What I do and do not miss about the US

I think one of the first questions I get asked about when I say I am living in Germany is “Oh don’t you miss the US?” which usually gets a quick chuckle and “no!” from me. Even when I was doing my masters in the UK, people often asked if I miss my family or friends, or how could I not go home the whole year?! For me it is easy, of course I miss my family and friends but I rather go explore than go home. Plus going home is super expensive, so I rather take 4 trips for what it cost to go home! It is a no brainer for me! Not to mention I am near a military base so if I do get homesick, I can go there and get some crappy American comfort food!

I am only 26 and I have lived out of the country for about 2.5 years (not all at once), which isn’t that long of that period when you think about. There are obviously other things I miss about home, but there are just as many (if not more) things I do not miss. I am sure anyone who has lived or studied abroad can relate to this. So here are some things I do and do not miss about the good ole USA.

What I miss most about ‘merica!

I miss how easy it is
I know that sounds weird how I phrased it, but the US is easy because I grew up there. I know how to react, I know how to read people, I know the norms and taboos, I know if someone is being sarcastic and when they are not, I know what to say and what not to say, and so much more. Do you know how many times I joked that someone was English when they were Irish?! Not something you want to confuse as someone may get pretty insulted and rightfully so.

Living someone new, you are constantly on edge. You are trying to read a situation, trying to understand a reaction, or for me, just trying to figure out what they are even saying! I know it sounds bad, but a lot of the time I think German sounds angry. So when I am shopping, it is hard to tell if someone may be yelling or mad or simply talking to me. I do not know how to read the situation or even understand them. Hence I am out of my comfort zone all the time. But secretly, I LOVE it. When you get comfy, you get lazy and that is when you stop appreciating things and learning, in my opinion at least.

I miss driving and the freedom of it
I don’t always miss driving, as I tend to get road rage a lot when I do, but I do miss the freedom of it. Going where you want, when you want, is something many people take for granted. Until you know the struggle of relying on public transport and having to go at random times and being stranded for a bit, you will take for granted a car. I once left my apartment at 4 am to catch 5:30 am bus, all because that was the only bus to Metz, France for the day. Plus I had to walk 45 minutes in the dark to the bus station since buses don’t run that early and I didn’t have a car to drive there. The struggles.

I miss the sheer volume of choices
Think of Meijer, Walmart, or any major supermarket and the number of options you have. There is a whole aisle for frozen pizza, a whole aisle for chips, a whole aisle of leafy greens, there are SO MANY CHOICES! Now many of those options may not be good for you, but you at least have the option. Not many places over have that and I miss it at times. Here, you are limited by choice and the size of the store for that matter. You certainly can’t find as much junk food or you may not even be able to find something. Sometimes I just really want that bag of sun chips ya know. It is not just junk food though. I have been here for almost a year and I have yet to find any freaking kale, arugula, or any leafy green besides lettuce and spinach! I don’t know what is up with that but the selection is not there.

I miss English
That is a given. German is great and all but hand signals only go so far for so long. I know what you are thinking, well Andrea why don’t you just learn German then? That is simply, it doesn’t make sense to me! Anyone who knows me knows that I SUCK with languages, shit half the time my English doesn’t even make sense so learning another language is basically never going to happen as much as I want it to!

I miss my friends, pets, and family
Another given. As I don’t have any family here and barely any friends, it makes me miss them more. However, I do talk to them a lot, so that helps! I also make my parents show me my cats whenever we facetime, it is not weird, I swear!

I miss (English) books and thrift stores
Seriously though, it is so hard to find a damn book in English here. I usually buy my books at charity shops since I read them so quickly and so many of them, but I can not find any shops here that sell more than a few English books. Thankfully I travel back to the UK enough so I can stock up whenever I go! I do love me those cancer research shops!

I miss American football and craft beer/breweries
Ice hockey and football, the American classic. Oh, wait that is baseball right? Either way, football and hockey are my fav. There is just something right about a crisp Saturday night and a football game. Plus tailgating, oh yeah!

I went to school that had about 12 breweries in the city? Or something close to that. On top of that, Michigan has a ton of other breweries that are sold at the bars as well. What does that all mean? It means when I started going to the bar, I went to breweries and drank good beer. It kind of made me a snob since drinking domestics are kind of considered a sin. Of course I still drink them but I hate it! Maybe I am drinking the wrong german beer but I am just not a fan! I think a big part of this is I am in a smaller city so I don’t always find all the craft beers in the store. I have some good crafts but not as many as I would like!

I miss sour patch kids and taco bell
Here is where my inner child comes in. This is my go-to comfort junk food. I LOVE sour candy and tbell. It is quite sad I know but seriously I’d kill for those right now, yum.

I’d say that is a pretty good quick list of things I miss. I am sure there is more, but those are the big ones, for now at least.

What I do not miss about ‘merica

I do not miss how expensive it is
I can not afford to live in the US, it is as easy as that. Everything is expensive: rent, car insurance, health insurance, bills, higher education, food, water, literally everything. I could live there, but I would never save any money. Here I pay around 350-375 euros a month for all my bills including rent, water, electricity, phone, and internet. I couldn’t even get close to that cheap in the US. Since everything is much cheaper over here, I am saving tons of money which is awesome!

I do not miss the rape culture, victim-blaming, and blatant racism
The US is notorious for its “boys will be boys” and “she was drunk/dressed like that/she was asking for it” attitude. All it shows is how highly ignorant and uneducated most of America is when it comes to those topics. Not to mention how racist and vocal people are now a day, it makes me sick. The videos you see online, I just do not understand people. Sorry if you are one of them, but this is not the place for you.

I do not miss the president/ politics
Again, sorry if you are a trump supporter, but I am not. I do not understand how such a large country with so many educated people could be moving so backward as a nation. Alabama, what the actual fuck? I won’t say more because it is a touchy topic but I am so glad I am out of the country for now because I am ashamed of it at times.

I do not miss how expensive travel is
Travel is essential for me. It is how I feel alive, how I learn, how I grow, how I say sane for that matter. There are quite a few places in the US I would love to go but I can’t or won’t pay that much to travel. It is ridiculous that it is cheaper for me to go to Central America than it is for me to go to California. No seriously, it is. One day maybe I’ll be able to afford to travel around the US, but that day is not now. For now, I will take my 30 euro Ryanair flight around Europe any day.

I do not miss the consumer need
I live in a tiny apartment. I do not own a car and when I moved over I brought two suitcases of clothes. That is all I had. I love my tiny apartment and while I’ve bought more material goods than I would like, it is still much less than many people back home do. Some people only care about what car you drive, how big your house is, what clothes you are wearing, and more. Over here, people don’t give a shit and I love it. I have my tiny one-room apartment and that is all I need. I don’t have room to buy things so I don’t unless it is Harry Potter related and then I am 100% buying it, no questions asked.
I would say this to is a good, quick list of things I do not miss. As well as what I miss, I am sure there is more. Let me know what you think! Whether you think it completely sucked or if you agree with some of it. I love honest feedback and I won’t mind. Thanks for reading, tschuss!