By the time I was on my first trip to USA, I had already travelled to 4 other countries in the world (except India). So, I was pretty sure that this visit to USA would be quite similar to other foreign trips. Little did I know that I was in for a plethora of surprises in America. Life’s so different here!
As I was trying to soak in all that was new for me, a thought often crossed my mind. What if I had a handy list of what to expect from America on a first trip! Maybe the surprise element would have gone, but I would have been better prepared mentally to deal with this extravaganza called ‘United States of America’. So today, I decided to pen down all my first-hand experiences in USA, as a newbie on her first visit. Travelling straight from India, certain ways of American life would certainly feel like a drastic change from the regular Indian life.
So, brace yourself, all you first-time travellers to USA!
Here’s a handy list of first-observations for all those Indians, travelling to USA for the first-time :
- Wooden houses, not concrete.
You’ll get to see a row of beautiful houses with beautiful porches, right when you step outside the airport. But these magnificent houses are all made of wood, and there’s no concept of bricks, sand and cement in building houses, unlike India. I found this queer when I could clearly hear footsteps from the apartment above ours.
- Concept of rugs on wooden floors.
There’s no house without a rug, fully covering the carpet area of the house. Basically, instead of wet mopping, vacuuming is more popular here.
- Handle menstruation hygiene with toilet paper rolls.
Ladies! A quick heads up – You have to learn to use washrooms with toilet paper rolls, even during that time of the month. There’s no scope for water near the commode areas of the American washrooms. And please don’t try weird tactics to use water in the loo. The washrooms with its wooden floorings and rugs, will get messy!
- People fill up their own tanks, in gas-filling stations.
Yes, this was so new for me. People get down from their cars, make card payments on the gasoline tanks, pull the hose pipes, set the nozzle at the fuel tanks of the car, fill the tank, put the hose pipe back in its place and leave. Trust me, this self-service process works even faster than our manned-services in Indian petrol pumps.
- Traffic rules are strictly followed. Heavy fines are imposed, which are non-negotiable.
If you miss a turn, it’s gone! There’s no looking back. You have to keep going forward until you can take a U-turn to get back to where you’re actually headed. And this is just one of those many strict traffic rules. And the best part is – they are followed!
- Drivers drive with a self-assurance that the other drivers on the road will abide by the traffic rules.
Since the traffic rules are so strictly enforced, the drivers automatically follow. I’ll give you a small example here – While taking a turn in India, you should always be able to anticipate an auto-rickshaw heading from nowhere in a random direction and be alert enough to dodge that impeding crash. But here in USA, the driver takes a turn with a confidence that the other drivers are following signals and his lane is clear.
- Mandatory usage of seat-belts and child car-seats while driving.
Inspite of being such an important traffic rule, I hardly saw people following it back in India. But here, in USA, you can never be without a seat-belt (be it the driver or the co-passenger) and children have to be tucked in to their respective child car-seats. There are no second thoughts about it.
- Lesser people, and more cars on the roads.
I was so used to seeing people walking around the streets of India that USA felt very desolate in the first few days. The roads were filled with cars speeding away, with hardly any sign of a human being on the roads – not even on the pavements. Except New York, almost the rest of USA will give you this vibe.
- You get a 360 degree view of the sky almost everywhere.
Since the population is less and area is more, everything seems very widespread. Basic roads have 6-8 lanes and the buildings on either sides of the road are far apart. So, naturally, every American street feels like the National Highway of India. So much sky to gaze at! This is excluding the Downtown areas though.
- People don’t bother about what you are wearing.
Freedom to wear – Yes, this exists! Especially for girls – you will not be subjected to unnecessary stares from random strangers or mindless taunts from random well-wishers about what you should or should not wear. People think beyond physical attires here.
