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Culture shock

siddhesh.substack.com

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Re: Culture shock

#91

Post by Diesel555 »

medvezhenok wrote: post #35
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #27

I worked at a multi-national company that frequently flew people to the United States HQ offices for short visits or sometimes longer stays. For many of the younger developers this was their first direct exposure to the United States. Interestingly, most of them had built up a lot of preconceived notions about the United States from social media sites like Reddit. Many of those sites project an extremely pessimistic…

Obesity is also not evenly distributed across the U.S. If you look at the rural/urban split it's more prevalent in rural areas[1], and if you look at the city breakdowns, the cities that foreigners are more likely to visit have lower obesity rates across the board [2]. So visiting the top-performing American cities (usually in the Northeast or West coast) understates the level of obesity in the country as a whole by…

Agreed. This post comes from DC. I live there now. The obesity level, at least those in my public view, are much better than the other parts of America I have seen.

Re: Culture shock

#92

Post by the_af »

int3 wrote: post #60
the_af wrote: post #44

Is the car respecting pedestrians a thing everywhere in the US, or just where this person has been? My very limited experience in the US (NYC, San Diego and Miami) has been hit or miss regarding traffic, and I wouldn't trust drivers to stop. I know the story in some European cities is different. I was impressed in London, and a Belgian friend of mine often crossed the streets of Brussels without stopping to look at t…

In cities, it's hit or miss. Outside of that drivers tend to be pretty gracious. > If there's no semaphore, good luck crossing Do they actually call traffic lights "semaphores" over there?

Yes. We speak Spanish and we call them "semáforos"; my translation to English just wasn't very good :)

Re: Culture shock

#93

Post by rushabh »

This brought back a lot of nostalgia. (I was Indian grad student in a state university in the North East in ‘01)

For me the killer is the “master of the universe” feeling you get in the United States coming from India. Everything is in order and under control from the lawns in suburban homes, to supermarkets and libraries to traffic and restaurants. You see a lot more straight lines and perfect Bézier curves. This is a completely different texture in extreme contrast to India where “chaos” reigns and the spices and smells are a lot sharper.

After coming back to India. I somehow feel more “free” and “alive” in the chaos. Giving up control feels like a more natural, intuitive way of living and dying.

Re: Culture shock

#94

Post by addicted »

kodah wrote: post #37
NikolaeVarius wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are, just not in big coastal cities. I'm biased, but I generally tell people that big coastal cities are not a proper representation of American cultures vastness. They provide a boxed and abridged experience of a very opinionated nature. Instead, traverse the states and see what each geography has to offer. You'll find those things are still alive in the Midwest and South. I find this literally to be the exa…

> Driving to the south and midwest, I mostly just saw immensely massive parking lots for Walmart, Dollar Generals, some liquor store, and other big box markets. If you're just driving through, as you stated, and never actually stopped or lived in any of these towns then I'm not surprised you have that impression. What OP was mentioning is this: > There’s no kiraana stores (i.e. small local stores) that sell grains an…

That’s not what the OP means.

The OP means stores that are within walking distance.

That’s why he mentions having to drive to buy groceries.

In India, as in most cities in Asia and Europe (and NYC, NYC satellites), you walk around the corner to buy the vast majority of your daily needs.

Re: Culture shock

#95

Post by notsureaboutpg »

AutumnCurtain wrote: post #22
losvedir wrote: post #5

What a fun read! I've never been to India but it's fun to infer what the reverse culture shock would be for me from the points here. Like, can you not sit on the grass at a university there?

I'm interested in the apparent intolerance of shirtless men, I didn't realize that was a thing.

The other commenter has misplaced ideas. It's conservatism (meant as a compliment, not an insult) which shames men for going around shirtless as most men who do so in the West do so out of vanity and a need to show off.

Indian culture really doesn't vibe with that at all, it's really offensive to be garish in that way (it's okay to be garish in terms of showing wealth though, like fancy car, etc.)

I'm not judging just saying the differences here.

It's the same with women's clothes. The way women dress in the West would be very unacceptable to the vast majority in India.

Re: Culture shock

#96

Post by anontrot »

losvedir wrote: post #5

What a fun read! I've never been to India but it's fun to infer what the reverse culture shock would be for me from the points here. Like, can you not sit on the grass at a university there?

i don't think it's about the grass (which generally they say not to walk or sit on, so as to not cause damage). Colleges/universities are run like schools (our schools are strict, have to wear uniform, mandatory attendance etc. etc.). So the level of freedom mentioned by OP in the U.S College, compared to India, would be 10x different

Re: Culture shock

#97

Post by KarlKemp »

e4d5 wrote: post #2

Hey, as another Indian immigrant here I do want to say that most of these observations are spot on. There's a couple of things in there that are just correlated to the fact that the author is around young/wealthy people, like the low obesity rate, fancy cars, shirtless dudes, book-reading in public. I had quite a surprise when I started working at a smaller town and consistently started seeing older and grumpier peop…

I'm European and everything in the article is the same from this perspective, except the scale of class differences, which tends to be even lower here (or inverted: I don't have a single friend who owns a car, and I'd be afraid of being ostracized if I ever bought one)

Re: Culture shock

#98

Post by silentsea90 »

rushabh wrote: post #93

This brought back a lot of nostalgia. (I was Indian grad student in a state university in the North East in ‘01) For me the killer is the “master of the universe” feeling you get in the United States coming from India. Everything is in order and under control from the lawns in suburban homes, to supermarkets and libraries to traffic and restaurants. You see a lot more straight lines and perfect Bézier curves. This is…

When I go back home to India, the very first cab from the Mumbai airport to home is like a dangerous roller coaster ride. No lanes, criss crossing autos(tuktuks), bouncing on small potholes on the road, smoke, honks, buses and cars in close proximity etc is a sensory overload.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I come back to the US, but I do miss home.

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