<p>Thanks, the posts above were quite informative.</p>
<p>This is not meant to offend, it is just my experience as a Canadian.</p>
<p>Don’t be surprised when a lot of people you meet haven’t heard of something you think is so incredibly obvious or ‘classic’. This is a generalization, but from my experience as a Canadian even (not that huge of a difference but different in sooo many ways from Americans), Americans haven’t even heard of a lot of things that aren’t American (music, famous people) unless they’ve expressively taken an individual interest in it. </p>
<p>Also expect either the ‘we hate our country’ attitude or the more popular but not so obvious to most Americans themselves, the “we only care about what directly concerns our country” attitude. </p>
<p>Also, there is very little government involvement so basic things that you may be used to having ‘covered’ by the government in case of emergency aren’t. (health care, major economic downfall etc.) </p>
<p>America has some great places and some fabulous people, but I would definitely never want to live there long term. I hope that you have a great experience while you are there.
P.S. don’t expect people to know where your home country is located. I’ve rarely met an American who knew where Alberta, Canada was, let alone the capital city in which I lived.</p>
<p>"P.S. don’t expect people to know where your home country is located. "</p>
<p>Especially true if you come from a smaller lesser known countries to people other than Americans. I am from a small European country that not many people have heard of unless they’re into soccer, basketball, handball etc. I also don’t look like I’m of any particular nationality.
When I was on an exchange year, people would ask us, international where we were from. The conversation would go like this:
(American to me, standing next to French, and German)
A: So, where are you from?
me: <em>my country</em>
A: [moment of silence, trying to cover up a confused look] … [turns to French/German] so… I’ve been studying French/German!</p>
<p>For some reason, most of the teenagers seemed uncomfortable asking me where the countries they’ve never heard of were. Sometimes, if they didn’t study French/German, they wouldn’t even know about G7 countries. A German girl told in amazement: “An American asked me if Germany produced any cars!”
But it’s different with (more educated) adults. They don’t hesitate to ask about your country or location, if they already didn’t know. </p>
<p>One thing I was also taught about American culture is that if you’re doing a home stay, and you’re in your room, closed door means “Don’t disturb”, so you’re usually supposed to leave the door open, or else nobody will come to you. In Europe it’s different (at least in my part), when people are in their rooms, door is almost always closed and it has no meaning.<br>
Also, when you meet people, (on campus, in store, wherever) people will greet you with “Hi, how are you”, and you’re not supposed to answer that. At first I was confused and answered “I’m good, thanks” to salesclerks and they’d give me weird looks. </p>
<p>Depending on the state you’re in, taxes are not counted into prices printed on price tags. So you have to add another x% of the total to the grand total.
Another thing that confused me when I did shopping is that the coins don’t say “5 cents”, “10 cents”, “25 cents” etc. but nickel, dime, quarter, etc. No, the coins themselves don’t say “1 cent”, “25 cents” etc. but they say “nickel”, “quarter”, etc. I can’t remember all, but it’s something like quarter (25) was the largest silver one, tiniest was a copper coin, a nickel (1?) etc. It took me a while to remember which was what so the salesclerks always had to help me with coins and I was so happy when I succeeded to give all the right coins :o
Sometimes, they don’t say “2 weeks” but “couple of weeks”, not 12 but “dozen” etc. (but you probably know that already from SATs)</p>
<p>And everything is huge. They don’t sell milk in 1l cartons, but in gallons (~3,8l), and when you buy some food outside, portions were much bigger than in my country. My French friend was disgusted and always criticized how “Americans don’t know how to enjoy the taste with little portions”</p>
<p>If you’re from places like Europe, where people sit and enjoy meals for long time, then you’d be surprised that people in USA just sit, eat, and leave as soon as they finish their meals. My American roommate even finished lunch in 15 minutes! Btw, main meal for an American family is dinner, in my country it’s lunch.
There are not many places where you can just sit for a coffee with your friends - many prefer Starbucks with take-out coffees in cups that are much bigger than usual cups (mugs?) in which they serve coffee in Europe.</p>
<p>In my country there are no “bagels” (sort of bread that is shaped like a donut, round with a whole in the middle), but Americans love it, and eat it for breakfast, snack, or light lunch with cream cheese or some other spread.</p>
<p>Maybe it depends on which state you are in, but in the Northeast you are definitely allowed to answer the question, “How are you?” However, if you answer, you should answer “I’m good/fine/great/fantastic… Thanks.” Hardly anyone cares how you actually feel, so don’t make them listen to your life story.</p>
<p>boho_girl said that the largest coins are quarters, which is correct for all practical purposes. There do exist 50 cent and $1 coins, but they are so rare that you will hardly ever come across one.</p>
<p>^^ Maybe I phrased it wrong.<br>
I was in the Northeast. It’s definitely okay to answer “How are you?” when someone asks you. But when someone uses “Hi, how are you” as a greeting, not a question (which people often do), you’re not expected to answer that. Or so I was told.</p>
<p>Oh, and one more thing about coins - there are different versions of special quarters with the pictures representing a certain state. I thought that was fun to collect. And I forgot about one dollar coin, they’re goldish, right?</p>
<p>Remember that the U.S. is a large country, and many Americans have never traveled outside the country, or if they have, only once or twice. It’s not like Europe where people are used to visiting many countries, and having many people from other countries around.</p>
<p>Also the quarter is a quarter of a dollar, or 25 cents.</p>
<p>Another thing to mention is that most Americans really don’t use the metric system in their daily lives, so they will not immediately understand meters, kilometers, liters, etc.</p>
<p>And, what are the major differences one should expect in the Southern states. I am going to Lousiana. I read somewhere that Southerners are quite different than other Americans.</p>
<p>I didn’t live down South but I have been to Louisiana.
