America

[MrMister]

Whats it like living in America ?

Is it true that every thing is larger than life there ?

[MarkRae]

> What's it like living in America?

I didn't like it much...


> Is it true that every thing is larger than life there?

No.

[MrMister]

What about the people ? I heard their really nice. I also heard that everything there is on a larger scale.

[Eve]

It's a very big place, not really something you can generalise.

[MarkRae]

> What about the people ? I heard [their] they're really nice.

I found the vast majority of them to be extremely insular and totally unaware of anything outside their own nation. They are indoctrinated from early childhood that they live in the greatest nation in the world and, even worse, that everyone else (apart from the AYE-rabs, of course) thought the same.


> I also heard that everything there is on a larger scale.

Must be true, then...

[evil__sheep]

as everywhere, some people are really nice and some people are horrible. Larger scale than what?

[MrMister]

Large scale as in over here you got corner shops, chip shops etc, but over there, even in residential areas, you get shops in sizes like super market stores. The roads are almost three times as wider then an average residential street.

I could be wrong of course as i have never been.

[RAV1D]

The amount of fuel you get for your money is larger than life if you compair it to over here in the uk.

[evil__sheep]

as to what it's like living there - it would depend very much on where you lived. I would guess living in alaska was quite different from living in hawaii

[MrMister]

I would love to go Beverly Hills. Anybody been ? Is it supposed to be dead posh ?

[evil__sheep]

what makes you want to go to beverly hills?

[MarkRae]

I was wondering the same thing! Whenever I'm in Los Angeles Beverley Hills is absolute last place I would want to go...

[boxtops]

I thought Beverley Hills was all residential, with security guards!

[MrMister]

Isn't BH supposed to be posh and wealthy area with gardens etc ?

[Meg]

Beverly Hills is very nice but we do not encourage tourists.
Sometimes I wish things here were larger than life.
I am not taking about my retired partner!!

[tigerlelly]

I lived in Alaska for sometime and loved every minute. I also liked Boston but I couldn't cope with the 'Deep South' because people talked so slowly that I could work out well ahead of time what they were going to say amd so it was very frustrating and boring.

[Carakeel]

It all depends on where in the US you are talking about. There are small towns and villages just like ours in the New England states, while in many other parts a town is just one main road, sometimes even a dirt road, with all the shops on it the same size as our small shops would be but not as nice as here. There a beautiful places and dreadful places, just like everywhere. So, you really need to state what part of the US you mean. As for the people? Most socialise far more than we do here in the UK. It is such a huge country and each state is different really. While you will get pretty white picket fences around beautiful gardens belonging to lovely family homes in the New England states, in Florida fencing often isn't allowed around your property. And yes, some things are larger than life, i.e. theme parks.

[VHG]

It is very easy to get an impression of America from TV shows and films and think that everyone is rich, everyone lives in big houses and has big cars and so on.

While a small percentage (like all countries) are rich and have big houses and cars, there are millions and millions of people who are VERY poor and live in caravans or awful slums.

I went to Orlando a few years ago on business and stayed near the theme parks. I fancied seeing the city centre (of Orlando) so took the bus into the city centre.

I went though some AWFUL areas, some looked like shanty towns from South Africa, and in fact I got a little frightened at some of the people getting on the bus and was glad whn I reached the city centre.

>I heard their really nice.

Many are really nice (on average nicer than people in the UK). However certain parts have some of the highest murder rates in the world, and if you venture into certain parts of certain cities you may not come out alive.

It is probably a fine country if you are white, have a job, have a bit of money, and live in a major city like New York or San Francisco.

But it is an awful country of you are black or mexican, have no job and no money. Or if you are an out of work farmer in one of the poor states.

Also they have no health service so if you fall ill and have no money you rely on charity.

And they have one of the largest prison populations in the world.

So it is a country of huge contrasts but the streets of the country are NOT paved with gold.

[VHG]

Look at this newspaper report from April this year.

Two British men on holiday in Florida who happened to find themselves in the "wrong" part of town, and both were killed by a 16 year old.

http://tinyurl.com/4y682bz

So it is not all wonderful over there.

[samak]

The deficit is definitely larger than life.

[MrMister]

Do they have terrace houses there ? Would you say the houses are expensive there compared to the houses here ?

I'm just thinking with regard to the exchange rate.