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I have to laugh at the absurd climate map you posted. Spend a winter in Philadelphia and you will never believe you live in a "subtropical" climate. Map is seriously flawed.
I agree. Plus, that "cool summer" climate is flawed. Those dark blue areas have very warm and humid summers. A real cool summer climate would be San Francisco.
I have to laugh at the absurd climate map you posted. Spend a winter in Philadelphia and you will never believe you live in a "subtropical" climate. Map is seriously flawed.
So I take it that you are agreeing with this poster:
Quote:
Originally Posted by mshultz
You will find that America has a harsh climate (with the exception of the Pacific coast).
I would say visit North Carolina. In the past twenty year everyone from everywhere has moved here. A fairly accurate representation of the US in one location.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,773 posts, read 23,911,310 times
Reputation: 14706
Quote:
Originally Posted by siameseifyoupls
I would say visit North Carolina. In the past twenty year everyone from everywhere has moved here. A fairly accurate representation of the US in one location.
Transplants are not only from all over, but they are spread out all over. In my office here in ABQ half the people I work with are from elsewhere including Georgia, Virginia, Maine, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, Idaho, and California. And it goes without saying that New Mexico is not really thought of as quintessential Americana, well because it isn't.
There are politically liberal and conservative areas. World-class cities, small towns, ranch country, ghost towns. Vast deserts, ancient redwood forests, palm trees, a variety of beaches, hills, islands, valleys, mountains. There are places with Victorian-era, midcentury modern, or contemporary architecture. Huge agricultural presence. Every type of weather, extremely diverse culturally and ethnically. It's so vast that few natives have even seen everything the state has to offer.
I agree with this post. California -the golden state- is the quintasential all American place. Even tough it has it's very unique personality. At the same time it's like a mini U.S.
The last time I was in New Zealand, my client asked me about where I was from.
"Birmingham, Alabama."
"Oh. Well, that's not a very big city, now is it?"
"Not really. The metro area has about 1.1 million in it. Something like that."
She paused and laughed.
"Oh. That would make your city almost as big as Auckland." And then she told that joke to everyone for several days.
My point is definitely not to diminish New Zealand, because it's a great country. But even Alabama has a larger population than your country, and there are roughly 22 states more populous than Alabama, some many times so. So when you have a country with such a big population and encompassing so many geographic areas and distinct cultures, it would be impossible to really define the place by one state and certainly one city.
People in California are utterly distinct than people in the South who would be totally different from people in South Florida or Boston. I mean, when it is considered an achievement by well-educated and prosperous Americans to have visited all fifty states, that should tell you a great deal about my country. I mean, I've traveled far more than most people I've known, and I've only hit 35. The average American has only seen 19-20.
I mean, heck, there are plenty of states that could be multiple states just because of the huge cultural divides within them. Right now, some in California are entertaining the notion of splitting the state into five parts because of the huge differences. Louisiana is really two different states, as is Florida. Even in Alabama, you have the coastal culture, the middle agrarian section, and the industrialized and tech-based northern third.
So my encouragement to you would be to explore. Partake in a road trip. Get off the beaten paths, the sterile interstates, and travel some backroads. Pull into the town diner rather than the chain restaurant and talk to the locals. Take two months to do it, too. If that doesn't give you a feel for the country, I don't know what will.
I think too many people are down playing California. Just think about it- someone overseas gets a lot of their impression of America from TV and movies- and much of what they see takes place in California. So to be there seeing the Hollywood sign, the sights in Los Angeles that look all too familiar from the movies and TV shows- that would give a real American experience.
I guess there are multiple American experiences to be had, each is completely, 100% American, so a person would just need to take their pick on what experience they want. For small town, rural, cozy Americana the Midwest may be good, for the relatively old world colonial American feeling New England is best- but I really think from my experiences with people I have known from overseas, California gives them the American experience they were looking for. When going around Los Angeles they just felt it was so familiar, they were almost giddy being in the places and experiences they had seen countless on TV or in movies.
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