A weekend in Slovenia
Key West, FL
The people are SO nice
While everyone told me that the people in the south would be super friendly and warm, I was still, somewhat, taken aback by how pleasant everyone is. They are so chatty and seem genuinely happy to help anyone that needs it. Small talk with the cashier at a supermarket is common practice and if you spot a broken down car, you can almost guarantee there’ll be a passerby next to it that stopped to assist. I also LOVE how polite they all are. Manners are certainly important in England but we don’t say yes ma’am and no sir like you hear in the south. I find it so quaint and endearing to listen people referring to their elders as ‘Mr Frank’ or ‘Miss Diane’.
Miami, FL
Shopping is SO easy
There are so many megastores in America that sell pretty much anything you can think of. You need food, clothes, appliances and make up? Target has it all. There are so many places to find anything you could possibly think of for such a reasonable price. Yet, what surprises me is that online shopping is such a big thing here. With Amazon Prime, you can opt for next day, or even same day, delivery, despite the fact you can find pretty much anything in the stores nearby. This huge amount of choice makes life so convenient. You know exactly where to go to find something and you can almost guarantee it’ll be there.
Everything is HUGE
A gallon of milk? Who doesn’t need a gallon of milk? 8 sticks of KitKat? Obviously. Nothing is small in this country. Most notably, the food. The cans are double the size of those in Europe, KitKats and other chocolate bars are at least twice the size, and you’d be hard pressed to find milk in a bottle smaller than a litre. The furniture is also huge. Armchairs are enormous, they could seat at least 2 people! The sofas are longer and wider too. I have reached the conclusion that American houses are so much bigger to accommodate their huge furniture! And we mustn’t forget the size of their cars. Huge SUVs and trucks dominate the roads with big lifts on them. This is particularly prevalent in the south since a lot of people work on the land. So, I suppose you could say there’s a practical element to the size of the cars. But I also have a sneaky suspicion there’s some sort of competition here to have the biggest and loudest car!
The food is SO good but SO bad
Americans love butter, and they love cheese. And they sure know how to pair them well! Gooey Mac and cheese, buttery, garlicky broccoli and cheesy grits are a few of the highlights I’ve discovered. The heavy, greasy food certainly tastes good but it’s so bad for the waistline! Especially when combined with their oversized portions. They also love adding sauces to their food- hot sauce, salsa verde, mustard etc etc. It’s huge difference between here and Europe, where the most you’ll find on a salad is olive oil and balsamic vinegar, not the combination of oils and dressings you find in the states.
Walking anywhere is impossible
Americans simply do not walk! It’s not uncommon to find neighbourhoods with no sidewalks or sidewalks that randomly disappear midway through a walk. It’s not helped by the fact that everything is spread so far apart here. A supermarket may only be a couple of miles away, but it’s a 10/15 minute drive and the walk would take a couple of hours! It really isn’t a walking friendly place. But, perhaps what baffles me the most, is that jaywalking is illegal but there are rarely any crosswalks! I haven’t yet figured out how you’re supposed to combine walking to a specific destination and obeying the law in America!