4. Be ready to be suspiciously examined when providing your ID to buy or order booze. Americans write their dates as follow: month-day-year, not day-month-year, which is a breeding ground for confusion if you ask me.
5. Everything is gigantic. Indoor theme park in the middle of a mall? No problem!
6. How does everyone eat so much?
7. Subtlety is not an American’s forte. Is “You’re so sexy!” the accepted norm of how to tell a girl you like her?
8. What’s with the gaps in toilet doors? Do people not enjoy privacy when pooping in the US?
9. Automatic cars are everywhere and if you get to drive one on your trip to the US, you will learn to love them — why bother using six gears when you can smoothly shift from “drive” to “reverse” in one easy push?
10. Everyone drives. Most Americans have been driving since they were 16, and they all have their own cars. I don’t know about you, but I’m 22 and I’ve never sat in the driver’s seat.
11. Coffee is the drink of choice, not tea. You’d better hope that tipping in a lot of vanilla “creamer” (whatever that is) is the right thing to do.
12. Cinnamon is not just an ingredient used in baking. Everything is cinnamon flavored. Even gum. Even applesauce: a small, strange packet of what seems to be baby food. 