It’s been 5 years of me living in the US! So what do I really think of this
country after all this time? Hallo, Servus, and welcome back to my YouTube
channel! My name is Felicia, I’m originally from Munich Germany and 5 years ago today is when I
arrived in the US for my first long-term stay there. I had been to the US for a 2 week long high
school exchange and for vacation before but I had never actually lived here. Until August 13th,
2016 when I got on a plane from Munich to Paris and then from Paris to Cincinnati to start my
exchange semester at the University of Cincinnati. And what was supposed to be just a 5 month long
stay turned into me coming back over and over again on different visas until I received my Green
Card in September 2019. If you wanna learn more about me winning the Green Card Lottery, I’m gonna
link the videos about that down below and also up here. Since that day 5 years ago I haven’t been
in the US permanently since then, I spent a little over a year in Germany during that time too but
I still consider this my 5 year US anniversary and I think this is a great occasion
“for a recap” which is why I wanna share 13 things – since today is August 13th - about
the US with you that I don't wanna live without anymore after living here for 5 years! I also
made a list of things that I still can’t get used to here in the US after all this time – which
might be an even more interesting topic even but I figured it would sound a little snooty to
celebrate this anniversary by basically listing all the complaints I have sooo I’m sharing
the positive things with you guys today and then giving you the other side next week!
Oh and if you follow me on Instagram or watch my YouTube stories you probably
know that I’m actually in Germany at the time that you’re watching this but I’m
recording this here in Cincinnati right now. Number one on my list of things that I don't
wanna live without anymore is: air conditioning! As you guys know, it’s pretty normal in the US
to have air conditioning in buildings - whether that’s stores, public buildings or private
homes. more modern buildings even have CENTRAL air conditioning usually where the air gets
circulated through these air vents that you’ll find in every room. Now why is this so special?
For those of you who don't know in Europe and actually in most countries of the world it's
actually not standard to have air conditioning inside of buildings. Nooooow in one of my pretty
early videos I actually said that I wasn’t a big fan of central AC and many of you commented that
I wouldn’t say that if I lived in a hotter area. Now first of all, Cincinnati does get extremely
hot and especially humid in the summer. This year it's been fluctuating a little more
but usually, from about April to September it’s 8- to 90 degrees almost the whole time with
a really high humidity which often makes it pretty hard to deal with. It’ll get over 100 degrees
a lot too so like around 38 degrees Celsius. Now of course we also have cold winters here but
it’s not like we don’t deal with the heat here at all. If you look at the longitude, Cincinnati
is about the same level as Ibiza in Spain or Sardinia in Italy. The reason why I said I didn’t
love central AC back then was because when living with other people or in public buildings like at a
university, Americans often really overdo it with the AC. Instead of setting the temperature
to a normal average room temperature inside that would already feel cold compared to
the hot summer air outside – it often feels like an actual fridge inside. I’m not kidding,
people often set it to 16 to 18 degrees Celsius, like around 63 degrees Fahrenheit which to me is
just as inconvenient as the outdoor temperature, it’s just the OTHER extreme. Plus, you usually
wear short summer clothes during that time and it’s pretty annoying to always basically have
to carry a sweater with you in the middle of the summer because you’ll need it when you go inside.
So that was one reason why I said that back then and the other reason was that I find it kind of
annoying that in a bigger house when you live with your family or roommates, it’s all regulated
centrally. So you can’t turn it up or down or even off just in your room or just in the living
room. If the rest of the people want the AC on, you have to live with it. At most places you can
usually close your vent in your room but that doesn't usually make that big of a difference. I’d
personally like it better if you could regulate the temperature individually in every room. I
remember that 5 years ago when I came here on my exchange semester in August, I was sitting in
my room doing homework or whatever wearing warm clothes that I had brought for later on in the
semester and I was also wearing a scarf because I found it so cold inside. And I also got sick for
like a few weeks straight right after I came here because the AC was so cold. BUT besides that, I
think it’s awesome that AC exists here because it helps a lot with the humidity and it’s also just
really really nice to be in a restaurant or even in a club with a dancefloor and not have to sweat
your ass off. In Germany, when it’s hot, it’s hot everywhere usually. On the subway, in restaurants,
at school, in the office – but here, you don’t usually have to worry about your legs sticking to
a chair when sitting down inside in the summer so that’s pretty awesome! Plus, ceiling fans are
great too and I miss both of those when I’m home in Germany in the summer when it's actually
hot there for once I actually do miss both my AC and my ceiling fans. Number 2 is customer service!
