As globalization has increased, American culture has permeated other countries thanks to mass media, movies...
Because I grew up with American TV series,I thought I knew all about American culture.
Still, after 2 months living in Miami, I couldn't help noticing all the differences with my home country (France). Here they are, grouped into categories.
Food
This video is obviously a caricature but often caricatures rely on a grain of truth.
Fast food "restaurants"
There are much more fast food chains in the US than in France. More than half of the 20 top fast food brands don't even exist in France. Sidenote: French fries, which may come from Belgium, are called FRENCH fries even though they represent nasty food, exactly the opposite of what's France is known for.
Junk food
The variety of snacks available is also much more diverse. You'll find many shelves filled with junk food at Walmart. You won't find much healthy food in pharmacies, which don't limit themselves to drugs by the way!
Veggie food
Food for vegetarians and vegans is much more developed, as you can find good meat substitutes like vegan meatballs which taste is actually pretty close to regular meatballs.
Bakeries
I grew up in a small village and despite the very low number of inhabitants I remember we had 4 bakeries in town. In the US you can attribute such frequency to the number of Starbucks Coffee. One thing that I really miss is real croissants, pains au chocolat... and delicious French pastries. Here, they just don't get it! The texture and taste of croissants is always far from what I know.
Sweetness
The taste buds of american are used to a different level of sweetness. Some things are just too sweet for me.
Cinnamon
It's a very common flavor in the US! You'll find it in bread, cereals... I wonder why it it so underused in France. It tastes good.
Grocery shopping
This happened to be the worst experience I had. The products offered at Walmart were so different I couldn't recognize any... well except a few. Even when some products were familiar to me, the packaging was sometimes completely different. In short, I was totally lost the first time.
One thing that I found very useful was the Nutrition Facts label placed on every food item you can buy. The format is exactly the same for all products and it gives you a good sense of the amount of nutrients that are provided and their corresponding percentages of daily value per serving. However, this percentage is not shown for sugar and the serving size are sometimes unrealistic.
Plastic bags
At the checkout, you don't have to put your stuff in the plastic bags yourself. Either the cashier does it, or there is someone whose job is to do it. That's nice! The only problem is that they often use too many plastic bags, sometimes one per item. Not cool for Mother Nature...
I found that often times food in the US lacks subtility and on average strives less for refinement than in France (and this comes from a not-so-typical French guy, I'm not a big fan of wine and strong cheese but I love burgers, american BBQ and fried stuff).
Transportation
Cars
Cars are a very important component of the american way of life. Because everything is so spread out (except in downtowns), you can't live without a car...or at least without one your life is way more painful. I know what I'm talking about, I just own a bike... I even happened to find myself in places with no sidewalks! (I wasn't on a highway)
Traffic lights
In the same vein, I was surprised to see that some intersections don't have lights for pedestrians. Also, as a driver you have to stop a few feets before the lights, if you keep the same distance as in France between you and the traffic light, it means that you're in the middle of the intersection and should get out of there promptly!
Interestingly, school buses have a stop sign and lights and cars aren't allowed to pass them when they drop off students.
Tolls
Florida has adopted a toll-by-plate system which "uses photographic images of the vehicle's license plate to identify the customer responsible for payment." No need to stop! I was blown-away the first time I saw that. In France, wireless systems have been progressively introduced over the last few years but their owners still represent a minority of the population.
Roundabouts
You rarely see one around here.
Driver License
It is apparently easier to obtain a driver license in the US. All I know is that I got mine in France and had to (1) take a test with tricky questions, (2) drive with my parents during months and months, and then (3) take a stressful driving test.
Driving licenses are commonly used and referred as an ID as opposed to France where le permis de conduire has not the same value as une carte d'identité or un passeport.
Traffic lights
In the same vein, I was surprised to see that some intersections don't have lights for pedestrians. Also, as a driver you have to stop a few feets before the lights, if you keep the same distance as in France between you and the traffic light, it means that you're in the middle of the intersection and should get out of there promptly!
Interestingly, school buses have a stop sign and lights and cars aren't allowed to pass them when they drop off students.
Tolls
Florida has adopted a toll-by-plate system which "uses photographic images of the vehicle's license plate to identify the customer responsible for payment." No need to stop! I was blown-away the first time I saw that. In France, wireless systems have been progressively introduced over the last few years but their owners still represent a minority of the population.
Roundabouts
You rarely see one around here.
Driver License
It is apparently easier to obtain a driver license in the US. All I know is that I got mine in France and had to (1) take a test with tricky questions, (2) drive with my parents during months and months, and then (3) take a stressful driving test.
