Being a guest in Michigan, USA

Do you know where Michigan is? Have you ever been there, or anywhere in America? Or are you dreaming of such a journey? Then this blog is definitely for you! 😊

Leaving Europe and heading to the U.S.

Being an English teacher, it’s quite of a shame that this journey was my first one to an English-speaking country. At the age of 28 – but it’s never too late! And I’d like to share here some interesting discoveries I made about the American culture while staying there. You must know that I wasn’t really a tourist but a visitor: I’ve had an invitation from my relatives living in Michigan for several years and now I finally made this trip.

I left Europe for the very first time in my life. I even needed a new passport because recently, I’ve been only travelling with my ID card in the EU. When I changed flights in Frankfurt, I was totally exited boarding the flight to Detroit. It was a long-haul flight, but I love flying and I could relax once were very in the sky. I knew that my aunt – who I’ve never met before! – is going to wait for me at the other side of the gate at Detroit Airport. But before that, I needed to get though passport control which took quite a bit of a time… but I made it! 😊

Being a family member

I was a guest at my relatives’ house at one of the Great Lakes of Michigan. It was just beautiful, I felt like being on holiday at the seaside, combined with being a new family member of my American family. I was introduced to all the neighbors, to some other relatives and friends. Even in small shops, my aunt told the shop assistant that I’m from Berlin, from Europe, first time in the US… I heard it so many times, but it was such a feeling! During my two-week-visit, I even participated at the birthday party of a one-year-old child, the grandson of some neighbor. By the way neighbors: every time I went for a walk in the street (either alone or in the company of my aunt), I was always greeted several times like that: “Hi Sophie! How are you doing?” That’s actually the typical way of greeting each other there, and of course everyone says “Good, and you?”

Baseball game and other things in Detroit

Of course we visited some famous places, such as the Henry Ford Museum, Detroit downtown, Detroit Zoo, etc. I even went to a typical American baseball game, in Detroit T-Shirt and baseball cup. I felt like an American lady! 😊Did you know that baseball is as popular in the USA as football here in Europe? And that Americans don’t call it football what we have here, but soccer? Football is the American football for them. So next time you’re travelling there, don’t get confused! 😉

Golfing

Besides baseball and the animals in the zoo, we often went to restaurants and small shops, but we even played golf with my aunt. Golf has a big tradition there, you can see golf courses everywhere on the way, and I can actually play it, because it was my hobby as a teenager in Hungary (that would be another story, though). It was a relatively easy course where we played, but I was surprised and happy that I had such nice shots – totally out of practice, though. And I even drove a golf car because in America this just belongs to golfing.

The boating culture in Michigan

I cannot tell you what my favorite place or activity was, but probably the “true Michigan experience” – as it is called: boating on the lake. Everybody living in that neighborhood, basically on the water, have a boat – well, at least one. They grab a cooler (like a mini fridge) and put cold drinks, snacks and sandwiches in there, and they are good to go for a small trip and a picknick on the boot. We did it once on our own, just with the family, once with a bunch of friends and neighbors. They call it a party when several boots arrive at the same place, people get off, go into the water with a drink in their hands and chill out and have fun. Such an American experience! And they were amused that I wanted to swim a bit… They just rather stand there in the water and have fun. But I also tried the SUP (I only managed it on the knees) and was taken on a fast drive with a luxurious motorboat as well as with the jetski of my aunt.  Being on and in the water is something I really enjoyed, but I also got sunburnt already on the very first day… And once, we went to have dinner in a restaurant on the lake. After a casual dinner with some friends, we enjoyed the sunset from the boot. It was a special occasion for me as a guest.

Drink cold

There are some things in the American culture that might shock you when you travel there for the first time, for instance when coming from Europe. First of all, Americans use strong air-conditioning everywhere and drink everything from the fridge, with a lot of ice cubes. In restaurants, you also get your drinks very cold (even if the weather is not so warm), but you also get a glass of water with ice before you even order anything. That’s kind of a nice thing, they are welcoming their guests in such way. I can only imagine how hard and strange it is for American tourists in Europe, where things aren’t working in such a way.

Everything’s big

The portions are big everywhere: in the supermarkets, in the restaurants, at home… My relatives have two huge fridges: one in the kitchen, one in the garage. The houses, the streets and roads, the cars, etc. By the way cars: the family has three cars for three people, which is actually normal there. Everyone was shocked when they heard I live in Berlin but don’t even have a car. In the USA, public transport is not so popular, maybe only in big cities. Regarding the transportation, it’s a totally different culture than in Europe. Another interesting fact about cars: the license plate is only on the back of the cars, not on the front. Afterwards I made some research, if it’s everywhere like that in the USA, and found out that about half of the states require two license plates while the others require only the back one. Interesting, isn’t it?

Between Canada and the U.S.

One of the most exciting things for me was that we were so close to Canada! On the first day, we were boating between the two countries, the two shores, and it was an amazing feeling that the other shore is already Canada! Later on, my uncle drove us up to the border where a bridge – well, actually two – connect the two countries. We couldn’t go over to Canada because I was only allowed to enter the U.S. once. But it was still very interesting to see that. And on the last day of my stay, we went to the local beach where there’s a ferry going to Canada. I have a picture of me with the two flags at the border.

Americans love having their flag everywhere, even in front of private houses. It is also an interesting cultural thing, because here in Europe it’s far not as common to have private flags.

Some fun facts

It was very nice to use English and talk to Americans all the time while staying there. I’ve also learnt a few interesting things. For example, do you know what a “baby shower” is? Well, it means that they organize a party for family and friends before the baby is even born, so that he or she can get presents like clothes and toys – before the birth! So weird for me…

I was also surprised that they rather use the word present and not gift, although as I’d learnt it before, gift is the American version, while present is the British one. However, they do use the word gift card. I learnt these things when my aunt was looking for birthday presents for the one-year-old child who had a birthday party. It was nice to be part of it! 😊

Back to Berlin

When I arrived back to Berlin, I had to get used to everything again. I used Denglish with my German boyfriend, as some words only came in English – but in Berlin, it’s actually quite common (using Denglish, I mean). Then we used the public transport, waiting for the bus for ages. I only travelled by plane and car in the previous two weeks. You can imagine that it was such a change! And the whole culture, the everyday life, the way things are working here and over there. Not even talking about the time difference and the jetlag. I tried to do everything according to the CET time zone, but the first night, I woke up at 2 a.m. and just couldn’t sleep! And for several days, getting up in the morning was almost impossible. Well, I experienced jetlag for the first time in my life. But slowly, I got used to everything again here in Germany – and started to miss Michigan…

About me

As you can imagine, I love travelling, languages and cultures – and teaching. So, if you want to learn English or German with me, I guarantee that you won’t only learn the language, but the culture, too. And I don’t talk about these countries based on a book, but based on my own experiences. I also like topics such as differences between American English and British English. That’s something my students tend to enjoy a lot. Just let me know, if you want to learn with me – both the language and the culture. 😉