Hey, I’m from Germany and due to financial constraints and insecurities I haven’t gotten to the US even though it always was my biggest dream since I was a kid (I’m 20 now).
I generally have lot of personal worries/struggles and think if I’m not good enough for the US. Also internet encounters increased my worries if the US isn’t as good I thought and not right for me.
But maybe it’s the country I belong, unfold and miss my lifetime opportunity. It’s just very hard to judge without being there.
16 comments
Why do you feel an attachment to the US?
If you are not financially stable in the first place, then the US is not where you want to be. It’s not the place of opportunity it is romanticized to be. If you get lucky and work hard there’s a chancs you can live comfortably. Or if you get unlucky you might be indebted with medical bills for your life. Very few safety nets.
To answer the question in the title: no. Also, there is no one “American experience”. Your experience is going to vary wildly based off various factors (financial situation, location, etc).
If you are interested in living in the US but not 100% sure you wanna make that big of a life change, I’d recommend looking to see if there’s programs where native speakers of German can come to the US to teach German for a year. I met someone in Spain who did that for Spanish, they ended up in Texas for a year. This experience would allow you to have a “test run”.
This may sound weird, but the European place with the most American urban design in my opinion is Warsaw, Poland. That would be a very easy trip for you from Germany.
Life in the US is pretty simple. Most people wake up, drive to work, listen to a podcast in the car, work all day, then come home tired, then watch tv before going to bed. Coffee in the morning. Sandwich or salad at lunch. Some sort of quick and filling meal for dinner. Some texting with family / friends / group chats throughout the day. Some social media use during moments of downtime. Hopefully they work out a little, usually after work. Thats about it.
On the weekends, people sleep in a little longer. They run some errands, going to Target and/or the grocery store. They meet up with friends at night. Maybe go on a date if they’re dating.
So…yeah. Vast majority of time is spent at home, at work, at a store buying something they need, and at a bar or someone’s apt/house on the weekends.
Canada
I’ve been to Germany and I live in Pennsylvania, one of the most-heavily settled German areas of the U.S.
All I can say is right now is that politically, socially and economically the U.S. isn’t in a good place overall. You might be better off staying in Deutschland, tbh.
I think another commenter said it best. There is no one defining American experience. Life in Chicago will feel different from life in Boise, or Honolulu, or Phoenix, or Baton Rouge.
If you’re interested in America, maybe try reading history books about critical time periods like the Great Depression, the Colonial Era, and the Gilded Age.
You could also watch Youtube videos that discuss the culture of different cities/states. I always enjoy street interview channels.
Lots of variables here—why are you interested in moving to the US (work, study, travel)? And are there any specific regions you’re interested in? (NYC is extremely different from somewhere like Arizona). Culturally, the UK and Ireland are probably the closest to the US in Europe, though they’re still pretty different. Working for a US company in Europe is another good way to get a sense of US culture.
The US is likely neither as great as you hope nor as bad as you fear. The Germans I’ve known who absolutely thrive here have been “square peg in round hole” type people. Germany has a lot of strict unwritten rules and the social norms can be very formal, so people who don’t fit in to that can feel more themselves in a country where rules/norms are much looser and society is more individualistic.
There isn’t really any such thing as “life in the U.S.” Living in Brooklyn is very different from living in small-town Mississippi, for example.
>I’m not good enough for the US
What does that even mean? What personal qualities do you think you’re lacking that would disqualify you from living in the U.S.?
Try giving away a shit ton of money every time you need medical attention. That’s life in the U.S.
I know that the media and movies and shows make the US look like this Utopia the US is just like any other country It has its problems and a lot of Americans will say that and I think a lot of people on this on the sub red it will say the exact same thing and agree with me, but if you are set of you wanting to live in the US like in a couple of years from now, I would make a trip, find a city that you want to visit and try to get the American experience. I would stay away from the big cities like San Francisco and LA New York because those cities aren’t realistic when it comes to the real American experience.
“Your mileage may vary” is our way of saying that your experience will vary significantly depending on what you are looking for, where you settle, your circle of friends, how much money you make, etc.
Northern Virginia is a wildly diverse metropolitan bubble, Alaska is (literally) wild, Texans are incredibly warm people, and living in California is expensive (maybe not as bad as NoVA). That’s just glancing over the first thing that comes to my mind about living in those places.
I don’t think there’s a good way to experience any of it, and it’s not for everyone. I can’t really think of anywhere I’ve been in Europe that would appropriately compare. You could maybe find a penpal in the US using the “Slowly” App without leaving home.
What are you looking to experience/what do you think is the life experience here, OP? That’s a place to start.
Go to an NFL football game next time in Germany thats as American as you can get in your country.
Not good enough for the US! Boss, we got all kinds.
And as others have said, there is no singular American Experience. My Brooklyn ass has very little in common with a Wyoming cattle farmer.
One of the most reasonable paths to the U.S. is through our universities. If you can’t get into school here for an MBA or other graduate school program, you could still study abroad from a program in Europe, which would be a way to get a few months of exposure to see if you like it. And better yet, it might make you a better candidate for jobs you want.
Canada is like USA Zero, and UK is like Diet USA, but if you want USA Diesel, you gotta come to the states.
Australia is Pepsi in this analogy.
Watch YouTube channels such as Lost in the Pond. It’s a guy from Britain named Lawrence. He talks about his experiences living in the US. He lives in Chicago. His channel is great and very entertaining. Also, there’s Feli from Germany. She’s German and lives in the US as well.
https://youtube.com/@FelifromGermany?si=https://
https://youtube.com/@LostinthePond?si9=Lw87YOJS7rzciNyC