- Cops are nice and they are out there to help people.
- There are no criminals in US neighborhoods. It is ok to even leave your car unlocked.
- There's no unemployment in the US (or it's minimal). If you go to college you automatically get a nice paying job. Only college students or lazy ones work at fast food joints.
- Health care is widely available and easy to get by.
The first day I got to the US I was detained at the airport (in TX) because I mentioned to the immigration officer that I (had) worked at immigration in my home country. He freaked out for some reason and I was taken to a tiny room with some people where I was questioned about my "real" reasons to go to the US, I always replied the same (the truth) and they kept pushing like I was lying. This went on for an hour until I was release and allowed to board on the plane to make the connection. Obviously had to take another flight since the original plane had left.
Then that same day I went to a coffee shop with a friend in a quite nice area of Phx, AZ. While we were inside, someone stole the spare wheel from his Jeep. He then told me they had a car stolen a few months before.
I saw several homeless roaming the streets. Which I had always pictured (as a child) only happened in NYC or something, and only because they didn't want to work or had some issues in their personal life.
While talking about living in the US with some friends there, they explained how health care works in the US. Basic health care is free in my home country and higher end procedures are fairly affordable, so I was shocked to learn about the US system. I don't believe much in socialism, but I can't think of a good reason for people in a civilized society to not be healed for free (retirement is a different issue though).
Can't type much more now. Hope this helps!
I've had several ugly situations while entering the US. Last time I visited (March this year) I went through LAX. I was greeted very nicely by the officer, had all my paperwork done and off I went. Then I went to Baja California (MX) where I would stay at a friends/client house.
Then I had to cross the border (through Tijuana) to go to a marketing expo at AZ. The experience was nerve-wrecking. The border patrol officer started telling me I was hiding something because of my body language (apparently he saw too much "Lie to me") and started questioning why I had friends in the US, how had I met them and so on. After about 20 minutes we were let go. Like I said, I've worked at immigration in my home country, so I know how it works and stuff, but there are more professional ways to handle matters than just accuse people, push and see if they bite.
Also, what I missed to add to my comment above... In (most) mainstream US movies, you see that no matter what your job is you can lead a pretty nice life. Even if you work as a bartender, you can have your small apartment and be in charge of your life. I don't think it works like that. I met a client that was a school teacher and he was broke. Some of my clients have declared for bankruptcy, and some very, very rich clients have lost a lot of RE and have to downsize their homes by an order of magnitude.
I know it works like that pretty much everywhere, but for some reason all this things I imagined as a kid, stuck with me until I visited the US. It's like deep down we hope there's a place were things are better, and the US could be that place; so we buy into the dream (until we realize it was a dream and there's no such place).
Cops are dicks, plain and simple, they are not your friends; Hollywood definitely glosses over this. The reality is more like Training Day, those are real cops, mostly straight but dirty when it benefits them. How they treat you tends to depend heavily on your race.
> In (most) mainstream US movies, you see that no matter what your job is you can lead a pretty nice life. Even if you work as a bartender, you can have your small apartment and be in charge of your life.
Ah, interesting observation; yea, that's not true that all.
What is your home country?
My stories are somewhere closer to the middle. I have seen some Americans do amazing things and I have seen Americans act like punks. It's almost as if doing those things is part of being human.
There obviously are movies and TV which show a much more "real" version of the world. But the most popular TV and movies tend to show an idealized version of reality.
