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Hi OP,
I have seen many of the states in the great US of A. Breath taking. I will never forget.
But I also admire many of the European country's ways of architect, use of alternative energies, and landscapes.
Yes! Travel across the globe! It is a very small planet, and you are young enough to take it all in and form your own opinion!
Meeting people of other voices and venues, speech and food, culture, can only enrich your views and open your mind to other visions.
Please post back of any travels and let me/us know. I'd personally love to hear of your experiences. Hey, don't forget concerts in the norderlands.
I've never left the U.S. in my life and I'm 27 years old. Hopefully someday I can visit other countries. I just watched tons of tour videos of other countries across the world, and I beg to ask the following: Is it just me, or does the U.S. seem very bland and boring compared to numerous other countries?
Other countries, such as France, Italy, China, Egypt, etc, have unparallelled scenic/natural beauty with stunning architecture that nothing in the U.S. can compare. But the U.S. seems to severely lack in these things. It's almost as if the layout and urban/suburban design of the U.S. is designed for a capitalist system where the primary concern is business and economics. We have tons of cookie cut-out neighborhoods from the 1950's. But other countries seem like they are more designed for beauty and leisure.
I mean, yeah, the U.S. has great scenic beauty in itself, but it seems flatter and blander compared to the rest of the world. And it seems like the U.S. has TONS of suburbia compared to other countries and heavy reliance on interstate highways and a more rural feeling in general.
Is there truth to this assertion? Hopefully someone who has traveled to other countries can confirm or deny this for me.
Culturally America is very bland but in terms of land America does have lots of natural points of interest worth visiting.
Most foreigners already seen enough Americans through watching American TV and movies to know what to expect so it's not all that new to them.
However, the opposite is true most Americans seen very little of other cultures to know how people of other cultures behave.
Care to back that up?
Lets take music for example, or visual art. Can you tell me how hip hop, rap and jazz (all American originated) are bland relative to other cultures. And which countries and what music, specifically. Same with modern visual arts.
America does, in fact, very well. The reason being it is like 50 countries rather than one. There are astounding restaurants here. Have you been to Alinea, or Per Se? The scientific community and scientific research (and commensurate Nobels) is astounding. Some of the world's most interesting cities, for Example NYC and New Orleans, are here. Queens speaks more languages than any other place in the world. Trappers still live in the bayous of Louisiana, in a fashion they did 200 yrs back. The mennonites and the amish, the hasids of Brooklyn, all with very different rich culture, all part of America - because it is the most culturally diverse nation on earth. The people living in log cabins in Alaska and hunting moose to survive, the folk history and music of Appalachia. The way America has used and engendered and facilitated the internet like no other culture. World class universities like MIT, Harvard etc. Huge cultural movements in human rights, LBGT rights, women's rights which while not perfect are more lively and vibrant here than virtually any other country. Modern dance, American novels, TV dramas, the amazing adult animation revolution, high fashion, electric cars, new ways of seeing, buying, flying. Honestly, its just silly.
There are plenty of other cultures in the world, I've lived a long time in three other countries, and while at first blush they were interesting because they were new they turned out after a coulpa years to be much less diverse within themselves, more stick-in-the-mud and much less creative over time.
I wasn't born in this country and I must admit I had an idiotic impression of America too based on the mass media of TV and Movies that had filtered its way to my hometown. When I came here I started to find out about America, I got over my stupid native-country jingoism and started being honest about it.
And people come down with an empty condemnatory opinion (which are easy to make, just open one's mouth) without demonstrating what is culturally interesting.
From the point of natural beauty, outside of Canada, America is the most beautiful country I have been to personally. Of course, it being massive really helps it, but as a whole America is gorgeous. Heck, Hawai'i and Alaska by themselves are beautiful and diverse on their own - then you throw in the 48 and pow! It's good stuff.
Our entertainment industry is great. Our culture of sports is GREAT. If you don't like soccer, sports in other countries can get really boring. Sure, they have a few others (rugby, cricket, ect.), but we have plenty of leagues and teams that make it a ton of fun.
America is not my favorite country, but it is very much so an awesome and interesting place to live.
Care to back that up?
Lets take music for example, or visual art. Can you tell me how hip hop, rap and jazz (all American originated) are bland relative to other cultures. And which countries and what music, specifically. Same with modern visual arts.
