Guest Post by Anisha Kamble.
I’m from India and planning to do an MS from USA in 2012. I’ve been lucky enough to have been to the US a couple of times in the last few years.
I decided to compile a list of things that I happened to see/experience while I was there which may be new or different to the average Indian going there for the first time.
I’ve spent around 3-4 weeks in the US, which is not very long, so forgive me if some of my views seem uninformed or immature; I don’t mean to offend anyone.
I don’t know how useful this is going to be. Maybe it’ll help you mentally prepare yourself a bit? Maybe you’ll find it easier to adapt? I don’t know. If nothing else, I hope this list at least serves the purpose of entertaining you.
In no real order of importance, here are my little scraps of information about American life:
- Americans can look very different from Indians.
- Never ever, ever say the word ‘Negro’
- Thank you, have a nice day
- Domestic help is a luxury
- Public affection
- Stuff’s expensive there.
- Tough life for vegetarians who don’t cook
- Food stays fresh much longer
- Everything is cleaner
- Goodbye water mugs and hand showers
- Potable water right out of the taps
- huge country, and there’s not very many people
- Weather varies greatly across the country.
Americans can look very different from Indians.
Here’s the average Indian for you: Around 5.5 feet tall, skin a variation of the colour brown, black or dark brown eyes and hair, medium built. I have seen many Americans, white, black, Hispanic, blondes, brunettes, redheads who are MORBIDLY obese or well over 6 feet tall or sometimes BOTH.
I know it’s not polite to stare but I could never help but go O_O at them. At 5’7″ I’m often complimented for being tall, but I felt quite small over there. Then there are American babies and toddlers, beautiful little angels they are, again couldn’t help but go O_O and awwwww.
Never ever, ever say the word ‘Negro’ (or Black)
The appropriate term is ‘Black’ (don’t ask me how/why). If anyone hears you, you could really get into a lot of trouble, as you should, because it’s considered to be a highly offensive term.
Note from HSB – Right term is African American.
Thank you, have a nice day
Get used to hearing ‘Thank you, have a nice day 
’ and saying it back.
Most Americans are very polite and casual. Everyone is treated the same regardless of what their background or profession is. If you’re used to ill-treating certain classes of people in India, you’re in for a major reality check.
Domestic help is a luxury.
It is almost considered a necessity in a lot of urban Indian homes. Over there, however, only the upper class folks can afford to hire maids or cooks or drivers. So get used to doing things on your own, and learn to do them happily.
Also, god forbid you talk to the domestic help there the way Indians are used to talking to their ‘bai’s etc.
Display of public affection.
Coming from the land of “moral police” it’s quite surprising to see that people in America will openly hold hands/hug/kiss each other in public.
When you first experience this it can be pretty awkward (more so if you’re with your parents!). I’ve seen sex shops in perfectly nice neighbourhoods of New York City and banners of completely naked women in Las Vegas. It’s best to have a sense of humour about these things rather than bad-mouth the American culture.
Tough life for vegetarians who don’t cook
Photo – flickr.com/soroll/
If you’re vegetarian and you’re not a good cook, god be with you.
Once my dad walked into a McDonald’s and asked if they had any vegetarian stuff. He was met with a blank, confused expression. Eventually we realized it was silly to have even asked, and my dad ended up having to munch on french fries, and we picked up a cheese pizza on the way home.
Wooo…love this post….where was it hiding? Good job!!! I could see so much similar here in Australia!!!
Hi ALL,
Why does Robert mentioned CUNY-City College in his post…Its not clear. I have got admit from CUNY- City college…Shd I really go for it
What you call luxuries in USA, we merely call “civilization”.
Masach lihilays Anisha.
Keep writing.
@anisha kamble
i really like your post . can u tell me more about american and indian lifestyle. are you on fb ?
Sure, you can find me at facebook.com/anishakamble, but only for exchanging messages, I don’t add people I don’t know to my friend list
what are the chances of getting a job after completing your masters
IT people are getting jobs as they are used to hiring indians. remember there is no campus interview in US like India so even if you got great grades in your MS, you may not find any job at all.Other then IT, it is very very difficult to find any job.
*munna – Not totally true. Depends on the university you’re from. Many of the top 20 universities have campus placements with many jobs outside the IT sector.
plz name some of the corresponding univ names and theorganizations in which they have been placed
hey thanks for such a nice article about us life style….
can we visit usa before going to MS ? will that effect on our visa process ?
You can. In fact if you have a tourist visa, it’ll be an advantage when you go to apply for student visa (so I’ve heard).
