Metal Sludge Gossip Board

What are instances of culture shock you have experienced by visiting other States in the US?

Visiting the south was different. Not used to people waving at me for no reason.

Not another state. Only other countries - primarily Asian countries. I've been to various parts of Europe and South America and felt fine. The Far East does not cater to Westerners.

I grew up in Florida on boiled peanuts, smoked mullet, rattlesnake festivals, and wearing cowboy boots. My father HATED Florida and moved us back to Ohio when I was in high school. I was too young to feel out of my element. If I had to say anything, it would be NY, NY. Too fast-paced. I love going there but would not want to live there.

I certainly wouldn't call it culture shock, but New Mexico has been really cool to get to know. My girlfriend is from there and I've been spending most weekends there. It's got its own unique culture and language and food and I'm digging it.

TooOldToCare wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 1:11 pm Not another state. Only other countries - primarily Asian countries. I've been to various parts of Europe and South America and felt fine. The Far East does not cater to Westerners.

I grew up in Florida on boiled peanuts, smoked mullet, rattlesnake festivals, and wearing cowboy boots. My father HATED Florida and moved us back to Ohio when I was in high school. I was too young to feel out of my element.

Boy, if he hated it then...

Bono Nettencourt wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 1:03 pm

TooOldToCare wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 1:11 pm Not another state. Only other countries - primarily Asian countries. I've been to various parts of Europe and South America and felt fine. The Far East does not cater to Westerners.

I grew up in Florida on boiled peanuts, smoked mullet, rattlesnake festivals, and wearing cowboy boots. My father HATED Florida and moved us back to Ohio when I was in high school. I was too young to feel out of my element.

Boy, if he hated it then...

Well, he’s dead, so no hate from him. Still have some aunts and uncles on the east coast.

Pretty strange to see people with guns strapped to their waists In Arizona.

I stepped into a bank here in western ND and a sign said “remove all muddy boots before entering.”

All of the young roughnecks attempting to cash their checks would walk in the new facility with mud/dirt on their boots like IDGAF,.

My BFF lives in Brownwood, TX. If you've never heard of it don't worry, most Texans probably haven't either.
I've been there 4 or 5 times since 2020. It's...different. But as with all the of South, people are very nice. It kinda freaks me out a little bit that people in towns like these have no choice but to shop at Walmart. There's no Costco or Target for hundreds of miles. And not just in TX, that's true for many states with huge rural areas.

In 1982ish, I left CA, (Northern, CA at the time) and moved to Salt Lake City, UT. That was a severe culture shock! But I was young and adaptable then. Not so much these days.

In 1985-86 I spent a few months in Millington, TN. I could have stayed there a little while longer. We had a great time there. But it was also different than anything I was used to, but better than Utah for sure.

Mojo wrote: ↑Fri Nov 08, 2024 9:49 pm I certainly wouldn't call it culture shock, but New Mexico has been really cool to get to know. My girlfriend is from there and I've been spending most weekends there. It's got its own unique culture and language and food and I'm digging it.

Hope you like Green Chilis. I spent 8 months working in New Mexico. I was in Albuquerque and thought it was pretty much a shithole. I got a call to go back for 8 more months of work there and turned it down. Didn't want to look back on my life and see that I had spent 1 1/2 years of my life in that dump.

Blumpkin King wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:53 pm Hope you like Green Chilis. I spent 8 months working in New Mexico. I was in Albuquerque and thought it was pretty much a shithole. I got a call to go back for 8 more months of work there and turned it down. Didn't want to look back on my life and see that I had spent 1 1/2 years of my life in that dump.

Yeah, you'd be going around all pee pee hearted.
I love green chili. Albuquerque is like any city where it has its good and bad. I'm there pretty much every weekend and have been able to visit some great museums, some cool flea markets, had some great food, etc. My girlfriend is a teacher in Zuni and I've spent time in Santa Fe, Gallup (best Mexican food I've ever had outside of Mexico at a place there), Taos, been up at the Sandia summit, etc. Good shit.

