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Has anyone considered that Americans that go to foreign countries (especially outside Mexico and the Caribbean region) do not reflect the average American?
Other than military families, I would expect that average American abroad to be more well-educated and have a vaster fund of resources to draw from than the average American who never goes abroad.
Idk... i'm pretty dumb even compared to your average American and i've been abroad before
There is truth here as well. Even our cities are starting to lose their individual character. Buildings are looking the same, chain stores are now dominant. Suburbs have become even more generic than before. Even most new residences are now part of HOA's and look pretty much the same.
What people should do according to their predetermined role? Some reading this may slam me for this but it will prove that I will touch a nerve. Yes, we are like that in many ways. Of all the things mentioned, this is the one that really drives me crazy. As a Black male, I'm expected to talk a certain way, listen to certain types of music etc. Some will deny it but they are living under a rock if they do. I march to the beat of my own drum so for most people I know, I am weird. Whatever, I do what I want. Just today I had yet another one of those tiring conversations about me not wanting kids because "everyone wants kids". I like the freedom of bouncing around when I want. That's not common here.
Yes America is so chain dominated. Driving on the interstate one is bombarded with the same brand names over and over and over again. In Australia, you don't generally see McDonald's or Holiday Inn on a country drive. One still goes to some nice bakery or roadhouse and gets a meat pie. It removes the feeling of 'rurality' from cross-country driving. Although the Hume Highway/Freeway and Pacific Motorway is becoming that way.
Yeah definitely, Americans seem obsessed with placing you in groups according to your whatever, gender, age, race.etc. It starts in school with all the various cliques, and in some ways it seems these cliques and groups continue into adulthood. Of course it happens elsewhere, but peer pressure and conformity seems particularly strong in the States.
Right - like the stereotype that Americans do everything in groups. My husband and I have literally never taken a vacation with a group, we always travel alone -just the two of us. Even in the UK, where driving is so different,we flew in to London and picked up a rental car and took off into Yorkshire alone.
We do this every time we travel. I hate tour groups.
I met an American man in Stratford who was travelling alone - literally, by himself, he'd rented a car. My mother and I rented a car and drove round the English countryside for 6 days, it was great! Even getting lost down the little hedged laneways was pleasurable. Everything is so small and close together. Driving in West Australia is something else, it makes Texas look like England lol.
But yeah, it's a stereotype, but in my experience it does seem a definitely trend. I've noticed exceptions but I've seldom encountered solo American travellers (by themselves, not a couple of two), while European, Canadians and increasingly even Korean and Japanese (although yes those are still to be found in large groups) do so. I'm speaking mostly of younger backpackers, the demographic I've more familiar with.
Has anyone considered that Americans that go to foreign countries (especially outside Mexico and the Caribbean region) do not reflect the average American?
Other than military families, I would expect that average American abroad to be more well-educated and have a vaster fund of resources to draw from than the average American who never goes abroad.
I'm always aware of this, and this applies to all nationalities. However, Britons, Germans or Singaporeans are more likely to go overseas than Americans in the first place, and I've definitely seen a wide cross-society of each society, from not that well off to well off, working class to posh and educated. These days it is easier/more affordable to travel than ever. No longer is a trip to Europe only for the rich.
The funny thing about me when I traveled is that since I was born in the states and of Salvadorean descent, people assume that I'm from India or that I'm from Canada. Nobody ever assume that I'm American at all and find that unusual at first because it is very rare for Americans to travel by themselves and they are mostly loud. However I'm the opposite of that and Everybody assume that I'm Canadian.
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