God Bless America: The 10 Things I Missed Most While Studying Abroad

May 23, 2011 4:00 pm     Posted in College, Featured Left, Reality  Julianne-Carnegie Mellon University g+ page


By Julianne

I had the time of my life abroad this past semester. I got to travel everywhere, study interesting topics and meet an amazing group of people. But being in a foreign country really made me appreciate America and just about everything I used to take for granted. No, I’m not talking about the cliché of missing peanut butter (which seems to be readily available in a lot of foreign countries these days anyway) but those little things you might never think about until they’re gone and then they suddenly become everything you think about to the point that you want to tear out your hair and scream at an unsuspecting foreign stranger:

1.) Functioning Internet: My friends and family thought I had fallen off the face of the earth. No, Mom we can’t Skype tonight, you should know better than to ask. What? You think I can just get online whenever I please? Right. As soon as I reached Amurica, I opened 12 tabs in Firefox all at once and started googling, just because I could.

2.) 24 Hour Safeways: Don’t get me wrong; I can get down with the idea of siestas. But closing the store around lunchtime? That’s just silly. And to top it off, the supermarkets would close for the day at a pathetic 9pm. The number of times I broke into a sprint to make it to the store, only to find the manager decided to shutdown at 8:52 that evening is remarkable. Needless to say, a lot of pregames were ruined.

3.) Beautiful Green Money: In Europe, if you drop a coin you basically just lost 5 dollars. Euros are all different sizes and colors. The monopoly money was a novelty at first but I grew to miss bills that were a subtle green and all a uniform dimension.

4.) And More Importantly, Debit Cards: Cash is a pain. I don’t like dealing with coins and bills going every which way in my wallet, ATMs or transaction fees. Even when the stores allowed plastic, I received disapproving and irritated looks when I handed my card over.  Back home, I felt such a rush when I purchased a $2.73 coffee and didn’t have to awkwardly shift through my wallet to find change but just eagerly gave the barista my debit.

5.) Men Who Wear Deodorant: Enough said.

6.) Orderly Lines: These just don’t exist. Really. It’s seriously annoying but I wasn’t about to confront the little Italian grandmother who thought it was OK to cut around 15 people in the bakery… even the 100th time it happened.

7.) Sports At Reasonable Hours: There’s nothing like a 1am Superbowl kick off to get you pumped for the game. And it only got worse from there. West coast hockey matches left me setting an alarm for 4 in the morning. Of course I couldn’t stream the game  (see number 1) but was left following live blog updates that would refresh once about every 9 minutes. Being a sports fan really has never been so difficult, but I refused to start watching soccer, excuse me, football to fill the void.

8.) Airlines On Which You Don’t Fear For Your Life: Never again Ryanair, never ever again.

9.) Easy Communication: My lost in translation moments didn’t stop even when my language skills got a bit better. Study abroad students, no matter how fluent, can be spotted everywhere struggling to order in a restaurant, or worse, attempting to spit out some small talk with a foreign hottie. And while those accents are cute and charming, sometimes they just make life difficult. Because let’s face it, even the Irish and Aussies are tough to understand when they have a few beers in them. 

10.) To Go: Of course, outside of America you’re not going to encounter Cheesecake Factory like portions. Mounds and mounds of Luau Salad might not be staring you in the face when you’re finished eating, but as college students we know better than to waste any food. Especially if you’re paying for it in foreign currency. I never thought I’d miss those tiny plastic boxes promising me lunch the next day, but trust me, they are a beautiful thing.

23 Comments on "God Bless America: The 10 Things I Missed Most While Studying Abroad"

  1. cait says:
    Mon, 23rd May 20115:05 pm 

    omg ryanair!! i studied abroad too…what a scary experience hahahah. so glad you felt the same :-P

  2. anne says:
    Mon, 23rd May 20115:41 pm 

    might be different standarts but what exactly scares you about ryanair? i just think felt like there is no service and they are unfriendly, but never was afarid of dieing.

  3. Jenna says:
    Mon, 23rd May 20116:05 pm 

    I've had the opposite experience in that I studied in the USA but live in the UK (also lived in Spain & France) this is my interperation…
    1) The internet problem is just a result of temporary accommodation I had much worse internet when I was in the states than I'm used to here
    2) The UK is more like the states than the rest of Europe but I was definitely impressed with how late everything stayed upon in the US – and how easy it was to get ANYTHING to delivered at anytime (sushi to my door at 11pm – yes please!)
    3) Your money is really annoying – you can't see straight away what notes you have it all looks the same! I think the different shaped money is also really useful for blind people.
    4) Probably just because you don't have a local card, I had the same problem in the US. Also your banks are really technologically behind, online banking in Europe is much more advanced, so much easier to pay bills/transfer money to friends etc
    5) lol men in the UK smell nice thank god!
    6) We love queuing in the UK but French people are definitely more aggressive when it comes to getting to the front it's every man for himself.
    7) Americans play completely different sports to the rest of the world – must be the only country in the world where boys don't play football (or soccer as you'ld call it) obsessively, and you have something called the world series that is almost entirely made up of American teams.
    8) Ryanair are fine safety wise they just have incredibly bad service, but the upside is that there are actually cheap flights available in Europe
    9) Even though we speak the same language I actually had trouble ordering in restaurants because lots of Americans couldn't understand my damn accent.
    10) my god your portions are big – no wonder there's an obesity problem, on the other hand food is really good value and it's cool that restaurants always offer to pack your food up to go in the states, doesn't happen as much here.

