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Abhinand,
India
I actually like the fact that you can say "hi" to people over here,
because that way one thing nice is you can make a lot of friends.
They may not be very deep, very good friends, but you can still make
a lot of friends.
One of the things that I like is they're humorous, they have a good
sense of humor, and another thing that I really like is that they're
hard working, and they have a good work ethic, and they get things
done. They take pride in their work and they value time.
It seems like they just like to talk about problems instead of actually
just doing something about it. So, for example, if somebody's not
good at math, instead of working hard and becoming better, they'll
sit and they will talk about "I have a learning disability, I have
this problem, I have that problem" like making excuses, a little bit.
And sometimes it's like, "okay, this is where you are at and you need
to work hard and come up." One thing is that in India and the Middle
East that I notice is, you don't keep on saying "oh, I have problems,
I have problems." Okay, you have a problem, now let's do something
about it. Rather than talk, talk, talk. That's something that I noticed. |
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John,
Malaysia
People are friendly here but after you've lived here for a while,
you get to see that everybody has their own sort of individual life.
It's always "hi", and so on but "bye, and I have my own routine, you
have yours." You don't really get close to them so easily. They are
friendly but there's something more that's a friendship. I think quite
a lot of people find that missing. On the positive side, people are
a lot more independent and tolerant than they are in Malaysia. I appreciate
that here.
It's strange that Americans are so...I am not talking about highly
educated ones, but they're just kind of mind-bogglingly unaware of
anything outside of the States. So, of course, you know, "we are the
greatest." But you've never seen anything else. When you go on holiday,
you just go to what, Las Vegas or something like that. I mean, in
England or in Europe, people just travel. Travel all over the place.
When they have holidays, they go somewhere. And they travel in a way
that enriches them, I find. Here there is a lot less of that. |
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Mia,
Finland
I think they are very unworldly. They kind of it's all about America,
American people, American everything. But they don't really know about
the rest of the world at all. They tend to think everybody likes America.
I also think that Americans feel like they are not as vulnerable as
anybody else in the world. There are people who been living for tens
of years under bomb threats and in war, and they don't even seem to
realize that. That is like every day life for people in other countries.
Even if it's they don't have enough food. They are starving. Or bombing.
Or war. But most Americans just are not aware of it.
It's the whole society - when you look at the homes, everything looks
perfect on the outside. You come across like being the perfect student
or a perfect everything. But then when you get to know somebody or
really get in deep, they are not that perfect. None of us are perfect.
But the Americans really want to come across like perfect. And that
they know a lot of things about everything. They want to kind of voice
up and talk about things. Even if they don't maybe know so much about
it. But just to have something to say.
My first impression of Americans was that was that they had a tendency
of saying "Oh, yeah, let's get together, and let's hang out. And let's
do this." But then they don't really mean what they say, and say what
they mean. Back home we tend to be a little bit more reserved and
quiet. Don't make such a big deal out of everything. Or a big scene.
But when they do say something, they mean it. |
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Takeyuki,
Japan
Some Americans don't have good perspective of the whole world. They
have a picture of the United States in their mind, but they don't
know where Japan is, where Europe is...The United States is a big
country, and I think some people are feeling it is not necessary to
be global. If you have that kind of attitude, you don't see what's
better in other nations.
They're kind of friendly and open to a complete stranger. People come
up to me, like: "Hey, how's it going?" even though I don't know them.
I kind of like that. |
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Patrik,
Sweden
It seems like from students to my employer who is almost 80 years
now, everyone seems to have this idea that America is the best country
in the world, in wherever area. Some areas, of course, they are. But
I think people here don't travel to Europe so much, so they just be
fed by media that this is the greatest country in the world. And to
me, the culture here where you have to take the car everywhere where
you go, everything is so spread out with suburban areas, and you don't
see many people walking around, it's not the same community feeling
that you have in Sweden, or Europe. |
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What
do you think?
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