amg

1.The Mona Lisa is much smaller then I thought. <BR>2. Parallel parking is an art in Europe. How do they get the cars so close togeather. <BR>3. The Spanish really are night people. Being on the streets of Madrid at 11PM is like rush hour in NYC. <BR>4. The Amalfi coast - it's better then any picture. <BR>5. Scottish men really don't wear anthing under thier kilt. I learned this in France of all place. <BR>6. Warm beer taste great, especially if you are hanging out with locals sharing a pint. <BR>7. I love to travel.... <BR>Aileen

YS

US: <BR> <BR>1) A large auditorium with unfinished concrete walls can be referred to as "theatre". <BR> <BR>2) Narrow sidewalks <BR> <BR>3) In California: office building are nice, but residential areas are build as "summer cottages". <BR> <BR>4) SO much dependency on driving, poor public transit <BR> <BR>5) No high-speed trains (just starting on East coast) <BR> <BR>6) "How are you?" is NOT a question. <BR> <BR>7) It's hot and HUMID in NYC during the summer. <BR> <BR>Europe: <BR> <BR>1) There's no such thing as "British hospitality" <BR> <BR>2) London cab drivers would take LESS then meetered fare. My fare from the train station was 5.20, and I had 5 and 10-pound notes. The driver say it, and when I handed him 10 he asked for 5. When I mentioned that I have no change, he said it was ok. <BR> <BR>3) Bathrooms in London leak, toilets don't flush "normally" (maybe I was unlucky) <BR> <BR>4) There are English translations for menus in some of the Parisian restaurants. <BR> <BR>5) Europeans prefer manual transmission. <BR> <BR>6) Small seats in Parisian metro <BR> <BR> <BR>Tahiti: <BR> <BR>1) Paradise DOES exist! <BR> <BR>2) Paradise IS expencive! <BR> <BR>3) You CAN spend all day in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.

lcuy

-Many years ago, at age 20, I didn't realize greek letters were REALLY letters. I guess I thought they were just fraternity logos. Athens was so much fun, sounding out words words on signs. <BR>- I didn't GET who we americans were, until I travelled and saw the cultures that we came from. <BR>- I never realized how hurtful discrimination can be, until I went to where I was a minority and had to suffer <BR>both ignorance and also the stereotypes that others who looked like me had left behind. <BR>-As a dedicated "traveller", I never understood cruises, until I took one and found out how fun they can be. Granted you don't get to be involved much in the places you visit, but they make it so easy!

Tammy

<BR>1) Not everyone in Europe speaks English. <BR>2) The Eiffel Tower is HUGE! <BR>3) That toliets can vary from place to place. <BR>4) St. Peter's square is not square in shape.

Mel

1. The fabulously dry British sense of humor (Beefeater guarding the crown jewels to my sister & I: "Window shopping, ladies?") <BR>2. Scotland... just Scotland. No interest in going there until I was persuaded to go. (As an old man in an Edinburgh pub said when I told him I'd just returned from a car trip across the highlands to Oban: "Tis a bit of Heaven, isn't it?")Spot on! <BR>3. That you really do get better service in French stores when you greet the sales person in fractured French upon entering. <BR>4. That German pastry isn't sweet enough for me. <BR>5. That walking the streets at dusk in Rome, chocolate gelati in hand, would be so perfect it brought tears of happiness to my eyes.

xxx

1.) Irish small towns look as good in person as they do in pictures. <BR>2.) It's not that hard to stay on the left side of the road. <BR>3.) It is hard to shift with your left hand.

Margot

David: <BR> <BR>Great question. My reply will, I guess, make me look like the American fool that I am. Here goes: <BR> <BR>1. The Sistine Chapel is SMALL. (It's a CHAPEL - DUH...) <BR> <BR>2. My first trip abroad was to Spain. Everything was so...foreign. I think that I believed that everyplace was just going to be a different version of America. I didn't understand that almost every aspect of life was going to be different (mostly in a superficial way - I'm not talking about people). Culture shock didn't begin to describe what I felt. And the feeling didn't make me feel good about myself. I particularly remember standing on a busy street corner in Madrid, about two days into my visit, and feeling like I was on Mars. I'm a reader, and thought I'd read enough to prepare me, and that my natural flexibility and curiosity would get me through. I was ashamed of what I thought of as my small-mindedness. <BR> <BR>Well, that was six years ago, and my initial weird feelings have passed. Have since been to Italy, Germany and England and enjoyed the experience. <BR> <BR>3. That people in other countries may possibly (and probably do) speak English as well as their native language. This after telling my husband on the beach (in a voice that was not at all hushed) to look at the woman in front of us, how much makeup she had on, how tan she was, how much jewelry she had on, and how revealing her bathing suit was. And then have her turn around and say something to one of her friends in Spanish-accented English. "Big A**hole" does not even begin to describe how I felt. I'm really usually a nice person - really!

Mary

After living in New Zealand, we got home to Mississippi in the summertime. I walked out of the airport and was hit by the extremely hot,humid air and I realized I liked it. It felt like home.

