Diego Alonso Virgues (Convospeak) | 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to the US; Weird Things America Does and Advice for Foreigners @ConvoSpeak | Uploaded July 2020 | Updated October 2024, 58 minutes ago.
I really wish I knew these 7 things before moving to the US. This are some weird things America does!
Watch Next in convospeak:
Can a Spanish Speaker Understand European Portuguese, Romanian and Chavacano? Ultimate Challenge
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Different Accents from Spain. How to Speak like a Spaniard
youtu.be/KjBmGlljpb4
As you know our channel explores different Latino accents broken down, we have explore the accents from Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and many other countries. We also compare languages and talk about Hispanic culture. The video today focuses on something different. We will learn things I would tell myself before coming to the US. In particular, I will focus on weird things America does. My hope is to shed some light into what is like in America and how it is to live in the US. The tips are geared towards immigrants coming to this country, in particular Latino immigrants in the US, but any foreigner can really benefit and learn how it is to live in the US. I hope you enjoy our video and maybe don't have to tell yourself "oh I wish I knew this before coming to the US." You will be equipped with excellent tips for immigrants, some of the things are goofy but some of it I would consider important advice for living in the US. Sit down and enjoy thing that they don't tell you about America.
Happy watching
Rough Script
What’s up guys! It has been now almost ten years since I came to the US, and today I am going to travel back in time to tell myself 7 things I wish I knew before coming to the US.
Let’s start with number 1 that I wish I knew is the obscene use of A/C
Americans at least in the north spend all winter complaining about how cold it is. Trust me many of them hate winter, but when it is finally nice outside they blast the AC back to winter. All of the jobs that I had that had AC I was freezing and in pain in the middle of summer. And it is worse because you don’t think to bring a sweater when it is 80 degrees out (26 degrees) and then you are stuck in arctic temperatures all day… I think in the US a lot of people run warm all the time and they really love it. So if you are going to an indoor place in the summer bring a sweater.
Number 2 is that because it is a big country distances are huge and there is for the most part no public transport!
In my country when you go to the store you usually walk, but in the US just in the walmart parking lot you see the curvature of earth, and walking just takes forever! Then the public transport is just not there. I use to take buses from my home in the suburbs to my work in Detroit and it would take me 2 hours for something that takes 20 minutes in a car. Going between cities and towns is virtually impossible. Many towns just don’t have public buses and trains available, and if they do, they usually suck. I have been stood up by Greyhound often and trains are always out of schedule.
Number 3 is everybody's from somewhere else. This is one to the things I find most puzzling of the US. You often hear Americans having these discussion. And I feel this is more common with white Americans. Where are you from? What is your nationality? O I am Polish! But believe me they are not Polish or Dutch, Senegalese or French. They probably have never been to the country or speak the language. They are often talking about their ethnic heritage which for the most part has been lost in the melting pot. Companies like Ancestry.com are making big buck! It is cool that Americans look at their past as immigrants and that they are very interested in their families immigration stories.
Number 4. Americans like friends but life here is not like friends. I grew up watching friends and I expected my life to be just like that. To have this cool group of friends with whom we hang out all the time and lots of free time. The reality is that making friends in the US is hard like everywhere. People are very kind and polite but it takes a long time to get into a deep friendship and sometimes it is impossible. Don’t mistake friendliness with being friends. ALso in the US expect to work a lot. I feel Americans feel bad about taking lots of time off and there is no rest for the weekend sometimes. Americans are very focused on productivity. All you hear on a sunny weekend are the sound of lawnmowers or leaf blowers. The weekend is to work on the lawn which is something else I don’t understand
Number 5 is that politics is a topic that is off the table. In my country, politics seems to be what we most often talk about and it is okay to have back and forth. I am not saying the conversations are civil all the time, but in the US people really prefer not to talk politics. It is considered a very sensitive topic and disagreement is very awkward. (continues...) Request complete transcript in the comments. Thank you for watching convospeak!
I really wish I knew these 7 things before moving to the US. This are some weird things America does!
Watch Next in convospeak:
Can a Spanish Speaker Understand European Portuguese, Romanian and Chavacano? Ultimate Challenge
youtu.be/tkyLN_OBoaw
Different Accents from Spain. How to Speak like a Spaniard
youtu.be/KjBmGlljpb4
As you know our channel explores different Latino accents broken down, we have explore the accents from Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and many other countries. We also compare languages and talk about Hispanic culture. The video today focuses on something different. We will learn things I would tell myself before coming to the US. In particular, I will focus on weird things America does. My hope is to shed some light into what is like in America and how it is to live in the US. The tips are geared towards immigrants coming to this country, in particular Latino immigrants in the US, but any foreigner can really benefit and learn how it is to live in the US. I hope you enjoy our video and maybe don't have to tell yourself "oh I wish I knew this before coming to the US." You will be equipped with excellent tips for immigrants, some of the things are goofy but some of it I would consider important advice for living in the US. Sit down and enjoy thing that they don't tell you about America.
Happy watching
Rough Script
What’s up guys! It has been now almost ten years since I came to the US, and today I am going to travel back in time to tell myself 7 things I wish I knew before coming to the US.
Let’s start with number 1 that I wish I knew is the obscene use of A/C
Americans at least in the north spend all winter complaining about how cold it is. Trust me many of them hate winter, but when it is finally nice outside they blast the AC back to winter. All of the jobs that I had that had AC I was freezing and in pain in the middle of summer. And it is worse because you don’t think to bring a sweater when it is 80 degrees out (26 degrees) and then you are stuck in arctic temperatures all day… I think in the US a lot of people run warm all the time and they really love it. So if you are going to an indoor place in the summer bring a sweater.
Number 2 is that because it is a big country distances are huge and there is for the most part no public transport!
In my country when you go to the store you usually walk, but in the US just in the walmart parking lot you see the curvature of earth, and walking just takes forever! Then the public transport is just not there. I use to take buses from my home in the suburbs to my work in Detroit and it would take me 2 hours for something that takes 20 minutes in a car. Going between cities and towns is virtually impossible. Many towns just don’t have public buses and trains available, and if they do, they usually suck. I have been stood up by Greyhound often and trains are always out of schedule.
Number 3 is everybody's from somewhere else. This is one to the things I find most puzzling of the US. You often hear Americans having these discussion. And I feel this is more common with white Americans. Where are you from? What is your nationality? O I am Polish! But believe me they are not Polish or Dutch, Senegalese or French. They probably have never been to the country or speak the language. They are often talking about their ethnic heritage which for the most part has been lost in the melting pot. Companies like Ancestry.com are making big buck! It is cool that Americans look at their past as immigrants and that they are very interested in their families immigration stories.
Number 4. Americans like friends but life here is not like friends. I grew up watching friends and I expected my life to be just like that. To have this cool group of friends with whom we hang out all the time and lots of free time. The reality is that making friends in the US is hard like everywhere. People are very kind and polite but it takes a long time to get into a deep friendship and sometimes it is impossible. Don’t mistake friendliness with being friends. ALso in the US expect to work a lot. I feel Americans feel bad about taking lots of time off and there is no rest for the weekend sometimes. Americans are very focused on productivity. All you hear on a sunny weekend are the sound of lawnmowers or leaf blowers. The weekend is to work on the lawn which is something else I don’t understand
Number 5 is that politics is a topic that is off the table. In my country, politics seems to be what we most often talk about and it is okay to have back and forth. I am not saying the conversations are civil all the time, but in the US people really prefer not to talk politics. It is considered a very sensitive topic and disagreement is very awkward. (continues...) Request complete transcript in the comments. Thank you for watching convospeak!
