[wideawake]

I knew that immigration officers at the airport are not as terrifying as they are said to be (or maybe I’m just lucky).

Or maybe you're just hot.

[Michael.SF.]

She seems like a sweet young girl.

Americans still manage to run their country relatively simply, effectively, and with a great dose of common sense.

I bit nieve, but she will learn.

[2banana]

Voting and working, words almost forgotten in Europe, seem to be basis of American society. For a European it is surprising that here hard work is considered something of which to be proud, not ashamed.

GOOD LINE...!

[untenured]

I wouldn't exaggerate the "Americans are more polite" argument. One time in Osaka outside the wrong train station I asked a guy going in, in very primitive Japanese, how to get to the one I wanted. He told me very patiently. But what was really surprising is that about five minutes later he turned around and tracked me down, presumably missing his train, to tell me he had given me directions to a station on a different line, and then gave me proper directions.

People openly discuss politics, the economy, and, most astoundingly, they vote. Voting and working, words almost forgotten in Europe, seem to be basis of American society.

My understanding is that turnout rates are higher in most European countries than the U.S., but I could be mistaken. Certainly the idea of active citizenship is something that some Americans (but fewer over time IMHO) take very seriously next to Europe. Democracy, or republicanism if you prefer, is the secular religion of many of us.

For a European it is surprising that here hard work is considered something of which to be proud, not ashamed.

This I absolutely agree with. There was a Freeper, whose name unfortunately escapes me, who became terminally ill. I remember him saying that one of the last things he wanted to accomplish was to get his software business up and running. This is a profoundly American thing to do. Like many Americans, he believed that commerce in general and his work in particular was something valuable to society, not something to escape from the way Europeans treat it.

Immigration, Then and Now.

[anonymoussierra]

thank you"Valin"/dzieki

[Aquinasfan]

So I already knew that American English is different from British.

"Billion" is "milliard" in British. Really. I'm still recovering from that one.

[Revolting cat!]

For a European it is surprising that here hard work is considered something of which to be proud, not ashamed.

Almost true, but. It's been said that Europeans work to live while Americans live to work. No, workaholism is nothing to be proud of. (I haven't known a European who's "ashamed" of hard work.)

[tomjohn77]

Your right on some things here, but on average just around 55% of voters vote in elections. You are right that most Americans say more thank you, please etc.
It might be so that people are ashamed of hard efficient work in Poland, but that is because you were communist. This is not way it works in most of Western Europe exluding the French.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

But despite the P.C. ideology, Americans still manage to run their country relatively simply, effectively, and with a great dose of common sense.

Compared to what the Europeans are doing, this is true.

[Modernman]

First thing that stunned me was the city itself. I expected it to be a capital like London, Berlin, or Warsaw—modern, full of tall buildings and daily rush. Washington, or, as I like to call it, “Washington Village,” is cozy, full of greenery and calm. Washingtonians seem unlike people in other capitals. I mean, they are kind.

DC is a great town. It's a fantastic place to live. You get to meet people from all over the US, as well as around the world (I just met a Mongolian for the first time at the Four Seasons' bar this weekend).

What's especially great is that DC is cosmopolitan without being overwhelming. Even interns fresh off the turnip truck from South Dakota can get used to the District very quickly.

[Clemenza]

Good article. Oddly enough, my great-grandfather had the same appreciation of the American work ethic when he came to this country from Poland, according to members of my family.

It never ceases to amaze me how many foreigners I have met, whether from Poland, Costa Rica, or the Phillipines, expect America to be just like "Friends" and get here and realize that we are much more complex, culturally and otherwise than depicted on TV. Another thing foreigners tend to notice is how Americanized second-generation children of immigrants are.

[tomjohn77]

One of my class mates was half Polish. He went down there when they were still communist. He said it was incredible how slow people could work. There were several men that was making small walkpath of some kind. They had started before he arrived and was still not finished after two weeks. He found it very amusing and strange. Just like it was a game going on who can work the slowest. It could be three people working in a small shop and you still didnt get service even if you were the only one there.

[ladyjane]

Some of the things Olga says just don't ring true. Anybody else out there wondering if a young Polish girl wrote this?

[John O]

FYI

[RockinRight]

Olga, welcome to America.

If you choose to stay and become a citizen, I'll also gladly welcome you to the Republican Party where you'll feel right at home.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Another surprise was political correctness. I heard about how careful you have to be in America not to insult racial or sexual minorities, and that even mentioning them in a neutral way can be considered offensive...

When British turncoat spy and flamboyant homosexual Guy Burgess was posted to a diplomatic position in Washington in the 1950's, he was warned that three topics are taboo in the U.S: race, homosexuality and Communism. "So, I mustn't make a pass at Paul Robeson.", he quipped.

He was sent home after being stopped by a Virginia State Trooper, drunk with a teen aged boy in his convertible Cadillac.

[Textide]

I like this girl.

Once dated a Swiss girl that had only been in the US for a couple of months. On walks she'd ask why I would wave and greet everyone that passed us by (in a small town). I asked her, "Why not?". It doesn't cost anything to be nice, and the reward of seeing the other person smile at being on the receiving end of courtesy is satisfying. She liked that and adopted the practice.

[doug from upland]

Despite the nasty Democrats, maybe more people are nice in DC right now because the Republicans are in charge and there are more Republicans working in the district.

When I went to the Inauguration in January, I got my ticket for the subway and realized about two minutes later that I left my gloves where I got my ticket. By the time the escalator got to the bottom and then got back up, it was probably five minutes.

It was amazing. Someone turned in my gloves. Then I thought, no it wasn't amazing. This is Inauguration Day. The DemocRATS have all left town, and the Republicans are overwhelming the town. It should be expected that the gloves would be turned in. (fortunately, they were not found by any of the lowlife protestors)

[Clock King]

Yet when I went to the movies to see Hustle & Flow, a movie about rap music, ...

This is what Hollywood Liberals (racists that they are) think of black people. Most black people hate movies like this and condemn them. Like we did with that Snoop Dogg movie, Soul Plane. But Hollywood keeps presenting these evil images of Black people to the world.