Guest Writer: Stefanie Barton
As a Canadian, my interactions with the United States of America were probably similar to any other citizen who lives close to the border – we traveled there enough to at least assume we knew what was going on, south of our shared border. Consequently, when the opportunity arose for me to move to America and become an international student, I considered myself an almost-expert, ready for the journey ahead of me. Oh, how wrong I had been. The moment I landed in New York City, I quickly realized the differences that made the U.S.A. different from home. Here are some things about American culture that I had to adapt to when I first arrived.
1. The Currency.
I come from a place where all of our bills are all color coded. So you’d imagine my shock when I handed my taxi driver a green $10 bill and instead tipped him a green $100 bill. He left, teary eyed and touched and I stood, shocked, learning a valuable lesson that color coded money doesn’t exist everywhere. Oh, and learning that no normal human carries hundred dollar bills anymore.
2. Pumpkin spice everything.
We have this in Canada, too, but it only appears briefly over the autumnal season and sporadically in flavored lattes and the rare dessert. But here, Americans take pumpkin spice to an almost terrifying level – from yogurt and protein powder to deodorant and dog cake mix (yes, that’s a thing). The worst part is it never tastes good, so I am not entirely sure why it’s a trend…
3. Sensory overload television.
In America, it isn’t the news unless there are twenty things or more competing for your attention in scrolling portions of your screen. As a reprieve, you’ll cut to a commercial break and see ads for lawyers, surgery and other strange things, all just as in-your-face as the news. Maybe everyone here is just way better than I am at paying attention.
4. The Order of the Date.
This one messes me up so badly at times that my brain will start to feel numb. I’m very used to the standard day/month/year but like many things in America (ahem, I’m looking at you, Fahrenheit), they adjusted it just slightly to month/day/year. Whenever I travel back to Canada and am at the border, I am struck with momentary panic as I try to figure out the correct format for the correct country.
5. Air conditioning, everywhere.
For those of you wishing to indulge in a little cryotherapy but are unable to afford the process, look no further than a hot day in New York City. Here, you will be traumatized as you wander into a store, restaurant, theater or any other public building and are blasted with Canada-in-the-winter worthy air. I’m not entirely sure why there is this need for extreme cold but have adjusted to bring jackets with me everywhere I go, even in 100 degree weather.
6. Chip flavors (or lack thereof).
Travel anywhere else in the world and you’ll find a plethora of potato chip flavors just waiting for you to try them. All of my life, I was used to being surrounded not only by bbq, salt and vinegar and sour cream and onion, but also dill-pickle, all-dressed, ketchup (you guys don’t know what you’re missing). But here, it’s like they took all of my least favorite flavors and decided they were the only ones they’d make available on a regular basis. So, if your favorite flavor is sour cream and onion or barbeque, look no further than your local CVS shelves, cause that’s all they’ll have for some strange reason.
7. Sweetened Iced Tea.
Why does this exist? For some bizarre reason, the lemon flavored sweet iced tea that seems popular in the rest of the world hasn’t caught on here, and I strongly suspect it could be because of some nation-wide brain washing technique. Why else would anyone crave something cold that has no more flavor than “tea” and “a pound of sugar”?
As I nervously check the snack aisles to make sure there are no pumpkin spice flavored potato chips beside the BBQ ones, I realize I am slowly getting used to these American-isms that seem strange to me, and it makes the place slightly more endearing. No amount of air conditioning can cool the warming I feel in my heart for this country and I look forward to becoming more of an America expert. And no, this does not mean I’ll ever like sweet tea.