I know that many Germans don’t share this opinion, especially the ones who only know this
from a vacation to the US or from the media but once you’ve gotten used to it – American
customer service is pretty amazing. Whether it’s at a store or a restaurant, overall,
people working in customer service treat you really really nicely here. They’ll be
friendly, make small talk with you, and try to accommodate every request you might
have. Even if you’re basically asking to create a whole new meal that isn’t on the menu. In
Germany, you’d you'd probably just get an answer along the lines of “That’s not possible”
not even a sorry in a lot of cases. Of course, this isn’t always the case but overall this is a
difference that really sticks out and even though many Germans say that they prefer the direct and
sometimes even unfriendly German customer service, I really haven’t met anyone who says that after
living here for a while. It definitely takes a little bit to get used to the American way because
as a German it might seem disingenuous at first, maybe even fake and over the top but it’s like a
cultural language that you’ll have to learn how to speak and understand first and I personally
don't wanna live without it anymore. I’ve had so many people working in customer service just
make my day much better by being so friendly or exchanging some nice small talk. It can even make
running errands a much more pleasant experience. I just recently told a story about when I had to get
my Ohio driver’s license renewed on the podcast, that was a perfect example of this
too! So I’ll just link that down below. Of course I know that especially
in the food service industry, a lot of the good customer service goes back to
the staff being paid only a few dollars an hour and mainly relying on tips. But you’ll experience
the good customer service in other fields as well where people are paid much better so I’d argue
it’s much more than just the tipping culture. Another cool thing about the US is that there
are so many entrepreneurs and creatives in this country that you can learn from – for
example on Skillshare which is today’s sponsor so a big shoutout to them! Skillshare is an
online learning community where millions of people come together to take the next step in
their creative journey – they have thousands of inspiring video classes on all different kinds
of topics, including video creation, photography, entrepreneurship, self improvement or even
language classes! The classes are of high quality, professionally made, and separated into different
chapters to give you a good structure and you can even work along with a hands on project!
Now as I said there are sooo many different kinds of classes on Skillshare and one
that I came across recently that I thought might interest a lot of you is this one: Indoor
Gardening: Grow Houseplants, Veggies, and Herbs taught by Ekta Chaudhary who runs several social
media platforms under the name “Garden Up”. I feel like in the past few years, having plants has
become a huge trend among people of my generation but obviously also among other age groups but
it’s not always as easy to take care of plants as it might seem at first. That’s why this class is
awesome because she shares her knowledge about how to use the different lighting conditions in your
home correctly, which potting mixes are the best for your plants and also how to troubleshoot if
something has gone wrong – which I think most of us have been in that situation with plants before.
She also helps us take the next step from keeping regular houseplants to also growing your own
microgreens, herbs, or tomatoes and other veggies. Now, the cool thing about Skillshare is
that it’s curated specifically for learning, which means that there are no ad breaks and
they’re always launching new premium classes. If you wanna join Skillshare as well I have an
amazing offer for you guys! Because the first 1,000 of my subscribers to click the link in
the description below will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare so you can start exploring
your creativity today! The next point on my list is convenience! I feel like this one is a pretty
obvious one but the US really is the country of consumption and convenience. You need some milk,
a new bathing suit, and a new lamp for your living room? Just go to Target and you’ll find everything
in one store. Plus, there’s most likely also gonna be a Starbucks in there. You're in a hurry but
you need to stop by the store for a couple things no worries just run in check out the self-checkout
machine and usually you don't even need to bring your wallet just pay with your phone. If you
realize at midnight on a Sunday that you’re out of tomatoes – no worries, just go to the
grocery store. Many of them don’t close until 1am or – never. And stores aren’t closed on Sundays
like they are in Germany! What a dream. Or you can just have the tomatoes delivered – or order
take out from a restaurant with services like Uber Easts or Doordash or Grubhub etc. And of course,
a big part of this whole convenience thing is also the fact that here in the Midwest, you can just
drive to places and you’ll usually find parking pretty easily, and the parking spots are huge
compared to Germany and so are the streets. Driving here in Ohio is just so relaxing compared
to driving and especially parking in Munich! Is it environmentally friendly? Definitely not.
