What I Forgot About American Culture After Being Gone For Two Years
As many of you know, I returned to the United States in August of 2025 after spending two years living in Latin America. Although two years may be considered brief to some, spending ages 22 to 24 abroad left a huge impact on me. I started a professional career, perfected a foreign language, and adapted to a new way of living all before my prefrontal cortex had fully developed.
TRAVEL
James Kirk
3/1/20263 min read
Being back in the United States, starting a new career (once again), moving to a new state (Connecticut), and settling back into my own culture has given me some realizations. These are all aspects of American culture that I subconsciously already knew about, but had forgotten as they seem subtle, mundane, and ordinary. However, when you live in another culture for two years and come back, you start to notice them more.
The Car
After going sometimes months at a time without getting in a car, it is weird to rely on one again. On one hand, I like this because it makes life a lot more convenient when most stores, restaurants, and public spaces are designed for the car. On the other hand, it makes me less appreciative of the community around me. For example, when I lived in Mexico, I would walk through parks, admire architecture, and occasionally run into people I knew on my walk to the grocery store. Now in Connecticut, I just get in my car, focus on driving, and park in a lot.
The reliance on the car makes The US a very accessible country in may ways. When I lived in Latin America (especially Guatemala and Costa Rica), to get to cities that looked like they were nearby on a map would often take multiple hours because of the way the roads were designed. On the contrary, In the United States, there is almost always a somewhat convenient route to get from point A to point B (especially where I live in New England).
Me in Antigua Guatemala in 2024!
Making Plans
In Latin America making plans is often a "go with the flow" mentality. It was really easy to wake up one morning and make plans with friends to have lunch, get drinks, or go for a walk later that day. Coming back to the United States, I am reminded how a text "do you wanna grab dinner?" is not responded to with "yes, what time?," but more like "well, I am available next Thursday or the following Saturday." In American culture we plan farther ahead, even events that seem as small as grabbing lunch or drinks with friends are put on the calendar.
Unlimited Food Options
What I missed most about the US when I was gone was the diversity of food options. In Hartford I can get amazing Italian, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Indian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian, or Colombian (just to name of few) food without driving more than 15 minutes from my apartment. While there are cosmopolitan cities in Latin America such as Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires that offer fantastic international cuisine options, it is not as common to find good international food outside of major hubs. Where I lived in Mexico basically only had local food, pizza, their local version of Chinese food, and American fast food places. While the Mexican food was so delicious and truly better than anything I typically eat at home, after about eight months I started craving more cuisine options.
Dumplings I had in New York City's Chinatown a few weeks ago!
Greetings
One thing I love about Latin America is the concept of a greeting in social settings. When you see people you always shake their hand, give a kiss on the cheek, or give a hug. In the US, this is not as written into our social codes. You often have to get to know people before you understand what the proper greeting for them will be. There is also sometimes no greeting at all which I find to be strange. After being away for two years, just waving hello or goodbye to people often makes my interactions feel incomplete.
The Lack of Awareness of Other Countries
This is a tricky one because the United States is one of the most diverse countries in the world. At the same time, Americans are some of the least exposed people to media from other countries. Most Americans consume primarily US television, movies, sports, and music. So although we are a very diverse country, we also often forget or do not even acknowledge other countries. This obviously is not necessarily due to American's lack of interest, but more reflects how dominant our economy and Hollywood are on a global scale. To be fair though, especially with my generation, there is now more openness than ever to media from other countries.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading! I am sure after I publish this there will be more things I think of that I will be kicking myself for not including.