America does, in fact, very well. The reason being it is like 50 countries rather than one. There are astounding restaurants here. Have you been to Alinea, or Per Se? The scientific community and scientific research (and commensurate Nobels) is astounding. Some of the world's most interesting cities, for Example NYC and New Orleans, are here. Queens speaks more languages than any other place in the world. Trappers still live in the bayous of Louisiana, in a fashion they did 200 yrs back. The mennonites and the amish, the hasids of Brooklyn, all with very different rich culture, all part of America - because it is the most culturally diverse nation on earth. The people living in log cabins in Alaska and hunting moose to survive, the folk history and music of Appalachia. The way America has used and engendered and facilitated the internet like no other culture. World class universities like MIT, Harvard etc. Huge cultural movements in human rights, LBGT rights, women's rights which while not perfect are more lively and vibrant here than virtually any other country. Modern dance, American novels, TV dramas, the amazing adult animation revolution, high fashion, electric cars, new ways of seeing, buying, flying. Honestly, its just silly.
There are plenty of other cultures in the world, I've lived a long time in three other countries, and while at first blush they were interesting because they were new they turned out after a coulpa years to be much less diverse within themselves, more stick-in-the-mud and much less creative over time.
I wasn't born in this country and I must admit I had an idiotic impression of America too based on the mass media of TV and Movies that had filtered its way to my hometown. When I came here I started to find out about America, I got over my stupid native-country jingoism and started being honest about it.
And people come down with an empty condemnatory opinion (which are easy to make, just open one's mouth) without demonstrating what is culturally interesting.
What you described is the world you are living and sees. If you look at history books of other cultures, Europe went through different cultural changes for hundreds of years. There's the middle ages, bronze age, renaissance, and modern era. Culture is rich all over the world pass down generations. America is too young a nation in comparison.
Europe has more history, and I prefer European old cities to American ones (build for people not for cars, many beautiful old buildings, they tend to keep up their cities better, few ghettos).
That said, nearly everything I liked about European cities was built in the XIX century or before that. The modern part of any European city is just as bland and boring as any mall. To me, at least.
Nature wise the US is just as interesting and gorgeous as anything you'd see anywhere, and above many other places.
Cracks me up when people complain about cookie cutter, yet have never been to europe. Post War Housing in Europe is the template of cookie cutter.
While the US may not have the grandeur of the Greco/Roman/Moorish culture and its aftermath, we still have a significant Pre-european / post european history
This is only really true in Eastern Europe (IE former East Germany, Poland, etc). Some cities, such as Prague were not bombed in the war and maintain their historic architecture. East Berlin is like this because it was rebuilt by the communists, while West Berlin is somewhat closer to a classical appearance.
Care to back that up?
Lets take music for example, or visual art. Can you tell me how hip hop, rap and jazz (all American originated) are bland relative to other cultures. And which countries and what music, specifically. Same with modern visual arts.
America does, in fact, very well. The reason being it is like 50 countries rather than one. There are astounding restaurants here. Have you been to Alinea, or Per Se? The scientific community and scientific research (and commensurate Nobels) is astounding. Some of the world's most interesting cities, for Example NYC and New Orleans, are here. Queens speaks more languages than any other place in the world. Trappers still live in the bayous of Louisiana, in a fashion they did 200 yrs back. The mennonites and the amish, the hasids of Brooklyn, all with very different rich culture, all part of America - because it is the most culturally diverse nation on earth. The people living in log cabins in Alaska and hunting moose to survive, the folk history and music of Appalachia. The way America has used and engendered and facilitated the internet like no other culture. World class universities like MIT, Harvard etc. Huge cultural movements in human rights, LBGT rights, women's rights which while not perfect are more lively and vibrant here than virtually any other country. Modern dance, American novels, TV dramas, the amazing adult animation revolution, high fashion, electric cars, new ways of seeing, buying, flying. Honestly, its just silly.
There are plenty of other cultures in the world, I've lived a long time in three other countries, and while at first blush they were interesting because they were new they turned out after a coulpa years to be much less diverse within themselves, more stick-in-the-mud and much less creative over time.
I wasn't born in this country and I must admit I had an idiotic impression of America too based on the mass media of TV and Movies that had filtered its way to my hometown. When I came here I started to find out about America, I got over my stupid native-country jingoism and started being honest about it.
And people come down with an empty condemnatory opinion (which are easy to make, just open one's mouth) without demonstrating what is culturally interesting.
The typical breakfast doesn't vary much from Seattle to Houston, bacon egg, sausage, oatmeal, orange juice, omelets,pancakes..okay, I didn't find breakfast taco in Seattle. But for the most part, there's very little cultural diversity in the U.S.
In Europe, a typical British breakfast is very different from a Spanish breakfast.
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