Holly

The first time I was in England, around 20 years ago, staying at a B&B you had to put coins into a box in order to get hot water for the shower. If you didn't want to pay for the hot shower, then they withheld the bathtub stopper until you paid for that. Do they still do that these days?

Melissa

Both my big epiphanies happened at the Louvre: I didn't know that the Louvre was soooo huge. And then I went to Italy and learned some real history about art. When I went back to the Louvre after THAT, it was as if I were looking at the paintings through a new set of eyeballs!

Anna

Some interesting comments here. I got a real laugh out of the one above that said in talking of the USA: <BR> <BR>"How are you?" is NOT a question. <BR> <BR>I have been telling my husband that for 17 years now and he still doesn't believe me. Both he and his parents (all 3 immigrated to the USA ...he was a teenager) always tell all clerks etc who say that EXACTLY how they feel in great detail. I told him it's a rhetorical question, but he doesn't believe me....he says "why would they say it that way if they don't mean it'? Duh...somethings he will never get about the USA no matter how many decades he lives here. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Ursula

Anna or somebody else: <BR> <BR>Yes, that "How are you (today)?" is also kind of a mystery to me. Especially when somebody who does not know you, says that. It's VERY strange for a person whose first language is not English. <BR> <BR>How is one supposed to answer, even though it's NOT a question? You are supposed to say something I guess. <BR>What about the following possibilities: <BR> <BR>- not saying anything at all or <BR>- fine, and you? <BR> <BR>Really, I would appreciate the correct answer, because I plan to go back to the States next year. <BR> <BR>Thanks and nice weekend to everybody! <BR)

joe

Just so you know, the new version is: "howyadooun", all run together. How ya doin?....but all in one word, and not a real question but just a greeting. <BR> <BR>Correct response: "howyadooun" right back.

nancy

That one really should *not* drive in Centro Storico ,in rome , and expect to keep one's sanity!!

Chris

Ursula <BR> <BR>You answer "fine", always "fine". Even the on the saddest days of my life, I've answered, "fine." It's just what we do. <BR>It's a "scripted" question -- no one really cares. Well, I should amend that before I get all sorts of hate-posts -- "few" people really care. <BR> <BR>

nancy

Chris, <BR>that is what is called a "popsicle -stick smile" in one of the grieving books I gave my friend when her husband died (age 46!) <BR>The book mentioned how automatic that answer is, even in the deepest of grief. <BR>One pulls out the smile on a stick. <BR> <BR>I always make it a point to NOT ask that question with certain people at certain times. <BR>and I never hesitate to respond, <BR>"not so great" or "have done better" if that is more appropriate. <BR>

Meg

I didn't get that.... <BR> <BR>1) it really helps to try to speak the local language - any and all blundered attempts are usually appreciated and result in very gracious assistance from a multitude of strangers. We Americans are language impaired for the most part. <BR> <BR>2) that the Great Wall really is awesome. And EVERYTHING in Asia is REALLY OLD! <BR> <BR>3) tolerance and acceptance exist - in the Netherlands. <BR> <BR>4) that capitalism can thrive in a Communist country. <BR> <BR>5) manners are a local thing - differnent places, different ways. <BR> <BR>6) how kind and curious total strangers can be. <BR> <BR>7) that I liked being under things rather than going over or up something - Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, letting an elephant step over me, subways rather than elevated rail systems. ??? Your guess is as good as mine on that one. <BR> <BR>8) that other religions such as Buddhism really interest me - all the Buddhists I've met seem to be serene and at peace with everything. <BR> <BR>

Robin

Hi--how are you? <BR> <BR>1) Water in the Caribbean is truly turquoise-- like nothing I had seen. <BR> <BR>2) That countries in Europe are small enough that one can cross the border quickly and be in a different culture (at least in part). Same thing in the Eastern US-- having lived all my life in California, it's hundreds of miles to the next state. I thought of other states (and hence other countries) as being far, far away. <BR> <BR>3) What a cathedral was. Having never seen anything remotely near that age, much less that scale, my first experiences were awesome. <BR> <BR>4) How grand our natural phenomena are in the western US. Since that was all I knew until I was around 20, I didn't appreciate how BIG redwoods, the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Ocean, etc. are. <BR> <BR>I'm sure there were more-- it's fun to try to recall. <BR>

Ursula

Chris: Thanks soo much for your clear answer. I was more or less sure it would be that way. <BR> <BR>Incidentally, I think it's the same in all languages.

Robin

Ursula and Chris-- <BR> <BR>Regarding "how are you", I think the unfortunate answer is that we all care how you really are SOME of the time, and we all really don't care some of the time! I'm speaking more of acquaintances, rather than clerks in a shop. With people at work, or neighbors, nine times out of ten it may be the script, as Chris says, and then once in a while it's a genuine question! Not to get too deep here, but it strikes me that this is an aspect of the American "friendliness"-- we want to feel like we are being nice to everybody, but we're too busy and to goal-oriented to actually put out any effort. Too cynical?