First impressions USA
Everything is bigger in America, and I don't mean that as a compliment. The first time I open a refrigerator on any visit back here, I find myself paralyzed for the first few seconds, just gazing into its cavernous depths and thinking, Who actually needs that much refrigeration?
Milk comes in massive gallon-sized jugs, vehicles are monstrous and roads are wide, loud, busy and impenetrable to all but cars. It takes some getting used to, when you've been away. I rarely have much reverse culture shock, so maybe this time's slightly above average level has something to do directly with George Mason University - and perhaps Virginia as a whole.
The campus, while nice enough, was hemmed in on all sides by depressing, barren highways; there was nothing edible within walking access except a little strip mall with a Domino's and a McDonalds. The downtown of Fairfax, VA, did have a few restaurants, but where are Germany's convenient kiosks and takeout stands where you can grab a snack, a quick meal, a beer? Or in Marisa's case, coming from Thailand, where are the ubiquitous 7-11 convenience stores?
The few people we interacted with on campus had a bland mainstream-ness (puffing through their weight-lifting routines, glancing at us out of the corners of their eyes as we were weird enough to do yoga in the workout room) that left me reminding Marisa and myself that this is not the only America that exists, and we shouldn't judge everything on the basis of Virginia.
One nice little moment in Fairfax, after we finally found some dinner and sat down on the grassy curb to wait for the shuttle that runs back to campus.
Dusk was just falling, the moon just rising. There were scattered fireflies, cicadas making their swelling racket, summer heat still hanging in the air. Something about the smell, something about the sleepy little town and the dormant fire station across from us, the noise of the cicadas, leaning back and feeling the rough grass under my hands, something about it evoked so utterly the nostalgic sense of American small town summer. And there was something very sweet about that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And indeed, I rode an actual train in the US! That's rare, that is. Amtrak from the DC area down to Durham, NC.
The main difference I noticed from European trains (well, aside from Amtrak's slow speed and extreme lateness) is that they seem to try to make the whole experience utterly idiot-proof, as if Americans would be incapable of finding a seat on their own, or finding their way back to the train station when they disembark. "Ladies and gentlemen, when you exit the train, turn left and walk toward the back of the train. When you reach the end, turn left, and look left, where you'll see the station." Seriously? And they really do make everyone line up at a single door and file through that bottleneck.
But other than that, it was pretty cool to find that American train travel is not completely dead, and even reasonably functional. Although I took a 7-hour train ride with only a bagel, a granola bar and some crackers because, of course, there was nowhere with food anywhere in the radius of the train station in Alexandria, VA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now I'm in Chapel Hill, NC, with my friend Rebecca, where it's 91° but "feels like" 102° according to the weather report.
Necessary consumable items checked off the list: Highly satisfying chock-full burrito! Ben and Jerry's milkshake!!
Milk comes in massive gallon-sized jugs, vehicles are monstrous and roads are wide, loud, busy and impenetrable to all but cars. It takes some getting used to, when you've been away. I rarely have much reverse culture shock, so maybe this time's slightly above average level has something to do directly with George Mason University - and perhaps Virginia as a whole.
The campus, while nice enough, was hemmed in on all sides by depressing, barren highways; there was nothing edible within walking access except a little strip mall with a Domino's and a McDonalds. The downtown of Fairfax, VA, did have a few restaurants, but where are Germany's convenient kiosks and takeout stands where you can grab a snack, a quick meal, a beer? Or in Marisa's case, coming from Thailand, where are the ubiquitous 7-11 convenience stores?
The few people we interacted with on campus had a bland mainstream-ness (puffing through their weight-lifting routines, glancing at us out of the corners of their eyes as we were weird enough to do yoga in the workout room) that left me reminding Marisa and myself that this is not the only America that exists, and we shouldn't judge everything on the basis of Virginia.
One nice little moment in Fairfax, after we finally found some dinner and sat down on the grassy curb to wait for the shuttle that runs back to campus.
Dusk was just falling, the moon just rising. There were scattered fireflies, cicadas making their swelling racket, summer heat still hanging in the air. Something about the smell, something about the sleepy little town and the dormant fire station across from us, the noise of the cicadas, leaning back and feeling the rough grass under my hands, something about it evoked so utterly the nostalgic sense of American small town summer. And there was something very sweet about that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And indeed, I rode an actual train in the US! That's rare, that is. Amtrak from the DC area down to Durham, NC.
The main difference I noticed from European trains (well, aside from Amtrak's slow speed and extreme lateness) is that they seem to try to make the whole experience utterly idiot-proof, as if Americans would be incapable of finding a seat on their own, or finding their way back to the train station when they disembark. "Ladies and gentlemen, when you exit the train, turn left and walk toward the back of the train. When you reach the end, turn left, and look left, where you'll see the station." Seriously? And they really do make everyone line up at a single door and file through that bottleneck.
But other than that, it was pretty cool to find that American train travel is not completely dead, and even reasonably functional. Although I took a 7-hour train ride with only a bagel, a granola bar and some crackers because, of course, there was nowhere with food anywhere in the radius of the train station in Alexandria, VA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now I'm in Chapel Hill, NC, with my friend Rebecca, where it's 91° but "feels like" 102° according to the weather report.
Necessary consumable items checked off the list: Highly satisfying chock-full burrito! Ben and Jerry's milkshake!!