Resuming on my long forgotten interest of writing, I decided to pen down some of the differences I have felt from living in US for last 8 months compared to my 21 years of stay in India.
Not denying on the facts, US indeed has its own different culture of freedom, modernity and privacy. It's a developed country and that's so apparent in the lifestyles of people here. I would like to list down some things that I've explored to be strangely different from my experiences of US (of course this comes coupled with the caveat that US is the first country I'm staying in for longer than 2 months, so I may be listing down some trivial observations, but believe me I felt so different with each of these) -
- In US almost every apartment and building is equipped with facilities to keep temperature inside uniform, whatever be the temperature outside, No instances of shivering in colds and no more sweating under the heated roof!!
- Cleanliness is respected; your surroundings are a lot more beautiful and it makes spending time with nature a lot of fun
- Even here, you see a lot of homeless people, begging for dollar or some cents. It's unfortunate that they form a big proportion in such a developed country as well
- In US almost everyone has a good sense of humor. I never remember talking to any native who with their expressions or funny statements didn't leave me smiling or laughing
- Here people do frequent potlucks- the form of everyone-brings-a-cooked-dish get together, and informal meet-ups.
- Almost everyone owns a car, and almost every trip is made using it. They have a bad public transit, just only a lot comfortable than one's in India. Not to forget that the trains are very costly
- People are very open about religion and very rational as well. Walking in campus you will spot more than dozen signs of some bible study groups or religious messages.
- People are more generous than you can expect in India; smiling at strangers and saying thank-you for even smallest of service is in everyday habits of people
- Some neighborhoods are not well lighted and some streets are very dark in the night; not to mention the safety issues with walking on these alone.
- People don't carry stereotypes. People don't inquire and don't judge you, based on where you are from or where you live or how you speak or blah.
- Students feel no curiosity in discussing grades or how professor marking scheme has been; you just don't compare to anyone else.
- Every kind of profession is well respected and everyone deals with every kind of work; it's never a surprise if your batch-mate turns out to be a part-time waiter at a restaurant you just visited.
- Everything you expect to get done is done at a professional store. You no longer have small shops repairing your broken shoes or fixing your broken lamp.
- Custom of tipping the waiters is very strong; government officially has rules making customary for people to pay 10-15% of the bill as the tip
- Elementary and high schools here don't have a school dress, and students dress up whatever they want to wear
- Almost everyone has a pet; they have pet stores and not to forget the all-time-dedicated resorts for pets
- Shoes are the most common footwear. 95-99% of people you'll meet on streets, stores, parks and at work have shoes to cover their feet
- Students prefer pencils over anything else. It came out a surprising fact for me, that in US pencil is mandatory for all grades from K-12. Well writing in pencil has its distinctive advantage, and the worry of someone fudging up your answer to prove you wrong isn't existent either (not when you are aware about the serious consequences of not being ethical)
- People here are a lot open about their relationships and seem casual in discussing dating and boyfriend/girlfriend stuff with just anyone, not to forget the public displays of affection
The list has no order and all points were put as they kept coming on top of my head; I just needed to get the habit of writing going!!
I'll add more as I keep experiencing new stuff. :)
