huge portion size
You can get large packets of chips or king-size Oreos, and if you aren’t done with that, you can always go to Costco. The portion size for everything is enormous. I remember purchasing one chipotle bowl, and it easily lasted twice. The milk jar comes in a gallon. One gallon is 3.8 liters, so you have milk that should last for about two weeks. Here are some pictures of the significant portion sizes.
Transportations
Honestly, I wouldn’t say I like transportation much. The US culture is related to cars, and if you don’t have one, you either walk or bike, which is not ideal. There are cities like New York and Chicago where you can survive without a car but if you live in the suburbs, let me tell you, cars are embedded in this country.
Rules
You would see these rules everywhere. It’s somewhat friendly to have them around. They don’t leave any chance of you saying that there was no sign for it. It clearly says where to park, or walk, or not to park.
Small Talk
Saying hi or hello to random people is pretty standard. It could be at a supermarket or at the coffee house or even a lucky person who is just walking on the street. One tip; the weather is always a great thing for the small talk.
Coke is cheaper than water
Yes, my friends, that is true. coke is cheaper than water. Here is the price of coke →
Life is easy
We pay for our wifi, electricity; utilities rent everything on the phone. The only time we go to a bank is to transfer the money from our forex cards to the US account. Otherwise, even that isn’t necessary. You can get everything delivered to your doorstep from Amazon. First-world problems are an accurate term coined for problems – like the wifi is too slow or how the wire hanging out of the TV creates an unaesthetic look in the living rooms.
Electricity never off ⚡️
Just like other developed countries, power cuts don’t happen here. The only time we have seen a power cut this side of town is during a hurricane or heavy rain. Issues that are caused by natural calamity.
Too quiet 🔇
There are times when you love the quiet. No matter in which part of Asia you reside, there is always hustle and bustle in the city, no matter what time it is. It could be fireworks, car noises or a lot many other things. But if you are living in a college town, it can get pretty quiet at night. During our initial days, we used to play white noise on our phones to sleep. Even the houses are away from the main streets, making it even quieter inside.
An entire country speaking english; well almost
There are very few countries speaking one language only, and the US is one of them. When you hear an announcement on an airplane, and it’s just English, you know you are in the US. Since there’s a substantial Spanish-speaking population here, you will notice that some stores have things written in both English and Spanish. Moreover, if you are in one of the states adjacent to the Mexico border, you’ll witness the road signs written in Spanish, and instead of using miles, the road signs are marked in kilometers.
College fandom
Every year over 15 million students are joining US colleges. And the college they go to is like a family to them. You will notice this; once you come to this site, you will start looking for jobs. People give preference to students who are from the same universities as they are. The relationships they build are strong, and it is not uncommon to see kids going to the same universities as their parents did in their undergrads. As soon as the fall semester starts, college football starts. These football matches are watched by people all over the US. It’s comparable to the craziness for IPLs in India.
Minimum wage/ hourly pay 💵
There is a specific minimum wage you are mandated to pay if you are hiring someone. Every state has a different minimum wage. Here are some of the salaries from other states.
You can visit this website to check out more data on different minimum wages.
Paid service involving humans
Every time a human is involved in any service, a fee is associated with it, and mind you, it can be a lot. Hence you will find a lot of people doing their work. It doesn’t matter if it’s cleaning or building something in the backyard. People love to create and do home repairs by themselves because if you get someone to fix your plumbing leakage, it can cost you anywhere around $50 if you own the house. In the case of mostly renting students, the landlord must get anything fixed in the apartment/rental house that’s damaged.
Another fascinating concept is that of car towing. Let’s say your car gets towed from an apartment complex or a parking lot of a restaurant. You’ll have to pay anything above $200 to get your car back from the parking lot. This $200 pays the salary of the towing company and their vehicle expense.
Variety of food at the supermarket
Holy smokes, the supermarkets in the US are the craziest things ever. We always get excited by seeing the number of choices available. The amount of supermarkets is just mind-boggling. Depending upon the state you currently reside in, you’d see some particular markets like Publix, Fry’s, Kroger, Payless, etc. But in all of the conditions, Walmart, Costco, and Target are the most common. In the picture below, these are just the types of cheese you can buy.
Cheaper Electronics
The US comes at rank 8 for cheaper products. You may already know, the iPhones, Mac, and other branded products are first launched here and then into other countries. With different offers and sales, you can purchase cheaper electronics that are going to last you forever. The US is a capitalist economy. They expect you to change your phone every single year and reduce the friction by offering better deals.
Different format of writing dates
Instead of writing the dates as dd/mm/yyy, people in the US writes dates in mm/dd/yyy format.
Metric System/ Imperial System
Among the other two, the US is one of the few countries still using the FPS (foot-pound seconds) system. Others being Liberia & Myanmar. It won’t be evident at first, but you will get used to it gradually. Also, the temperatures are measured in Fahrenheit instead of celsius. The easiest way to get used to that is by changing your default temperature to F instead of C in the weather app.
That’s all, folks. Welcome to America!