Top 10 things I miss about the USA
I've been living abroad for almost 4 years now. I have tried to embrace the culture as much as possible here in Germany and earlier when I lived in Ireland. But still, home is home. And there are always things that I miss from back in the USA. (Of course family and friends will be at the top of this list, but for this post I will leave out people and focus solely on things).
In no particular order:
1. Proper Peanut butter... America is definitely the peanut butter country.
2. Grocery stores open 24 hours, for that late night snack craving.
3. 100 different flavors of Ben and Jerry's. The standard here is cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownie... huh?? What happened to chunky monkey, cherry garcia, the oatmeal one???
4. The huge diversity in foods you can get. Sure you can also get great food abroad. But what I miss a lot is having a high density of diversity in a small area, which means lots of really authentic foods to choose from within a small radius.
5. And speaking of food, good Mexican food. It is really difficult to find great Mexican food. As Americans, we are really spoiled with this one.
6. My car. Yes I am happy without it too, but sometimes I just want to get in and go for a drive like I used to.
7. The beach.. okay, this varies depending on where you are from. But seeing the water everyday in Washington.. I miss that.
8. Big, wide, open spaces. America is huge, and that has become more evident to me then longer I live abroad. In Ireland it takes 3 hours to drive to the other side of the country, and people think that is a long drive! That always made me laugh, because doing a three hour commute to work in the US is a normal thing for a lot of people.
9. Free water at restaurants. Here in Germany, beer is less expensive than water when you are out at a restaurant.
10. Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday, I really miss it. We try to do a mini thanksgiving every year, but it is not the same as one at home. It's also hard to explain to someone outside of the US how special thanksgiving really is. It's not just the food, its the atmosphere, the smells, the connected-ness with family.
Are you living abroad too? What things do you miss from home??
In no particular order:
1. Proper Peanut butter... America is definitely the peanut butter country.
2. Grocery stores open 24 hours, for that late night snack craving.
3. 100 different flavors of Ben and Jerry's. The standard here is cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownie... huh?? What happened to chunky monkey, cherry garcia, the oatmeal one???
4. The huge diversity in foods you can get. Sure you can also get great food abroad. But what I miss a lot is having a high density of diversity in a small area, which means lots of really authentic foods to choose from within a small radius.
5. And speaking of food, good Mexican food. It is really difficult to find great Mexican food. As Americans, we are really spoiled with this one.
6. My car. Yes I am happy without it too, but sometimes I just want to get in and go for a drive like I used to.
7. The beach.. okay, this varies depending on where you are from. But seeing the water everyday in Washington.. I miss that.
8. Big, wide, open spaces. America is huge, and that has become more evident to me then longer I live abroad. In Ireland it takes 3 hours to drive to the other side of the country, and people think that is a long drive! That always made me laugh, because doing a three hour commute to work in the US is a normal thing for a lot of people.
9. Free water at restaurants. Here in Germany, beer is less expensive than water when you are out at a restaurant.
10. Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday, I really miss it. We try to do a mini thanksgiving every year, but it is not the same as one at home. It's also hard to explain to someone outside of the US how special thanksgiving really is. It's not just the food, its the atmosphere, the smells, the connected-ness with family.
Are you living abroad too? What things do you miss from home??
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