In your minds eye, how do you visualise other countries, if you have never been there. The UK for example?

Question

Because of my travelling phobia, the furthest I have ever been from from Norfolk UK, is Belgium on a booze trip 3 years ago with my Dad. I always imagine USA to have lots of very large cars and the towns and cities are spread huge distances apart. Africa, I always think have dry landscape and all the people are beautiful & tall. Australia, macho men, loads of farms and very expensive cities. China, lots of people, generous with very good manners. Am I anywhere near the truth?

Answer 1

I live in Missouri in the very center of the US. I live in a suburb, what would be looked at as a small town, full of single family homes, schools, churchs and businesses. Very very few people own big cars anymore, no one can afford the gas to run them. However they may be bigger than the little cars that Europe have. I live in a tan colored brick bungalow (a particular kind of German styled house), two stories and a basement under the whole house. I have a small yard with very old tree's and a family of squirrels I can hear chattering outside my window right now. I have 7 rooms total and a bath, with the laundry, pantry and more storage in the basement. I have a one car garage. This is pretty typical of homes in my neighborhood. I have to drive everywhere because there are few buses out here. I am about 20mins from downtown St. Louis which is a large city. You can look up the history of St. Louis and see a map that will show you that we are a city with small and some not so small neighborhoods that spread out from the city like a fan. It takes about 30 minutes to drive to the very edges in any direction. However in less than 5minutes I can drive over the bridge to Illinois, another state.

Missouri is make up of cities, surrounded by suburbs surrounded by rural area's. We have just about every kind of terraine here except for desert. Missouri is a beautiful place, full of forest, mountains and vast farmland. The weather is mild and in St. Louis because we are the west side of the Mississippi River, we say the weather can change from summer to winter in less than 24hours.
We are a friendly people, very midwestern which means we tend to be down to earth and family oriented. In Missouri we are known to be skeptical of just about everything and our state motto is "Show Me".

Since we are in the middle of the country, its easy to drive just about everywhere. I have driven to Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia on the southeast coast. I have driven to Chicago, Illinois and Minneapolis, Minnesota, which are north. I have driven to New Orleans, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas which are south, and Tulsa, Oklahoma and Denver, Colorado to the west. I plan on driving to the the northeast and northwest before I die.

I think one of the best things about our country is our people. My family on my fathers side came from France in the very early 1700's and Ireland in the late 1800's. On my mothers side, they came from Germany at the turn of the century. On my ex husbands so(so passed to my daughters) is Irish from the late 1600's and American Indian.

The neighborhood I live in was once full of European decendents, but in the last 5 years we have become a Bosnian neighborhood. In fact there is a mosque being build across the street from the grocery store I have shopped in for 21 years. In the same neighborhood, there a 7 other churchs of different denominations. Unfortunetly we don't have a synogoge as there are very few Jews that live in south county, but are mostly in west county as that is where they as a culture moved when the city expanded 50years ago.

We are very diverse and that's a blessing. My daughters went to school with so many different nationalities and religions that they had the opportunity to get to know people for who they are, not what color their skin or where they go to church. We have large Vietnamese and Chinese cultures, African and Mexican, and of course Bosnians. Because we are a family centered state, we tend to attract people who are like minded. Home, family and country are our focal points.

Its not perfect here. We have terrible crimes, we have poverty, and we have ignorance. But common people always win out over those things, as they have for most of human existance. Come visit us some time, we'll show you the Arch.

Answer 2

Compared to the UK (and I live here) the cities are far apart in the usa. I lived in africa for a while and africa has some gorgeous lush forests as well as dry areas but some parts are really, really green with waterfalls and rivers and lakes. not all of africa is dry and not all people are tall but on average they are taller than people in the uk. austalia's men are not really any more or less macho (in my opinion) than anywhere else. in areas of africa, us and australia 9as well as UK) usually very small towns and farming areas the men are culturally different but all 'act macho'.

Answer 3

The UK is fairly simple unlike say Africa or Egypt ,for England read one of our poets , Tennyson for instance and what better for you than to go to your very own Constable country a mere cycle ride away thats Gods own country
followed by the Yorkshire Dales Scotlands Mountains and the Lake District, theres not many countries as beautiful as Britain
Jack R

Answer 4

US I think you hit the bullseye. The majority of the cars are sedans and not like a hatchback or beetle looking car like I imagine in Nicaragua or maybe even in some European countries. And the people who can afford to maintain it have large SUV's. Usually it's A Ford Expedition or a Chevrolet Tahoe or GMC Denali. Ah, and lots of Japanese cars! I love my Honda Accord. =)

In my minds eye I visualize other countries according to their history and location, and of course to some stereotype. UK, to me, seems kind of boring because I hear it's rainy but also mystic and beautiful because of stories like King Arthur and Wallace, and from history about the celts. I picture some parts of the UK foggy with green grass and sheep. And the cities, I imagine them with old buildings, some old car as a taxi, and lots of Jags and imported BMWS from Germany! Am I right? And a whole bunch of kids celebrating Harry Potter. =)

Answer 5

i do the same thing. i think we need to keep in mind though, that those images are stereotypes and that stereotypes are taking the truth and exaggerating it. a lot of people in the US do have large cars, but a lot have small cars too. africa has a dry landscape...and every other type of landscape. i like to type in different city names in youtube and see real people's videos of how those places really look.

Answer 6

I've been to all of the places you named except Africa [and that one is scheduled] and you were actually pretty close, save China. One thing in short supply there is good manners. I found London very hip and historic, but also dirty and expensive [for Americans.

Pimpin John gets around...

Answer 7

Wow, you need to get over that phobia! The great thing about living in the UK or most european countries is that it's all on your doorstep. No one can explain to you what it's like, everyone's experience is personal....like the US is such a diverse country, i've only been to LA, NY and North Carolina, and i know i haven't seen it all yet!!! Get out and travel, and experience it for yourself!!

Answer 8

I imagine the US to have really big houses spaced apart with staires leading to the front door. Its always sunny and yellow school busses take the kids to school.

Answer 9

to tell the truth I really picture it as a acient lookin country
with poor people and maybe some rich folks,i also see it as
a monarchy when the rich folks sit on throne because of the word kingdom it reminds me of rich people who own a kingdom

Answer 10

most of the cars in the US are not large but mid sized, big cities are just that big, and the people are just the same as every where else just not as well behaved, I think we have the market cornered as rude behavior