Europeans and American Geography

[Laddy]

I've noticed then whenever Europeans come to the US they assume everything is super close. Like how you could get to New York City from Chicago in only a few hours by car.

I suppose it's because Europe is relatively small, but still. Let's talk about some zany stories about people from other parts of the world getting their poor not-American minds confused.

[Pike]

inb4 the Europeans show up and riposte by talking about confused Americans (MAKE YOUR OWN THREAD! :mad2: )

[kotora]

inb4 the Europeans show up and riposte by talking about confused Americans (MAKE YOUR OWN THREAD! :mad2: )

I wanted to, but then I was like, meh Murica gets rightfully mocked every day on #eoff anyway.

[Pheesh]

I know for a fact that everyone thinks Australia is smaller than it is. But yeah, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I traveled to USA because I looked up all my greyhound trips before I got there.

[Denmark]

Like how you could get to New York City from Chicago in only a few hours by car.

well if you consider 12 "a few", then sure

there're too many AMERICANS who don't know American geography. let's focus on them first. I know general stuff about European geography, like relative locations of countries, but I don't know or care to know like, how far it is from Spain to Poland. I'll care if I go there but for now, it's kind of unimportant.

but everyone should know that there's more to new york than just new york city :mad2:

[Pheesh]

but everyone should know that there's more to new york than just new york city :mad2:

Haha , yeah, and it all sucks xD I stayed in Buffalo and then traveled from there to NYC via Rochester, Syracuse and some other places; countryside was nice, the towns were absolute holes though.

[Denmark]

but everyone should know that there's more to new york than just new york city :mad2:

Haha , yeah, and it all sucks xD

well yeah, why do you think I spent most of my teenage years on the internet? we just don't like being forgotten :(

[Old Manus]

I learned all 50 states and the capitals of most of them for the purposes of a sporcle quiz a few years ago. This, combined with my knowledge of some of the rules of American Football (rugby league but slower and with more fat people) and my eventually managing to figure out what a corn dog is means I that I now consider myself a native.

[theundeadhero]

They think 45 minutes away is too far to travel to visit somebody. Lazy gits :mad2:

[Shorty]

I'm American and I think that! I don't like going any further than thirty minutes max. :colbert:

I did tell Philip that I thought Australia is much smaller than the US. But that's because it's not important enough to be paid attention to in the first place, so it's not my fault.

[qwertysaur]

Upstate NY is pretty much farm, farm, farm, CITY, farm, farm, wandering cows, farm, CITY, farm, farm, abandoned farm, farm, Onondaga nation, CITY. etc. NY state is really big.

One thing that amuses me is people who think of just Manhattan when someone mentions NYC. There are 4 other boroughs too!

[Calliope]

I will probably never get used to: Snow, yellow taxis or schoolbuses, enormous food portions, corn syrup in everything, the marvel of crows, American holidays, Sprite and lemonade being different things, overly large vehicles, nickels being larger than dimes, that the country is large enough to warrant different time zones and contain land-locked areas.

Things I am sick of: People asking if I like Lord of the Rings (No) or Flight of the Conchords (Yes), if my country is "really beautiful" (it is, but so is where I live now and screeds of other parts of the states), if there are a lot of sheep, if I get to go home (I might get to if I got a dollar for every time someone asked me that), what crops we grow (Apples and grapes, just like Washington, not bananas and coconuts and mangos), if I have an accent, how I am finding it adjusting to "big city life" (I actually adjusted to small town life, having moved from a city of two million people).

I'm especially sick of people asking where I am from, and when I say NZ they say "Oh, I've visited/know someone who went to Australia!", as if they are the same and merely a brisk stroll away. Bah!

[blackmage_nuke]

Maybe they shouldnt have named thier captial city after their state if they wanted people to know there was more to new york. Hello daisy was more confusing than inception. First they were in new york but they were also in yonkers then they were going to a place called new york? WTF

[qwertysaur]

Maybe they shouldnt have named thier captial city after their state if they wanted people to know there was more to new york. Hello daisy was more confusing than inception. First they were in new york but they were also in yonkers then they were going to a place called new york? WTF
The capital of New York State is Albany, not NYC. :colbert:

[Pike]

To be fair I don't know anything about American geography in the Northeast

They have all these little teeny tiny states about the size of a county here in Montana and I don't know which is which I mean come on

[Mirage]

It's not because we think they're close,but because we think you have awesome roads with high speed limits. You know, like the autobahn.

[Shauna]

They think 45 minutes away is too far to travel to visit somebody. Lazy gits :mad2:

That's because it is! So far away.

[Sephex]

I have traveled across the US with my family a couple of times via car. While it does take a bit, it is not bad as one would think. Plus, depending on where you go, there are always cool sights and interesting places to take a pit stop at.

