Just wondering what the most American thing you've done/experienced since arriving in the USA?

For Tony, it was shooting a gun for the first time in his life and today he purchased some white socks (hahaha).

Karen

Getting totally ###### faced and not caring what people think about my rowdy behavior in a bar. oh wait! I'm american. I've been doing this for years here. ahahahahahahahahahha

i asked geoff and he said: turning a blind eye to bush destroying america!

Bought a coffee to go.....alien to me but very american

Probably for me it would be going to walmart in the wee hours of the morning when i had a bad craving for cookie dough ice cream

Also right now its dealing with the throw-away and don't care attitude that society has here about their dogs. I work at an animal shelter and its infuriating when I have to write out the umpteenth citation and give the same spiel ten times a day that the dog needs to be provided with adequate shade/food/water and confined! Then there are the eejits who turn up and just hand over their pet as they don't want it anymore...

taking the car everywhere you go...when jamie and I went on our first date we took the car to a restaurant that was 50 feet away...I still laugh about that!

Goin to the store at 2am wearing my pijamas

I agree I'm pretty shocked with the general attitude towards animals and pets in this country.

Most American thing I've done? Hmm...I try not to do any of them but I guess Moose watching (note NOT hunting) was right up there.

macdonald's drive through....bletchhhhhh

sanita say..eating a blizzrd from dq

Wearing shorts for the first time in my life!

I married an american girl

Driving through the orange traffic light instead of stopping - and having an additional 3 and 4 cars drive through the light after me!

Cut people off in traffic. But only if I really, really, really need to get somewhere ASAP!

Going to a drive-in bank ... and having a dog biscuit whizzed down the vacuum tube along with the receipt for our eager pup in the backseat.

This is an interesting thread. I don't have anything to add because I am the USC. I like reading the posts though.

Oh my how true this is !!!!!!!!!!!!! I am forever ranting that to hubby that I cannot beieve how everyone here sits and watches from the sidelines quietly

On a very personal note I knew I'd arrived when I succumbed out of desperation and put bleach into the washing machine

Drove from Oklahoma to Penn State, to look for a new house!!

36 hours with a 4 year old - NEVER AGAIN!

Going to a nightclub that had an exterior fully painted in cow print, and watching in astonishment people actually line-dancing!! Wasnt a line-dancing night, or event- just your average night out, and everyone was line dancing!!!!!!! i really couldnt believe it!

As a USC, I notice that most of the post here are from the UK end of the world. When I was living in the UK, I knew I had accepted my fate when I started walking the kids to the primary school in any weather, rain, snow and sleet. I've eaten haggis and liked it! And I do miss sticky toffee pudding. BUT NOW its his turn....

I've got hubby prepared for his new life here. He already has white socks, has bought coffee to go and although it bothers him, I've used bleach in my white wash loads. Now if he would only hurry up and get over here so that I can get him hooked on those DQ blizzards and truly air-conditioned cars.

I am confused... you don't use bleach in the UK at all? As it happens, I don't use it for my whites either, I am the USC.

eat chicken with Hot Pepper sauce < texas pete of course >
with sweet Iced tea ..



gonna take Javed line dancing when he arrive here..




Javed will proble freak about that...

Once when Billy said something funny, I told him, "You'll become an American yet!"

He said, "I could never be an American. I'm not a tiny woman driving a massive SUV through the bank while drinking my coffee and talking on my cell phone and reapplying my lipstick on the way to pick up the kids so that they can eat a cheeseburger out of a bag."

Oh, and he agrees that most of us seem to have an apathetic attitude toward the current governing body. Those "W" stickers on the back of the aforementioned SUV's really wind him up!

That's classic!

I guess I did think of one more American....going to a diner for breakfast.

Bleach? No way. We bought a front loader to avoid this. They should sell decent washing machines to stop this practice

(I can't understand why people think jumping lights or cutting up traffic is typically American. Doesn't that happen in literally every city in the world??)

We have been going out to breakfast a lot since Tony has arrived. It's very inexpensive and that was something that Tony hadn't done very much at all before. He's also ordered "gravy and biscuit" a few times!

Karen

Going to the drive-through bank and then stopping at the drive-through Krispy Kreme store on the way home because their hot-and-now sign is lit up

guess they've never driven in Italy...where the horn is the most important essential feature..

Anywhooo...I think I'd say for hubster...most American thing was going to a baseball game and having a hotdog. How all-American is that?? heh

Oooooh... I used to do that all the time back home...
It'd be... actually stopping at Stop signs....