Is it convenient though? unfortunately yes. Along with the big streets and parking spots also
goes the fact that there’s just a lot more space in this country than in Germany! Everything is
huge and I especially enjoy that when it comes to living spaces. Houses, bedrooms, closets, fridges,
all of that is just so much bigger in the US and especially here in Ohio, living
space is still relatively inexpensive compared to Munich which is the most expensive
city to live in in Germany. Here, when people say that they have a tiny bedroom it’s still
big for German standards usually. And in Ohio, you can buy a regular house with let’s say
2 or 3 bedrooms for 100-200 thousand dollars while even just an apartment with three bedrooms
in munich is usually over a million dollars. The 5th thing that I really wouldn’t wanna miss
about the US is how easy it is to connect with people here. Americans in general are so open
to meeting new people and making new friends. You can combine friend groups pretty
easily if you’re having a party or a BBQ and especially as someone who’s new to a country,
it’s a lot easier to find friends than it would be in Germany where friend groups tend to be
a little more closed off and long term. Plus, I feel like Americans are great at genuinely
being interested in another person’s story and finding common ground even if you’re
really different people on the surface. Number 6 is simple but has become an absolute
essential part of my life: Kettle Corn. It’s a mix of sweet and salty popcorn and it’s the absolutely
best snack in the world! The best store brand for kettle corn is Boom Chicka Pop by the way. They’re
not sponsoring me – even though they should - so if anyone working for Boom Chicka Pop is watching
– shoot me an email! But jokes aside, in Germany it’s actually standard to eat sweet popcorn at
the movie theater or other places. So if you don’t specify otherwise, ordering popcorn means ordering
sweet popcorn, not even mixed, just sweet. In the US popcorn is salty by default and often has a
butter sauce on top so it’s a salty and buttery snack and they’ll also put things like cheese
powder on it. Which has grown on me to be honest. But the crème de la crème is still kettle corn!
Number 7 is Carpet in houses. It’s a lot more common in the US to have carpeted floors in
the living room but especially in the bedrooms than it is in Germany. In Germany that’s a rather
outdated thing and you won’t see a lot of houses with carpet anymore these days, you’ll mostly find
hardwood floors there. Parkett usually. And that’s because most Germans PREFER hardwood floors
and nowadays, a lot of Americans do too but I love how common carpet is here because I just find
it so much more cozy to wake up in the morning and walk on soft fluffy carpet rather than
walking on cold and slippery hardwood floors. One big thing that I’d like for Germany to adopt
– so this is my official request Germany – is the amount of pools that you’ll find here in the
US. Not just private pools that you'll find in someones backyard, but neighborhood pools or
pools in apartment buildings. That’s not a common thing at all in Germany but here, if you live in
the suburbs or a more residential neighborhood, it’s super common that there’s a public pool
that everyone living in the neighborhood can use. And many apartment complexes have
a pool too – kind of like a hotel. There are even student apartment buildings
with pools here! And needless to say, in the summer that’s just reallllly awesome! You
either have a pool in your own neighborhood or you’ll go to one in your friend’s neighborhood or
building. And they often have public grills too. The next thing that I love here in the US in
my daily life is the bar culture. I feel like overall, it's a much bigger bar/pub culture here
than in Germany. Especially compared to Munich, where we don’t have a lot of bars where you just
go in and get a drink at the bar and then stand around or sit on a bar stool. Most places have
table service and if you wanna go party party, you’ll usually go to a club where you’ll have to
pay a cover fee and where the party doesn’t really start until 1am or later. Here in the US, I love
how many let’s call them “nonbinding” bars there are where nobody cares whether you order something
or not and you can just get a beer for 3 dollars (or at least here in Cincinnati you can) and hang
out and many bars have a dance floor too. No cover fee AND since in Ohio – and many other American
states – the sale of alcohol has to end by 2am, most bars close at 2 or 2:30am. Sounds early and
you might wonder – why would I like that? Well I like it because it means that people start
partying much earlier and I get to go to sleep at pretty much my normal sleep time (cause I’m a
night owl!) and don’t have to ruin the entire next day like in Germany where you often stay out
until 6 am or later because the party doesn’t even really start until late at night. Plus, going
out here is much cheaper since a lot of the bars simply have a dance floor and you don’t need
