Written by Max Palmer, Upland Junior Writer
My Australian uncle has come for a family visit, mostly on the East Coast. He has come to this country, not for the first time. Sitting down on our couch I interviewed him on his take on this country. He hasn’t been here for many years, but the questions were posed as if he hadn’t been here much generally. They were written like he is on a holiday, not visiting family. The questions asked were, what did you think of America before you came here the first time, what were your expectations, Has anything you’ve seen on this visit and previous visits that confirms, denies, or changes your views and why, what did you enjoy most on your visit, what did you enjoy most on your previous visit, and what would you tell your friends about this visit, would you recommend it to them. His answers say interesting things about how other people in foreign countries see us.
The first question was What did you think of America before you came here the first time, what were your expectations? My uncle replied in an interesting way. He said he expected more traffic and more crowding. He expected lots of people to be rushing about trying to get things done. This shows that people from a much smaller country, that being Australia expected the much larger country to show its size. He expected the busyness most in cities like Philadelphia and New York, and he also expected the cities to be dirty. His answers show how people who live with smaller cities see countries with larger cities. He also expected less diversity in activity in the city. The final thing he didn’t expect was the amount of kindness in New York City. This shows that in one country, the American stereotype is that we are dirty, busy, and not curious about the world around us.
The second question I asked him was if anything he saw here confirmed or denied what he had thought. The first thing he commented on was that he had noticed especially in Philadelphia everyone was very busy and thus nothing was getting done. He also said he was surprised at how little curiosity there was about his accent. He was also surprised about how little crowding there was outside of New York and Philadelphia. This shows how he expected to see the large population of the U.S and also shows how much lives can be different on different sides of the globe.
The final question I asked was what did you enjoy most about this visit and would you recommend it to your friends. My uncle replied that what he enjoyed most about this visit was seeing and hearing about how we do sports and education here. He also enjoyed meeting the young people on the other end of the world. He said that he would recommend the visit to his friends to experience the difference of culture and people. Overall, he said he would recommend the visit to his friends and was pleasantly surprised by what he found and what he expected.