  4. Lulu says:
    Mon, 23rd May 20118:45 pm 

    ha lines in italy are a joke.

  5. myhousemd says:
    Mon, 23rd May 20119:50 pm 

    Lines just don't exist in Russia! I never got used to it, but I got a lot better at pushing and shoving to get where I wanted. Luckily, we had internet provided at the school I stayed at! Otherwise, I would have died! Oh, and the entirety of Moscow reeks of b.o., vodka, and cigarettes! Ugh! . . . I still miss it, though!

  6. Jenna says:
    Tue, 24th May 20113:14 am 

    Are you kidding! American money is SO annoying, you have to sift through it to figure out what note it is because they're all the same size and colour and don't even get me started on 1 cent coins and 1 dollar notes and how much space they waste in my wallet when they really have no purpose!

  7. Jenna says:
    Tue, 24th May 20113:16 am 

    Oh and stores waste so much money being open that ate, maybe not so much in a college town but still how many people do you see in supermarkets after 9? Not enough to make much of a profit.

  8. Tiffani says:
    Tue, 24th May 20119:10 am 

    It really depends on where you are. In cities like DC and New York, there are always people in the supermarket! Like…you still have to wait in line for bit (I live in Maryland).

  9. castlegirl says:
    Tue, 24th May 201110:01 am 

    British people will form an orderly queue of one, its a fact. Love it!

  10. Michelle says:
    Tue, 24th May 201110:21 am 

    Indeed. I'm able to actually feel what kind of Euro coin I have in my pocket and am able to see in a blink of an eye if it's a 10 euro bill or whatever in my wallet.

    Plastic is also widely accepted here in the Netherlands. It's even being promoted to pay with your debit card or "chipknip". Creditcards however, are less common here in stores though accepted in most shops.

  11. Jenna says:
    Tue, 24th May 20111:34 pm 

    Oh my god I don't know if it was genuine Mexican food that I was eating in the states but that stuff is good you can't get anything close in the UK.

  12. Mojo says:
    Tue, 24th May 20112:44 pm 

    I'm a Yank living in Europe and I'll add my two cents.

    1) Our internet is fine.
    2) 9 p.m.??? Luxury!!! In Germany, France, and Switzerland it's 6:30 with rare exceptions, and almost nothing open on Sundays.
    5) Word…..
    6) Word…..
    7) True, but there's nothing Europe can do about the rotation of the earth.
    8) Sorry, I work in aviation and Ryanair may be no-frills but they're perfectly safe. Don't be such a wimp. Try flying on regional airlines in Asia, Africa, and South America. Ryanair? Please…..
    10) Word…..

  13. niteowl says:
    Tue, 24th May 20114:16 pm 

    In China, they don't form lines, so much as semi-circles around the window/agent/clerk. But as a retired American living in Thailand, I'd found what I missed most, is being able to go to a local pub and strike up a conversation in English. I've pretty much solved that problem by moving to a larger city. Thai people, btw, have absolutely no concept of waiting their turn. Annoying in a store or bank, it's terrifying when they're behind the wheel of a car.

  14. Sara says:
    Tue, 24th May 20119:02 pm 

    hahahaha this is awesome. I could've written this.
    #5: preeaaach
    and #8: Ryanair will forever be the bane of my study abroad existence. There was a reason people applauded upon landing.

  15. CDB says:
    Tue, 24th May 20119:43 pm 

    At least you weren't ignorant and kept an open-mind about people living differently, oops sorry wrong post

  16. Guest says:
    Tue, 24th May 201110:22 pm 

    Do you really think american businesses are so stupid that they would stay open if they were losing money?
    C'mon.

  17. jessica says:
    Wed, 25th May 20114:57 am 

    well aren't you rude. you can't expect everyone to love everything about the country they're staying in, and it's completely normal to miss certain things from home. i'm studying abroad in seoul at the moment, and i can't stand how slowly people walk here (i'm from dc, we have stuff to do!), but i love the cheap street food and could see myself living here at some point. i still miss home, but that doesn't mean i like everything about america too. why don't you think a little more before calling someone ignorant.

  18. Swissy says:
    Thu, 26th May 20116:26 pm 

    btw I meant Asia (specifically Iran) and Europe, clearly. My bad!

  19. Claire says:
    Thu, 2nd Jun 201112:43 am 

    I don't think I could cope having all my money the same colour and size! In Australia our notes are all different colours and sizes so you can easily tell them apart. No shuffling through to see which one you want.

    I've flown with Ryan air before and they were fine. Cheap and not luxury of course, but I never feared for my life.

    Wow, your supermarkets are open 24 hours? Why?! I've never had the urge to visit my local Safeway at 3am :S Here they close 8 or 9 most nights, and that's enough.

  20. criolle johnny says:
    Sun, 5th Jun 201111:00 pm 

    5. I agree! American women do this thing that makes sex so much more exciting, and intimate. Something European women, (particularly French women) seldom seem to consider.

    They Wash Their Bodies!

  21. criolle johnny says:
    Tue, 7th Jun 20115:37 am 

    The Italian telephone book tells you to "deposit a coin and the operator will EVENTUALLY come on the line" (caps mine).

  22. Ruth says:
    Wed, 29th Jun 20113:22 pm 

    You do realise we have all those things in Europe too well apart from the green money and who cares what colour it is, besides in europe we have this crazy idea if you drop a coin pick it up

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