Mojo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 9:36 pm

Blumpkin King wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:53 pm Hope you like Green Chilis. I spent 8 months working in New Mexico. I was in Albuquerque and thought it was pretty much a shithole. I got a call to go back for 8 more months of work there and turned it down. Didn't want to look back on my life and see that I had spent 1 1/2 years of my life in that dump.

Yeah, you'd be going around all pee pee hearted.
I love green chili. Albuquerque is like any city where it has its good and bad. I'm there pretty much every weekend and have been able to visit some great museums, some cool flea markets, had some great food, etc. My girlfriend is a teacher in Zuni and I've spent time in Santa Fe, Gallup (best Mexican food I've ever had outside of Mexico at a place there), Taos, been up at the Sandia summit, etc. Good shit.

Is this the same girlfriend who tortured you with Taylor Swift on a road trip?

My wife decided to become a traveling nurse, and her second assignment has her in Hawaii for a few months. I'm leaving this week to join her, and I expect this to be the biggest culture shock. We live near the beach in Florida, but it's so commercialized. The pictures and videos she's showing me are beyond my comprehension - this is in the USA??

pieceofme wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 11:26 pm Is this the same girlfriend who tortured you with Taylor Swift on a road trip?

It is. Proof that love conquers all.

Mojo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 9:36 pm

Blumpkin King wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:53 pm Hope you like Green Chilis. I spent 8 months working in New Mexico. I was in Albuquerque and thought it was pretty much a shithole. I got a call to go back for 8 more months of work there and turned it down. Didn't want to look back on my life and see that I had spent 1 1/2 years of my life in that dump.

Yeah, you'd be going around all pee pee hearted.
I love green chili. Albuquerque is like any city where it has its good and bad. I'm there pretty much every weekend and have been able to visit some great museums, some cool flea markets, had some great food, etc. My girlfriend is a teacher in Zuni and I've spent time in Santa Fe, Gallup (best Mexican food I've ever had outside of Mexico at a place there), Taos, been up at the Sandia summit, etc. Good shit.

The only interesting museum is the the Nuclear Museum of Science and History. Santa Fe is way overrated unless you are into buying Turquoise. Meow Wolf really is dumb. In all fairness I have never been to Taos or Roswell, but rest is awful.

Blumpkin King wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 6:48 pm

Mojo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 9:36 pm

Blumpkin King wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:53 pm Hope you like Green Chilis. I spent 8 months working in New Mexico. I was in Albuquerque and thought it was pretty much a shithole. I got a call to go back for 8 more months of work there and turned it down. Didn't want to look back on my life and see that I had spent 1 1/2 years of my life in that dump.

Yeah, you'd be going around all pee pee hearted.
I love green chili. Albuquerque is like any city where it has its good and bad. I'm there pretty much every weekend and have been able to visit some great museums, some cool flea markets, had some great food, etc. My girlfriend is a teacher in Zuni and I've spent time in Santa Fe, Gallup (best Mexican food I've ever had outside of Mexico at a place there), Taos, been up at the Sandia summit, etc. Good shit.

The only interesting museum is the the Nuclear Museum of Science and History. Santa Fe is way overrated unless you are into buying Turquoise. Meow Wolf really is dumb. In all fairness I have never been to Taos or Roswell, but rest is awful.

Ah, well, differing opinions, innit?

Mojo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 7:57 pm

Blumpkin King wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 6:48 pm

Mojo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 9:36 pm

Yeah, you'd be going around all pee pee hearted.
I love green chili. Albuquerque is like any city where it has its good and bad. I'm there pretty much every weekend and have been able to visit some great museums, some cool flea markets, had some great food, etc. My girlfriend is a teacher in Zuni and I've spent time in Santa Fe, Gallup (best Mexican food I've ever had outside of Mexico at a place there), Taos, been up at the Sandia summit, etc. Good shit.

The only interesting museum is the the Nuclear Museum of Science and History. Santa Fe is way overrated unless you are into buying Turquoise. Meow Wolf really is dumb. In all fairness I have never been to Taos or Roswell, but rest is awful.

Ah, well, differing opinions, innit?

Yep to each his own. Hope you enjoy your time there.