Hi. I am agree with almost all expresed in the article. But you have to be careful with all the races, not just the Blacks. You have to respect all of them: Hispanics, Jews, Chinese, Koreans, etc. I am from Ecuador, and I even have to express very carefully to Mexicans or Salvadorians (specially in restaurants and the subway/train in NYC), even though we are people from LatinAmerica. Watch out the way you talk to others! Regards to the City College CUNY fellas!!!
Well said.
Anisha Kamble & HSB Thanks a lot for this post . It helped me a lot to know about USA lifestyle.
Hi
Thank you very much for your article . Can you post some more information about using toilet papers ?? (
) . I have applied for my PhD and having nightmare since then thinking of it . What I try to mean , hmmm… I mean those places contains a lot of body’s filamentous biomaterial (Hair) (:P) , how you can clean it with paper ?? the stuff are going to stick to them isn’t it ?? Or we need to shave them ???
please dont think this is an inappropriate post , this a practical problem for indian student with lots of doubt , uncertainty and fear !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Infact 1 year back I created a post on How to Use Toilet Papers and its still in draft. Now, I should publish it.
Filamentous bio-material ….someone is really getting ready for PhD.
dont worry…even it was a bit weird for me in the beginning….it was petrified of the same filamentous biomaterial thing…but be assured..even water is never full proof in cleaning them…u’l get used to it…it’s very dirty when u think of it in the beginning…but dont worry..its only a small problem..
haha, man grow up, no one teaches these things to adults, u r not tollder, r u?, evryone learns themselves, ask relevant questions. dont know how u got admitted for PHD with this shitty attitude and dumbness. U will surely be thrown out of US.
student life experience can be very much different:- 1) once your class finishes, your american classmates will become complete strangers. 2) homework sharing is frowned upon. 3) health care/medical insurance is horribly expensive. forget about having eye tests and getting new pair of glasses or visiting dentist which can cost a lot.4) no transportation. u have to rely on other people to give u a ride to go to walmart for even bread/milk. so either u become dependent on other people or you become broke if you decide to spend thousands of dollars to buy car.5) If your university is somewhere in south, u will meet many missionaries who will pass on bible to you or ask to attend there church. 6) furniture can be had for free, people move frequently and often throw mattress, chairs, sofa near dumpsters.7) electronics, utensils, clothes are ceaper here in USA then india. 8) bring a pressure cooker from india 9) most important start planning well how to get job after your masters. remember it is very very difficult to get a job nowadays so plan well in ahead. good luck
about the ride..i disagree..most universities have their own bus services to commute them around the campus and weekend services to the nearest malls.
universities have bus service within campus but not to gorcoery stores which are far far away from universities in many cases. weekend service to malls, well walmart is never in malls, malls means stores like JC Penny, Sears, Dillards for clothes etc. Now imagine you want to buy bread or milk on tuesday, will you wait till sunday for some bus service????
@munna
i really like your comments on student life. can u tell me about other aspects like classes in a day,type of assignments given and the type of tests being set up
If you are going for Masters in Engineering, your classes will be full of Indian students. Instead of books, here professors rely on power point presentations and lot of homework/assignments are given. Grading is easy. more focus is given on semester end projects and presentations. It is easy to pass MS. Tests are okay, not too difficult nor very easy.short answer/problem type.
Boss u seem to be a relally intelligent and articulate guy, I have admits from penn state and Georgia tech, I need some suggestions. how can i call/contact you?
Wow that was Phenomenal to know the facts of America for an INDIAN guy…….one more request is can someone create an panoramic view of GERMAN LIVING to an INDIAN guy……..u ll be definitely an audacity…….Waiting >>>>>>>
Excellent article. Every single line in this is true and I am personally experiencing it for the past 1 month. Good job dude.
Nice Post! I have always asked myself what should I expect in America and should not be shocked at how people behave and just take a deep breath and relax!
I appreciate all comments posted for comparison to Indian style.
But you can enjoy the test of staying in USA either in the capacity of
citizenship/green card holder or temporary stay in student visa.
But after completion of academic life as a student ,your real struggle
will start in job searching with OPD for staying in USA to enjoy so called
luxary of life with good climate and culture. If you can get a job which has
become impossible for Indian in present recession in USA then you will
have to come back to India and search for a job and you will have to start
your life from where you left from India. Do not move with high hope to
USA,if you have average academic career and it will bring frustration
in life.
The only point I don’t agree with is about vegetarianism. There are a lot of Americans who are vegans, an even more extreme form of vegetarianism, in which even dairy products are off the list. In almost all restaurants, one can fine vegetarian food, especially in big cities. Most Italian food joints also have vegetarian options for pasta. my daughter who is a pure vegetarian never had a problem with eating out.