[Burtsplurt]

I watch Man vs. Food. I feel I now know everything about US culture in every state. In Ohio, they eat a lot of burgers. In Texas, they eat a lot of burgers. It must take a long time to get from place to place, as that guy is so pressed for time. He must spend 23 hours and 40 minutes travelling each day which is why he only has 20 minutes to eat, like, 70 burgers. Life looks hard, like his arteries.

[Jinx]

Maybe they shouldnt have named thier captial city after their state if they wanted people to know there was more to new york. Hello daisy was more confusing than inception. First they were in new york but they were also in yonkers then they were going to a place called new york? WTF
The capital of New York State is Albany, not NYC. :colbert:

And New York City is actually five boroughs. What everyone thinks of when they think of NYC is Manhattan. :)

[Psychotic]

I'm okay with distances. I think the real thing that spun me out is driving. In America you're cool to just drive in a car for stupid amounts of time like it aint no thing. I think driving in America makes a lot more sense, is easier and more straightforward than in the UK. It spun me out that American towns and cities are all need little grids. You look at a road map in the UK, it's like, YEAH LET'S JUST SLAP ROADS ALL OVER THE PLACE WOO WHO GIVES A FUCK in a kind of insane chaos. Plus I guess it's easier just to put your foot down and cruise along the highway in the US. We're a lot more densely populated than the US and you can't go a couple of minutes without bumping into some form of settlement, which of course makes driving difficult.

[Mirage]

I had no idea that was what I thought of

[Jinx]

As for the discussion at hand about traveling distances--

I live in a really rural part of the country. It's populated enough, but driving 30-60 minutes to get somewhere isn't really a big thing. Most of my drives average 15-20 minutes.

[Chemical]

I just figure all Americans live in trailerparks and HollyWood is their God.

[Jinx]

I just figure all Americans live in trailerparks and HollyWood is their God.

No, that's Ronald McDonald.

[Quindiana Jones]

One of the teachers here was talking about how he'd love to do an American roadtrip. "Like, take a couple of weeks, and just drive from New York to LA." AHAHAHAHAHAA!

[qwertysaur]

Maybe they shouldnt have named thier captial city after their state if they wanted people to know there was more to new york. Hello daisy was more confusing than inception. First they were in new york but they were also in yonkers then they were going to a place called new york? WTF
The capital of New York State is Albany, not NYC. :colbert:

And New York City is actually five boroughs. What everyone thinks of when they think of NYC is Manhattan. :)


Upstate NY is pretty much farm, farm, farm, CITY, farm, farm, wandering cows, farm, CITY, farm, farm, abandoned farm, farm, Onondaga nation, CITY. etc. NY state is really big.

One thing that amuses me is people who think of just Manhattan when someone mentions NYC. There are 4 other boroughs too!
:roll2

[Jinx]

Stop posting in a green text that's hard to read, then!

[Madame Adequate]

I recall hearing of a uni friend's friend who visited California with their family a few years back. They were in LA I believe, and thought it viable to take a day trip to Seattle. Apparently an American friend kindly pointed out just how far that was.

[Psychotic]

One of the teachers here was talking about how he'd love to do an American roadtrip. "Like, take a couple of weeks, and just drive from New York to LA." AHAHAHAHAHAA!Why is that so hilarious? Google maps says it takes 40 hours, so that's an average of just under 3 hours per day. :confused: Plenty of time to see sights and take the scenic route!

[fire_of_avalon]

As for the discussion at hand about traveling distances--

I live in a really rural part of the country. It's populated enough, but driving 30-60 minutes to get somewhere isn't really a big thing. Most of my drives average 15-20 minutes.
This. I drive about 45 minutes on interstates one way to get to work.

[blackmage_nuke]

Maybe they shouldnt have named thier captial city after their state if they wanted people to know there was more to new york. Hello daisy was more confusing than inception. First they were in new york but they were also in yonkers then they were going to a place called new york? WTF
The capital of New York State is Albany, not NYC. :colbert:
Well then the name makes even LESS sense then.



One of the teachers here was talking about how he'd love to do an American roadtrip. "Like, take a couple of weeks, and just drive from New York to LA." AHAHAHAHAHAA!Why is that so hilarious? Google maps says it takes 40 hours, so that's an average of just under 3 hours per day. :confused: Plenty of time to see sights and take the scenic route!
6 hours a day if you count the return trip

[XxSephirothxX]

Like how you could get to New York City from Chicago in only a few hours by car.

well if you consider 12 "a few", then sure

there're too many AMERICANS who don't know American geography. let's focus on them first. I know general stuff about European geography, like relative locations of countries, but I don't know or care to know like, how far it is from Spain to Poland. I'll care if I go there but for now, it's kind of unimportant.

I'm gonna pop round to new england for a visit tomorrow. Should only take me a couple hours, right?

[Pike]

One of the teachers here was talking about how he'd love to do an American roadtrip. "Like, take a couple of weeks, and just drive from New York to LA." AHAHAHAHAHAA!