Rocker4Real wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 4:09 pm Visiting the south was different. Not used to people waving at me for no reason.

I moved to Texas a year and a half ago and still haven't gotten used to that. I walk a lot and more people wave at me than don't, even cops. People are extremely friendly here. I knew that going in, but I still wasn't prepared for just how friendly they are.

Charles Bukaki wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 7:43 pm

Rocker4Real wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 4:09 pm Visiting the south was different. Not used to people waving at me for no reason.

I moved to Texas a year and a half ago and still haven't gotten used to that. I walk a lot and more people wave at me than don't, even cops. People are extremely friendly here. I knew that going in, but I still wasn't prepared for just how friendly they are.

Where did you move from, and where in TX did you move to?

Metal Sludge wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 8:23 pm

Charles Bukaki wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 7:43 pm

Rocker4Real wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 4:09 pm Visiting the south was different. Not used to people waving at me for no reason.

I moved to Texas a year and a half ago and still haven't gotten used to that. I walk a lot and more people wave at me than don't, even cops. People are extremely friendly here. I knew that going in, but I still wasn't prepared for just how friendly they are.

Where did you move from, and where in TX did you move to?

I lived in and around northern Colorado for eleven years and moved to San Antonio last summer.

the "waving Texans" thing depends on what part of the state you are in - and it's a big state.

Central Texas - everyone waves

South Texas - no waving

I experienced the waving in both Georgia and South Carolina.

When traveling to a new state, province, or country, I love experiencing the differences.

I don’t want it to be the same as home , as why bother to travel if it is just the same ?

On my first (and only ) trip to Oklahoma, when at Rocklahoma 2008 , I noticed that away from the west coast , everyone seemed to smoke way more.

On our first trip to Thailand , we can back to the capital after spending time in various islands and I was telling the taxi driver that we wanted to go to the Royal River Hotel . He looked at me like I was asking him to drive us to in the moon or something.

Then I remembered that they don’t pronounce certain letters so I told him I wanted to go to the Loyal Liver Hotel and he said - OH OK no problem!

When we reach the hotel the front desk lady greats us with Welcome to the Loyal Liver Hotel . The whole thing make my wife and I chuckle and we thought how it must have been some western person who named the hotel a name no-one citizens in the country could actually pronounce.

Nate S Axel wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2024 3:26 pm When I moved to Vegas in late 2020 in the middle of COVID, there were "rules" but they weren't really enforced. Security on Fremont Street would say that masks were required to be worn unless you were having a drink or smoking, so they'd tell everybody to just carry a bottle with them for an excuse so they wouldn't have to enforce it. Anybody who was out on Fremont Street (still thousands of people at that time) was taking a risk anyway, so I don't think anybody cared for the most part.

When I visited the Bay Area during that time, rules were widely posted and enforced, with security or store employees pretty serious on making sure everybody wore their mask at all times.

Then when I was in Arizona (Cave Creek) for a few months, you'd have no idea COVID even existed. No masks, no mentions of any rules or requirements -- which made sense since so many things were open/outdoors, but still, complete opposite from CA.

I can relate. Vegas had a lot of inconsistencies, but was trying to make the best of it. We went on vacation to San Diego in the summer or fall of 2020. Way more strict. Our own hotel closed the pool and locked the doors to the bathrooms in the lobby for "safety." It's like, "Where do you expect us to piss?" Is it safer to hold it in or go outside and take a leak on the wall?

Spent a weekend in Lake Havasu around the same time and it was the complete opposite. Total MAGA country. People were only wearing masks when they absolutely had to. There's a bar out in the desert and people would put on their masks to go through the entrance (to comply with some rule) and immediately take them off.

It hit me that Arizona was going to be a red state for a while.

Fuck New Jersey and their jughandle turns and asshole full-service-only gas attendants.

Driving in Boston can be confusing and exhausting, with narrow, winding roads and roundabouts.
Santa Fe roads are like that, but without all the traffic.

HoldenSSV wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 9:21 am Fuck New Jersey and their jughandle turns and asshole full-service-only gas attendants.

I would so pay extra for someone else to pump my gas.