Yeah, since the McDonald’s incident happened with me (in 2007), I’ve noticed that a lot of Americans have converted to vegetarianism. When I visited the country last year I definitely saw a lot more veg dining options. But personally speaking, I certainly don’t think I could live without Indian, homemade veg dishes because American veg dishes just don’t taste the same.
A good read indeed. On a lighter note, carrying a bag of pop-corns for a week. Come on Anisha, seriously !
Hahaha yeah man. In my defense, it was a really big bag
Its been a few weeks for me in the US and I concur with most of the things mentioned here. Very informative post. Thanks Anesha.
Thanks for the post
It is helpful .
I agree that food is expensive in US, but I will have to add that many things are cheaper:
Electronics are definitely cheaper
I generally find clothes cheaper in the US than India
The key is to shop things (clothes/electronics) the right way and when there is the right deal. In the last year, I bought a few Arizona Jeans T shirts from JC Penney from clearance at $2.50 each and between me and my friends we bought 10 and we had a coupon for 10$ off 25$ so we got 10 great T shirts for 15$.
I agree that food is expensive in US, but I will have to add that many things are cheaper:
Electronics are definitely cheaper
I generally find clothes cheaper in the US than India
The key is to shop things (clothes/electronics) the right way and when there is the right deal. In the last year, I bought a few Arizona Jeans T shirts from JC Penney from clearance at $2.50 each and between me and my friends we bought 10 and we had a coupon for 10$ off 25$ so we got 10 great T shirts for 15$.
This said, I think its a pretty good writeup.
Well you can always find cheaper stuff in India, be it electronics or clothes (though $2.50 is amazing, kudos on making such a sweet deal
), but I think the main point is that you’ll get better quality stuff there. Even shirts you buy from Walmart will last a fairly long period of time (I have a couple 
), whereas if you go and buy the same from, say, a Big Bazaar (India’s Walmart equivalent), it definitely won’t last as long.
You can always buy stuff during “thanks giving” for the year. I bought around 10 shirts of banana republic for 15$ each..and you cannot get that quality in India for that price
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It will be definitely useful to others.
Good informative post..
Thanks Anisha !
*2. it should rectified the actual term is African American and not Black of negro. I hope HSB rectifies it in interest of everyone.
Yeah HSB has written a note there
Black is OK and acceptable, even more widely used. Only ‘negro’ is offensive.
I enjoyed reading this post! But there are a few things I would like to clarify, with no offense to the post-er (see what I did there?
)
PDA is not acceptable in many parts of the country. I, for one, grew up in North Carolina and now live in Atlanta. These places are part of the ‘Bible belt’ of conservative and religious people. You don’t really find anyone even holding hands on the road, and I would advice against doing that.
Also, just as a heads-up, you need to be aware of what is happening around you. If you are hanging out with a bunch of other Indians and all yelling in hindi at a southern diner, then dont be surprised if you’re racially discriminated against. If that happens, just take it all in good spirit!
thats true. southerners have never grown up. still they are REAL conservatives and same old tradition and practices, very religious and finally still very republicans.
also to mention there are different accents and southerners accents are deep. also people differ dramatically one can easily identify them. i was on a trip to TN once all the way to there there is a church or a cross every mile. also they carry loaded weapons can be easily seen in some states, so be careful what u talk and where u talk when in a group with indians. you are in trouble if they take it as offensive.
Hmm interesting stuff. And scary! haha.
@ Sam good info
Hey great piece…I live in NY and agree to every aspect of the article…the expensive thing u get used to after a couple of months, though. Also, the US people are very private, and don’t expect to make friends with Americans in a new class right away, the way we do in India. I have been here for over a semester, and my classmates are still like “Hi Byee” ones…one thing that again might depress u in the beginning, but u again get used to it.
good point in that. as Indians we are so very accustomed to becoming close buddies in a matter of hours. the point is, personal space and privacy is given an awesome amount of importance in most western societies.
though i’ve noticed that latin american and europeans on an average basis are more free (this info is mainly from club exchange students/professionals we had hosted). we would get chatting on soccer, Pele and a german gentleman went on about the evils of neo-nazis for an hour.
it is not safe to assume that the same level of “instant buddy” is applicable in the US. also never EVER ask about how much one is earning from campus job etc, or whether one got scholarship, or one’s grades — things that are asked right after knowing someone’s hometown in our country. i’d been warned off from doing these gaffes by my schoolmates who went earlier for bachelors. just spreading the advice.
thanks.
@anisha kamble it is a useful info by you