I think one of the most American things Sujeet did was going to see an American President speak! I was working that day and I didn't even get to go. During the 2004 elections he went to a park to see Bush speak, and wasn't very far away from him either.



I guess whoever is complaining about American driving has never been to India or a place where they drive like they do in India. American roads (outside of major cities) are heavenly compared to that.

Our honeymoon was driving from LA to State College! 5 days and my wife was sick, so I had to do all the driving. Lovely!

Still, I saw a bald eagle in Utah. That was pretty American.

The most American thing I have probably ever done is tailgating for 8 hours and then going to a Penn State "Football" game.

I should say that the experience of sobering up for 4 hours in a stadium of 110,000 people isn't the greatest I've ever experienced. Personally I like to still be drunk by the time the game ends!

Some one cut us off in traffic and I showed my wife how to "flip them the bird"

Buying season tickets to the University of Nebraska football games, attending said games, and actually learning how to follow American football (Jan Erik is a soccer fanatic)....

Choosing a favorite brand of peanut butter. Skippy's honey roasted extra chunky...


My fiance arrives TONIGHT

-Kristin

Going to the drive-thru bank, beer store, burrito hut.

Cooking breakfast on the backyard grill.

4th of July fireworks with Jeb Bushs son George.

We went to Senor Frog's in Cancun and got totally blasted like a couple of spring breakers last week..woke up the next morning with horrible hangovers and a craving for Pancakes.

American Tourists in Mexico......

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guess they've never driven in Italy...where the horn is the most important essential feature..


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Thats so true!! Thats one thing from my country I dont miss AT ALL

[quote name='PaolaLew' date='Jul 19 2006, 02:32 AM' post='318244']
[/quote]
guess they've never driven in Italy...where the horn is the most important essential feature..


[/quote]


Thats so true!! Thats one thing from my country I dont miss AT ALL
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Yeah, my husband prefers the easier traffic and manual transmissions in America! ... I think I can answer for my husband that the most American thing he's done is shop regularly at 24-hour stores :-) and eat lots of donuts (his favorite American food).

tailgating at an american football game

well i havent yet but i get to do that in a few weeks

Drive aggressively, buy booze at a grocery store and eat french fries without vineger

3 dishes..

Pulled BBQ, Cornbread, and Sweet tea!!

get r dunnnnn

Eating junk food and getting fat.

And... I fired a gun.

Started off my sentences with, "So, like..."

Just to point out that buying booze at the grocery store cannot be considered to be a entirely "American" thing, because there are whole states where you cannot do this, e.g. Pennsylvania.

1. Paying with checks - I avoid it as much as I can, but my husband is very used to them.

2. Buying food in supermarkets only as small stores don't exitst where I live.

3. Sending my child to school on a school bus and not worrying if he will get to school safely.

4. Driving absolutely everywhere (I would walk with pleasure but the closest point of interest is 4 miles away from where I live).

5. Driving slower than I ever have before - I noticed a lot of people here say they drive fast. Where I live is perfectly normal for somebody to drive on one lane road 10 mph and everybody else is following this person and they seem to be ok with it. This would never happen in Poland.

6. Clipping out the coupons - I can't believe I am doing this

This thread is so neat... I can't wait to see which things my fiance does. He has sworn up and down to never do about a million "American" things (shop at a WalMart, drive a manual car, etc.) but I know it'll happen one day. At least when we come home for the holidays to my family's house... I had such fun reading this!

Don't forget going through the drive through pharmacy.

Tony

yes!!

I dont think they have peanut butter anywhere in France or Algeria !!

I did once! I forgot my PIN for my bank card I had never used a cheque to pay for anything in a store before. Its rare in Canada that stores will even still take a cheque anymore.

Bought a Sunday paper on a Saturday afternoon!

Had Keilbasa & Sauerkraut on New Years Eve (PA thing)

Waited til the afternoon for mail to arrive

Tipped a waitress even when her reply to thank you is "uh huh" or "yep" (OMG that pisses me off)

Fart and belch, while drinking beer and eating a chili cheese dog, watching a night time baseball game!

Chutima has done that since she's been here????????????

Since Simon dosen't get on here much, I thought I'd answer for him.....

Probably the most american thing he's done since coming here has been celebrating the 4th of July. He went to a 4th of July parade and a bbq. We even got him to wave the american flag