by Englishman 41 Replies latest jw friends
The only country I have been to outside the US is Mexico. It is a whole different world down there, but the people are nice and the food is delicious.
Lilacs
I don't want someone in my life I can live with. I want someone in my life I can't live without.
Hi E-man,
The countries you listed are mostly in Europe and fairly local to you. I would say you are probably most familiar with "West European" culture. And that's great. There is a wonderful blend of ideas and approaches to life right there within that circle of countries. And I agree that such traveling and taking in of what the various places have to offer is a great way to break free of the cult thinking we were taught as JW's.
For myself, the barrier for more travel is a lack of cash flow. Traveling takes a lot of money and there are many people all around the world who just don't have the opportunity to travel to other countries to experience the different cultures first hand. However, when compared to some I am not poor and have been able to travel fairly extensively within North America at least, and once to Ireland. I would agree with others here that traveling within the US and Canada is analogous to traveling from country to country within Europe, even though we use the term "States" or "Provinces" instead of "country".
I also would like to point out that just living in the US is often enough to rub shoulders with different cultures from all around the world. I think London is similar to New York City in that within those cities there are people of hundreds of different backgrounds and cultures all calling it home. A true melting pot. Most cities in the US have at least some type of "melting pot" flavor. Right here in my own back yard we have a group of Tibetan Buddhist's and I have personally met the Dali' Lama whom they all consider to be a spiritual leader and who is directly from the mountains in Tibet and travels around the world. Woodstock is well known for it's cultural diversification. That's great for people who don't have a lot of money for travel.
Here's my list:
I reside in USA, New York state.
Was born and raised in Washington State
Visited the following states, countries or regions
Oregon
Idaho
Montana
California
Wyoming (truly another world with it's beautiful wilderness)
South Dakota
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota (talk about regional culture! [g])
Wisconsin
Illinois
Indiana
Michegan
Ohio
Pennsylvania (bring your own ale!)
West Virgina
Virginia
Tennesee
North Carolina
Florida
Maryland
Wshington D.C. (completely incomprehensible but interesting)
Delaware
New Jersey (almost as mysterious as Minnesota, Ha!)
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusettes
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
(The last group of six we call collectively New England)
Canada:
British Colummbia
Ontario
Quebec (decidedly European in flavor)
Ireland, Republic of
Also visited several "Indian" Nations here in the US and Canada.
And there is quite a difference between the West and East in the US and even the "Midwest". There is also a difference in the North and South. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Texas and Oklahoma but my wife's uncle lives there and we get the flavor from him.
My family's roots are in England and I hope to visit one day. Gotta save up.
Sean
Sorry, but I have to disagree that travelling between states or provinces in the United States or Canada is like travelling between countries in Europe.
Pick any example, let's say France and Germany. Neighbouring countries, yet hugely different in culture, history and attitudes. Now take two neighbouring US states, say Kansas and Colorado, or New York and Pennsylvania. The difference between them is minimal or indiscernible.
Even if you take two states from opposite sides of the country, such as South Carolina and Washington, or Minnesota and Florida, while the differences are more pronounced, they are still not as extensive as between European countries.
The simple fact is that different cultures take time to develop. Europe has simply had more time.
This is in the area of humanity of course. Geographically, North America is incredibly diverse, with natural wonders abounding in just about every place.
Expatbrit
As an aside, it seems going to a country as a tourist and visiting for a few days at most is great, but actually living there for a full year or more, through the four seasons and the various cultural and local legal events, I think, does a lot more toward opening ones eyes to the beauty of other cosmologies. I've visited all the 50 states plus Alaska's suburb, (Cannuckville) as well as land of the tacos. Lived for four years in Israel, one in Russia and two weeks or more in China, Mongolia, Western Somoa and New Zealand. Visited Figi, a whole bunch of European countries that all seemed the same except for language plus Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
carmel
wow, impressive people! i hope to do more traveling in the future.
