Achoo....Bless You

This week marks the eighth week that I have spent in America and I am beginning to get the hang of American life, what words I have to replace (bin becomes trash can, jumper becomes sweater and queue becomes line for example), I am addicted to bagels and getting there with great coffee here and I can now cross American roads relativity safely.

Americans themselves are in significant ways different from Scottish people. Americans tend to be a lot more inward looking at their country the belief that "I'm American therefore i'm right" does prevail to an extent. I would perhaps say this is due to the media dedicating very little time to international events instead choosing to talk about how there is a lawsuit against McDonalds for its coffee being too hot. Also the strong nationalism that is here obviously has an effect on this attitude. The humour is different as well. Although the old stereotype of Americans not getting sarcasm is not 100% true being a sarcastic person I often find they are confused in what i'm saying if im serious or not. They feel the need to explain everything to you even although you have told them that you know the subject also.

All that being said the American people do have many strengths. I find that people here are generally a lot nicer than most people in Glasgow and willing to accommodate you. I was in the library the other day and someone at one end of the room sneezed at least 3 people on the opposite side rushed to say "bless you" it was strange. When people hold a door for you and you thank them it is followed by a acknowledgement of your thanks. When you go to a shop and pay the cashier you will always get a really nice "have a nice day" followed by a smile not the "NEXT" or disinterest im accustomed to. The mix of race that America is famous for is evident everywhere from the streets to the food. Walking down Buchanan street you would mainly see British/Scottish white- Caucasian and a few members of the Asian communities. Walking down a street in New York, New Paltz or Kingston you can see Jews in full Jewish clothing, Hispanics, African Americans, those of Irish, British, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American, French, German and Eastern Europe to name but a few racial groups. I have often gotten the story of how people are 1/10 Scottish. As the people are far more integrated so naturally is culture far more diverse, it really shows just how different Scotland is in this regard.

Other points; my blog has received around 400 views in the eight weeks its been around, Its mainly people using internet explorer and from the UK it tells me but to the people in Russia, Latvia , Germany and those in Canada also I would like to say Hi. I have also had a fair number of readership from here in the US.