International perception of Minnesota (stations, gas, affluent)

[Joe90]

There was a dance teacher at school from Minnesota, so hippies was probably my first impression. Also a shampoo advert with blonde nordic women, set to a song about little green apples in Minneapolis -very summery, particularly the way the sun sparkled in their hair.

I would also go with watching Fargo, as my main impression now (Yar).

[Scotslass]

In the Midwest, nice people, very cold winters, very green, lots of forests, lakes, ice fishing, snowmobiles, predominantly flat, great deer hunting, close to Canada, accents are hybrid, The Twin Cities.

[BIMBAM]

We tend to hear about it second hand, from the entertainment industry which is centred on the coasts. We know it's cold, it has some sort of a distinct regional accent (if you're an English speaker, non-English speakers wouldn't know that), and it's rural and white. I've heard of Minneapolis as the biggest city but I don't know anything about it. I generally assume Minnesota is boring unless you like to do outdoorsy stuff like hunting and fishing.

[Jaggy001]

Isn't a Prairie Home Companion about Minnesota?

[City Data Guy]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Most people in the world have probably never even heard of it.

This is probably it.

[dunno what to put here]

Frigid winters, hot summers, tornadoes, thunderstorms, winter sports, lots of lakes and forests. That's what I usually associate Minnesota with.

And I think most people will have heard of Minnesota - even my mother and grandmother who know nothing about geography know Minnesota.. US states are pretty well known worldwide, even if people know little about them.

[MJay]

I believe that a typical European would know hardly anything about Minnesota apart from the fact that it's located somewhere in North America.

[City Data Guy]

Originally Posted by MJay

I believe that a typical European would know hardly anything about Minnesota apart from the fact that it's located somewhere in North America.

This. Most non-Americans have probably heard of only New York City and California for obvious reasons. There's more to America than those two places.

[glass_of_merlot]

Swedish Perception.

Swedish
Hockey
Cold Winters
Willhelm Moberg

[Ghengis]

I think this famous World War I pilot was from there...

(from wiki)