i'm in minnesota (seaken, what'd you find so odd about minnesotans?? hehe)
in the states:
north dakota
south dakota
wisconsin
iowa
illinios
indiana
drove thru nebraska to get to
colorado
wyoming
montana
washington
california
texas
florida
idaho
tijuana, mexico
virgin gorda, british virgin islands
norway
my travel plans for the future include:
canada
the uk
netherlands
germany
spain
italy
greece
one day i'd love to visit australia and new zealand
of course central and latin america are on my list too.
money and vacation time stand in my way of traveling three months out of the year. i've also been tossing the idea around of moving out of the usa for a year, at least. in a few years i'll be thirty, i'm thinking i need to do this NOW hehe before i'm too old.
As a pointless aside, one of my strange little traditions is to try and eat a McDonalds in whichever country I go to.
It really is amazing how similar they all are! In fact, the only place which was quite different was Cairo, which had a strange greasy musty taste to it. This has always vaguely worried me, but since I got a worse case of Montezuma's revenge in New York than Cairo, it's probably just a silly fear.
Expatbrit
Hi Expat,
I do not disagree with your comment but I do think that it depends on what we consider as "culture". Some people would say that the US and Western Europe have the same "western culture". Since most of us are talking about traveling within our own cultural regions of the world I think it's fair to point out the differences one experiences when traveling from community to community within those regions. This, I think, is very similar between the US, Canada, W. Europe, and Australia. At this advanced date I don't think there is a remarkable difference in the "cultures" of France and England, just as it is here in the US between states. But within that general culture and view of the world shared by these regions there are remarkable differences of habit and approach to every day living.
Thus my crack above on the Minnesotans. They really are no different than New Yorkers or Seattleites but you can see the difference in how they approach life and in thier habits. And I love them all. The same recognition of differences is possible when traveling around W. Europe even though the general cultural attitudes are pretty much the same. The greater differences of culture are observed when we travel to the Mid-East or Eastern Europe, or the Orient and Southeast Asia or the Island's and Africa. Then we have true cultural dissonance and if we are smart we will do as E-man and Mulan suggest and leave the Western cultural attitudes at home.
Sean
Hi peaceloveharmony,
I was just teasn'. Where else in this country have the people chosen as their Governer a WWF idol?
No disrecpted intended. I just love the "we're going to do this no matter what you think" attitude. Like swimmming in freezing ponds in your shorts in zero degree temperatures. My sister-in-law is in Wisconsin, next door to you, and we have a lot of fun with her accent, like the folks in the movie Fargo. Actually I see a marked similarity in the accent of people from all around the Great Lakes, both in Canada and the US. Must come from the fishing and trapping roots shared among the peoples of that general region, many of whom came from the cold regions of upper Europe, like Norway. Who knows? I'm not a linguist or a historian. I just thinks it's interesting.
Sean
Well, I have not been to too many places.
In the US
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Wisconsin
Iowa
Tennessee
Kentucky
Ohio
Maryland
DC
New Hampshire
Massachussttsss...I cannot spell it
Florida
Georgia
Texas
Arizona
California
Montana
Colorado
Kansas
South Dakota
Utah
Nevada
US Virgin Islands
Mexico
St. Thomas
St. Marteen
Germany
We are going on an Alaskan cruise in May...out of Vancouver. I can at least say I have been to Canada.
expatbrit:
I disagree:
Although I've never traveled to Europe, your opinion about the differences in culture between the US states is wrong!
I can see major differences between even South Florida and North Florida, South Georgia and North Georgia, Tennessee is very different than North Carolina. The people and culture in the Western part of North Carolina are very different than the people and culture in the piedmont(central)section of the state.
So you will know:
I've traveled extensivley through the US, spending weeks at a time at various locations particularliy in the Southeastern US. I've spent time in lots of other US states as well including:
California
Nevada
Texas
Illinois
Ohio
New York
Maryland
Kentucky
countries:
Canada
Mexico
OK, so I've never left North America. I would venture to say that there is more difference between Miami, FL and Pensacola, FL, than there is between Buffalo, NY and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
But then again, I'm just a blindfool!!