Driving licenses are commonly used and referred as an ID as opposed to France where le permis de conduire has not the same value as une carte d'identité or un passeport.
Money
Fees, tips
Pretty much NOTHING is free... Americans seem to love charging you miscellaneous fees. Parking is never free in touristy places. The fact that you need to give tips is well-known but it still surprising for a French person, especially outside of a restaurant.
Health insurance
Outrageously expensive.
Drugs, medical care
Outrageously expensive. You just cross your finger and pray to not fall sick.
Education
Outrageously expensive.
Textbooks
What the #*@%?! On average, an undergraduate student spends around $1,300 on books and supplies each year.
Credit History
It's important in the US to build a good credit history to be able to buy a car, a house etc... Oddly enough, institutions automatically consider that foreigners have a bad credit score. Building your credit score leads to situations where you have the money to buy something but buy it on credit instead... to please your banker.
People's behaviors
Fitness / Workouts
Working out seems to have a much more important place in the American culture than the French culture. On campus, it's more common to see muscled dudes who go to the gym whereas they represent a small minority in France. I bet that the average american college student is more muscular than its average French counterpart.
On the opposite side and curiously, the American population suffers from obesity, but that's well-known.
Smoking
American are often shocked to see so many people smoke in France, you witness that in Paris if you wander in the streets. So I was naturally surprised to discover that my campus was totally smoke-free: not just inside the buildings but everywhere on campus which stretches on 342 acres!
Smiling
It's always hard to generalize but I would say that Americans tend to be more smiley than French people. If you're a French reading this just imagine Paris' subway full of smiling people. Stunning, right?
Interpersonal relations
I also noticed that people engage conversation more easily here... on a bus, in a line... They appear to be more convivial.
Nevertheless, intimate distances are more important. I will never forget when my dad did la bise with my roommate from New-England who seemed bewildered.
Messaging apps
You would agree that millennials send messages more than they use phone calls. What's interesting is that different apps are used as favorite mean of communication. Whatsapp is king in the US even though I used to use Facebook Messenger in France instead and Facebook groups for work projects in class.
Services
Hours
I was surprised to see supermarkets closing so late and above all being opened on a Sunday afternoon.
USPS
My experience with the US Postal service has been more pleasant than dealing with La Poste for 2 reasons: speed of delivery and tracking accuracy.
What else?
Things you won't find as easily as in France:
- Fountain ink cartridges
- Tissues in small pocket packs! That's crazy, why carry a big box around? I saw a girl bringing one in class...
- A wide variety of yogurts
- Shades that actually don't let the sun and I'm not even talking about all the broken ones...
- French cars... Many different countries are represented with German, Italian, Japanese cars but no French cars on the horizon.
Size
Everything, from houses to roads to cups... seems bigger!
Alcohol
You're not allowed to drink in public unless you have the famous little brown paper bag wrapped around your "open container"... I'm still wondering what difference does it make.
Everything, from houses to roads to cups... seems bigger!
Alcohol
You're not allowed to drink in public unless you have the famous little brown paper bag wrapped around your "open container"... I'm still wondering what difference does it make.
Ethnicity
Talking about ethnicity and race is still very taboo in France. It is illegal to survey people asking for their race which is totally normal in the United States. Most of the forms have a question about your ethnicity.
Miami special
WeatherWhen you think of Miami you think of palm trees, beaches and... sunny weather! Yes? No! That's a misconception as I painfully found out when I arrived in Miami late August, in the middle of the hurricane season. I was very disappointed to see that it was raining every day! When comes October you'd think that it would stop raining but no...
In fact, I found that Miami has 135
rainy days and an average rainfall of 61.9 inches (1,572.3 mm). Now let's take
a French city with a terrible weather: Brest. Average precipitation in Brest
turns out to be less than Miami: 47.638 inches (1,210 mm).
The thing is that weather in Miami can
change very suddenly so you get caught by the rain while in swimsuit or shorts. It's always hot (or very hot)... except during approximately 3
weeks in January when it's a bit chilly (around 13°C).
Traffic
One must be patient because rush hours are awful.
Buses
Public transportation is terrible in Miami! Buses rarely arrive on time. There is the free Metro mover downtown. It's great but limited to a small area. Also there is only one railroad track for the huge Miami-Dade county and it's only going North/South.
Air conditioning
AC is usually in full blast mode everywhere: in cars, buses, public buildings, stores... I don't get it. It's not because it's super hot outside that it has to be freezing cold inside!
Cockroaches
Beware of these little guys in Miami. They're actually not so little.
Nice cars
Being in Miami, especially Miami Beach is like being in Monaco you'll see a lot of luxury cars.