I bet I could do this easily

I once drove from the westernmost part of Washington State to about a third of the way through Montana in a day. 16 hours on the road whoooooo!

[Mirage]

Yeah really, two weeks across the US seems pretty doable. If you're lucky, maybe there are car rental companies that have offices on both sides of the country so that you could just rent it near NY and give it back to them in LA? Do things like that exist?

Even if you didn't do that, 6 hours a day is fine if you're two or more and can take turns driving, and who cares if 2 weeks turned into 3 anyway? He might also just be using "a couple" to mean 2-3, not strictly two. Some people do that. I don't, though. That's just crazy.

[Jinx]

Yeah really, two weeks across the US seems pretty doable. If you're lucky, maybe there are car rental companies that have offices on both sides of the country so that you could just rent it near NY and give it back to them in LA? Does things like that exist?



Yes.

[Mirage]

Cool!

I kinda want to do this some time.

[Iceglow]

Yeah really, two weeks across the US seems pretty doable. If you're lucky, maybe there are car rental companies that have offices on both sides of the country so that you could just rent it near NY and give it back to them in LA? Does things like that exist?



Yes.

Or just do it the Top Gear way and buy a cheap second hand car/bike on arrival and sell/give it away when you get to LA.

[Shorty]

I'm doing a trip from one side to the other later this year. So excited! I've always wanted to take a road trip across the country.

[Mirage]

Yeah really, two weeks across the US seems pretty doable. If you're lucky, maybe there are car rental companies that have offices on both sides of the country so that you could just rent it near NY and give it back to them in LA? Does things like that exist?



Yes.

Or just do it the Top Gear way and buy a cheap second hand car/bike on arrival and sell/give it away when you get to LA.

Well, if I'm going to spend that many hours in a car, I want it to be at least reasonably comfortable to drive.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

A road trip across Europe always sounded fun, or maybe Russia.

[escobert]

I'm doing a trip from one side to the other later this year. So excited! I've always wanted to take a road trip across the country.

are you coming to New England!? :D

[Calliope]

I'm doing a trip from one side to the other later this year. So excited! I've always wanted to take a road trip across the country.

Take me with you?

[Shorty]

Yes and yes!

oh oh nicky, I was gonna fly out of New York for the wedding!

[Calliope]

That is boss, I wish I could go to the wedding, but nooooooooooooooo, apparently I have to spent $2000 on an MRI instead :cry:

/lifechoices

[Jinx]

I am totally hanging out with Sarah.

IT WILL BE AWESOME.

The two of us and Denmark are gonna drink gin. It is known.

[Pike]

Sarah come move to Bozeman, we'll share an apartment and it will be great

[Laddy]

Sarah, you need to stop by Memphis! We can go eat FroYo and attend a Spoon concert together!

[Pike]

Laddy come move into an apartment with me and Sarah it'll be like the world's nerdiest sitcom

[Laddy]

It'll be like a nerdy Will & Grace. The laugh track will be replaced by gigglesnorts.

[Jinx]

Laddy's already my boo.

Get your hands offa my man.

[Pike]

Don't listen to her womanly wiles Laddy I've got Deus Ex

[Laddy]

It's like Betty and Veronica in here. :lol:

[Pike]

Except Betty has Deus Ex

[Quindiana Jones]

Yeah really, two weeks across the US seems pretty doable. If you're lucky, maybe there are car rental companies that have offices on both sides of the country so that you could just rent it near NY and give it back to them in LA? Do things like that exist?

Even if you didn't do that, 6 hours a day is fine if you're two or more and can take turns driving, and who cares if 2 weeks turned into 3 anyway? He might also just be using "a couple" to mean 2-3, not strictly two. Some people do that. I don't, though. That's just crazy.

Oh yeah, I know it's possible. But it would be shit, and he was talking about being all touristy and chilled, too.

[Jinx]

That would be plenty of time. :confused:

[Pike]

well

not really I guess, you wouldn't get to see much

[Mirage]

3 hours on the road, 8 hours sleep, that's like 13 hours a day to do other stuff! If you drive 6 hours one day you'll have like 16 hours of spare time the next day too!

Well, I guess you'd need to take detours here and there to get to the cool places. In either case, make it 2.5 weeks and it'll be unproblematic!

[Pike]

yeah it would work if everything you wanted to see was on the interstate but you'd be missing a lot, I think

[Madame Adequate]

I'm doing a trip from one side to the other later this year. So excited! I've always wanted to take a road trip across the country.

Take me and Pike with you :hyper:

[Pike]

I'm doing a trip from one side to the other later this year. So excited! I've always wanted to take a road trip across the country.

Take me and Pike with you :hyper:

You're going to get carsick, dear :(

[Madame Adequate]

>Tfw can never do anything fun like that because every journey in a car is to be endured, not enjoyed

[Mirage]

No problem, milf. I can be your body double.