to pay a cover fee so it's more flexible, better hours in my opinion and lot cheaper plus
I like the music much better too. I’m not really into EDM and in my opinion, Germans don’t have
great taste in music because they don’t have a lot of rhythm. So everything is always just boom
boom boom, like the same beat the whole night. So I personally like the party music here
much better. Another really important one is: Mexican Food. With Mexico being right across the
border and Mexicans being the biggest immigrant group here, you’ll find Mexican restaurants
everywhere which we don’t really have in Germany. And when you do find a Mexican restaurant
in Germany, it’s usually not very good. Now before you guys comment “Oh but it’s not real
Mexican food, it’s Tex Mex, it’s Americanized” Well first of all – that tastes really good too
but even in Cincinnati in the Midwest there are numerous AUTHENTIC Mexican restaurants
as well! I’ve never been to Mexico myself but if Mexicans who live here say it’s
authentic, I’ll believe them. You don’t have to travel to certain states to find good
Mexican food. It’s really all over the country. The next one is something that I’ve
talked about a little more in detail in my video about what I love about the US but I
really like the positive mindset in this culture. This is a generalization of course, but overall,
Americans have an attitude that’s much more “Let’s try it, what could go wrong?”
rather than Germans who are often more like “Why would we try that, something could go
wrong”. I like to summarize it like this: When Germans would say “Why are you doing
that?” Americans are often more like “Why not?” which is something that I personally
just really enjoy because I find it to be a much more supportive environment to be creative
personally and live your life how you want to live it and not how other people expect
you to live it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn’t have this YouTube channel if it weren’t for
that positive and encouraging mindset here. Number 12 on my list is flexibility by which
I mostly mean that compared to Germany, when it comes to moving or your job, things are a lot
more spontaneous and you can decide things much more last minute here. Like while in Germany it’s
common that you have to give a 3 months notice to quit your job – or being fired – it’s only a 2
weeks notice here. Even for salary jobs! Which obviously has a lot of downsides too but I kinda
like how it makes life a little bit more flexible. Even more so with housing. If you rent a
place, it’s usually a one year lease in the US. If you wanna stay after that year you can
usually resign the lease for another year but it kind of encourages a lot of people to
move a lot which again – might be perceived as something negative – but I personally like
how it’s normal for people to move around a lot and thereby keep their lives interesting and keep
their options open as to where and how they’re gonna live in the future. In Germany, leases
are usually unlimited and people move a lot less in general. If you buy a house in Germany,
you usually plan on staying there permanently or at least for a really long time whereas
Americans often buy houses and then sell them again after a few years to move somewhere new.
Aaaaaand last but not least a thing that I could have included in my point on convenience but I
felt like it deserved to have its own point on the list is Drive-Thrus! One of the most American
and most convenient things ever. There are really drive thrus everywhere here – for fast food
restaurants obviously, but also for Starbucks and other coffee shops, pharmacies, banks (so
like drive thru ATMs), drive thru vaccines which is how I got my Covid vaccine, drive thru
convenience stores or even liquor stores, and apparently there are even drive thru wedding
chapels. You can definitely call it lazy but it’s also part of that American convenience that
has kind of seduced me in a way. It’s just to comfortable to just be in your own car, not
worrying about what you look like really, waiting in line while sitting down with your own music but
still getting food and completing other errands. And that wraps up my list of 13 things about the
US that I don't wanna live without after living here for 5 years! Let me know where you agree with
me or where you disagree in the comments below and also what kinds of follow up
questions you have for me and of course, stay tuned for my counterpart video of the
things that even after 5 years in the US I still can’t get used to! I hope you guys
liked this video, thank you so much for all of your support over the last 3 years that I’ve
had my YouTube channel! And if you wanna KEEP supporting me, make sure that you’re subscribed
to my channel and also activate the little bell, etc. on felifromgermany.com – that way you’ll
support my channel and also have a cool t-shirt at home so it’s a win win situation. Of course you
can also find me outside of YouTube on Instagram Facebook and TikTok sometimes so I hope I’ll see
you there or on here for my next video. Tschüss!
