Friday, June 1, 2007

What impressed me about USA in 1993 (& Today holds)

Another blog asked: describe some of the culture shocks you experienced when you came here to the USA from Poland. I thought why not include it here as well. Here it is. It is hard to remember, some may be more general impressive things than those from when I came here, but here is the best I can come up with. (FYI, I am Polish Immigrant, first-generation, living in the USA)
  1. my independence and ability to start life with very little money completely on my own
  2. people not jumping to conclusions and judgments
  3. optimism and general understanding that everyone has an opinion (although I did not express any controversial [political] opinions at the beginning)
  4. mature capitalism, respect of the law (contract), and entrepreneurial spirit of most people even if they do not engage in entrepreneurial activities
  5. nicely cut grass and grass cutting industry
  6. air conditioning
  7. do-it-yourself culture (why hire a person to put tile if you can do it yourself)
  8. respect of the student, his/her rights, and ability to plan and choose classes. Lack of “God Professors” who can negate the entire semester of your work because of their humor during the final only one exam. Instead, students earn their grades throughout the semester and it is often possible students could skip finals and still get B (4) …
  9. incredibly hot girls! (as a father today, I see them a bit as little naïve College Girls but I was 13 years younger then … )
  10. genuine care of my well-being by many and no Mr. I know it all bureaucrat that is meaningful to you in some office just … because he or she feels like it. (Related to rule of law)
  11. ability to seriously and realistically plan for the future
  12. Overall general respect of one's work, even physical – a contrast to Polish culture of fast cars and cool fast money that was present at that time in Poland. (And is perhaps to some degree today)
FYI, I can write about 100 points that I do not like here, but you probably will hear about it sooner or later so let me just finish here. (Example) Sincerely, Shamick Przemek Gaworski

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

USA #1!!! ALWAYS AND FOREVER