When I was leaving for Louisiana with a group, they told us that Deep South is a completely different world than North.
They are more chatty and friendly, while Northeners are supposed to be quite reserved, always in a rush and cold (but Maine is a different story). A teacher, originally from LA (not L.A., CA), recalled that when he was standing in line at a supermarket (in South), some other person behind him started to talk about what was in my teacher’s basket, and then started a conversation about kids: “You’ve got kids? I’ve got kids! Look <em>takes out a wallet with children’s pictures</em> blah blah blah”
So… sometimes people you don’t even know will start talking about something with you. </p>
<p>Also, South is more laid back than North. When I helped rebuilding houses in LA, I saw this on an example when my group was working with another group from Tennessee. Us, from Northeast, just kept doing the work and you could barely see anyone standing and doing nothing. They’d just take 5 min breaks and get back to work. While the other group from TN would just sweep three times, and then stand and chat with someone. Then after what seemed like 3 minutes of chatting, they’d sweep another three times, and then chat again.
I haven’t really been much around New Orleans, but I liked French Quarter. It had an European feel that I couldn’t feel in the other parts of USA that I’ve visited. Houses there were really pretty and street musicians were a wonderful addition that created the mood. Parades were crazy but fun and just prepare to see lots of drunk (randy) men throwing beads. And no, you don’t always have to flash them to get beads. I don’t know how often they do those though. I don’t know how it was before Katrina, but New Orleans as a whole isn’t exactly the prettiest town - gray and lots of concrete.
I was looking forward to Louisiana shrimps, but I was quite disappointed with the ones I ate. Maybe it was wrong choice of restaurant.
French Quarter and some parts around it also reminded me of my home (a seaside touristic place) with all the souvenir shops, hot sun, and a bunch of people on streets. </p>
<p>I don’t know how much this would interest you, but after watching (mostly) small narrow 2 story houses in the Northeast, houses in Louisiana were mostly flat, wide 1 story houses. (well, seems obvious considering the climate, but I thought different styles of houses were interesting) And the land is flat, comparing to the hills that I was used to in NE.
Oh, and every now and then you’ll see big “Mardi Gras” stores. They sell all the kinds of colorful parade things - beads, tiaras, cloaks, masks… everything. You should definitely visit one of those, it’s so fun to look around and try tacky things on. 
Some kids that came from colder countries like Germany were thriller with presence of palms 
And ~1,5 years ago, we weren’t allowed to drink tap water. I don’t know if that changed.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, where are you from, boho_girl?</p>
<p>Thanks, boho_girl, for your post. It definetely helps to know how others feel about the palce you are going. I am going to University of New Orleans in New Orleans…haha..that was obvious. </p>
<p>The city has not recovered fully from the devastating hurricanes, but the part of the city where UNO is located is good. As I heard, New Orleans is an exciting city. I am looking forward to being there.</p>
<p>It is a nice city to look at. High crime rate though :E</p>
<p>^^ I heard it was so before Katrina, but since lots of people moved out it isn’t as bad as it used to be.
(but my info is outdated anyways)</p>
<p>New Orleans is definitely interesting, I think you’ll have fun, plus you won’t have to endure freezing weather like some of your friends who went up north :D</p>
<p>boho_girl,</p>
<p>Your posts have been damn interesting, </p>
<p>Compared all those drab topics about this and that, this thread is highly useful to all the incoming internationals.</p>
<p>Btw, being a non-European, I thought your posts have beautifully delineated the behavioural differences between ‘laid back’ Europeans and ‘go-getting’ Americans!</p>
<p>U know guys, New Orleans is also called the ‘murder city’. That may be creepy for some, but not for me. I am a tough guy ;)…haha</p>
<p>and yes, the weather is a plus.</p>
<p>I am from Central Europe and I have experienced Americans in the Northeast to be more social, friendly and chatty than Europeans in my region. Maybe Southerners are even more outgoing, but I would definitely not describe people in the Northeast as cold or reserved. (Well, I guess a Southern European might have a different experience.)</p>
<p>^^ That’s why I said “supposed to be (reserved etc)…” 
I guess I should start expressing myself more precisely to the point.</p>
<p>boho_girl, you expressed yourself clearly. I did not challenge your statement, I merely offered another opinion.</p>
<p>Sorry, it was late and I was tired when I typed that.
It’s hard to interpret people’s tones on this forum :p</p>
<p>^:)I think its hard to interpret people’s tones in any writeup. Forums are the worst.</p>