Yes, they are very straight-forward. If they’re interested in you, they’ll directly ask you out. No beating-around-the-bush business! The Americans strictly believe in the concept of ‘first-come-first-serve’. They’ll always politely ask if you are in the queue, before moving ahead of you in any public place. Well, ladies – I found this similarity in Singapore as well. So, I presume that India provides one of the cheapest waxing and threading services in the world. For example – A full-hand waxing will cost around 40 – 50 USD (close to 3500 INR), as opposed to 200 INR in India. So, you’ll either resort to a full-time epilator, laser surgery or make peace with the little bits of hair on your body. Eyebrow threading seems like a very Indian subcontinent thing, because eyebrow waxing is more popular here. Eventually, you have to find out that one Indian or Pakistani beauty salon which specialises in threading, if you are very particular about it. A genuine concern for petite women like me – Finding clothes of your size is going to be difficult. Especially for girls – Come with a flexible mind. Don’t be super-rigid about your brands available in India for sanitary napkins. You might not get any of those here. My first meal in an American restaurant was a stuffed omelette for brunch at IHOP – a very popular food chain in USA. I was not hungry until dinner that day. Yes, food is expensive. But, they serve incredibly huge portions, compared to India. Yeah! I took a while to adjust to no breeze in the rooms. This is a special highlight for people who are not used to sleeping in silence without the sound of the fan blades. It’ll take some time. You’ll get used to it. This was my favourite part. I’d always dreamt of houses with a non-obstructed view from the windows. No iron grills here, just glass. So, if you are staying at a place with a view, you’ll get the most of it. How I miss my Indian terrace here! You just have no access to the rooftops, because almost all are slanted to get rid of the snow. It’s absolutely spick and span everywhere. People are too conscious regarding cleanliness of their surroundings. Considering that I’m too tiny even for an Indian built, I almost look like a mosquito in front of the well-built Americans. The average height seems like more than 5’8” for women. Car horns are used only in traffic emergencies. The sound of a horn, is like a big big deal. Yes, water is more expensive than soft drinks here. They seem to be ardent followers of the old adage – “Water is precious”. For example – You have to assemble your own furniture like bed, tables, chairs etc. Once you buy a bulky furniture, you need to hire a mini-truck, self-drive, load your stuff, unload your stuff at home, assemble and then, return the rented truck. The Indian ‘Babu culture’ doesn’t work here. How our Indian washrooms remain perennially wet throughout the day! I’ve known people who tend to wash their feet about 20 times in a day. But here, the washrooms have wooden floors and rugs. So, you won’t really get inside a bathtub to keep washing your feet multiple times in a day. Habits change! If you are going to stay in the USA for a while, just get used to the local ways – the local food, vegetables, spices, methods of cooking etc. Maintain a rigid Indian lifestyle is expensive. Even the houses charging very humble rents, have perfect modular kitchens with all the basic amenities like – a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a base oven for baking and grilling, a dishwasher and what not! I have noticed that even the people serving food in the restaurants are addressed as Sir/Madam. People don’t really look down upon you, based on your job profile. Such a refreshing way of living! If you are creative, let the creative juices flow. You’ll receive appreciation and encouragement like never before. People are not focused only on 9-5 jobs here. I sometimes envy the life of pet animals in this country. They are treated just like any other family member. They’re not leashed inside the homes, they are taken for their regular aromatherapy spa sessions, they go for strolls in special dog parks and what not! This is a genuine problem that I faced. All our lives, we have been following the British metric scale, namely kilometre, kilogram, degree celcius etc. Suddenly, it will all go for a spin and you have to adjust to the American scale of miles, pound, fahrenheit etc. So, get ready for a mental arithmetic session for the first few days, before you get used to the American metric scale. After living in the USA for more than a year now, this is all that I could think of about my first-month struggles in America. There’s so much to learn from this beautiful country. Hopefully, we imbibe all the goodness and take it back to India with us. For all the non/first-time visitors of USA – I hope you found this list handy to prepare yourself well for what’s in store for you in USA. For all those who have migrated to USA and have been living here for a while – I hope you had a great laugh while reading this. I’m sure we all have gone through the same phase.