@Mr_NutterButter well, ive been here for 4 years, but i haven't been to many places. mostly northeast and midwest.
i would say that one surprisingly nice thing is just how good the quality of life is everywhere. you would expect smaller towns to have less amenities and for people to live a much poorer quality life (in terms of fresh water, safety, jobs, etc), but even tiny towns can still survive and thrive in the us. things like basic infrastructure are mostly taken care of, and as such a lot of smaller towns are possibly even better than the big cities. the average standard is pretty high. small towns actually have roads that area passable the entire year! and utilities! that's pretty neat. of course, there's cities that are dying and have crumbling infrastructure, but the average is pretty decent.
the oddest thing was definitely the banking system. for how technologically and financially advanced america is, the banking system comes from the previous century. no account to account transfers other than checks/ach (zelle and fednow don't count), no sepa-like receive-only credentials, no card2card, no virtual cards, horrible banking apps, huge reliance on cash, the whole credit card and score system as a whole. the list can go infinitely. it makes a lot more sense when you start reading into regulation and putting yourself into the shoes of big banks, but still. lots of things missing that are intentionally being held back from consumers through regulation burden. and the financial culture is very weird as a whole. but american consumers keep the world running, and it really is a consumer's paradise
i would say that one surprisingly nice thing is just how good the quality of life is everywhere. you would expect smaller towns to have less amenities and for people to live a much poorer quality life (in terms of fresh water, safety, jobs, etc), but even tiny towns can still survive and thrive in the us. things like basic infrastructure are mostly taken care of, and as such a lot of smaller towns are possibly even better than the big cities. the average standard is pretty high. small towns actually have roads that area passable the entire year! and utilities! that's pretty neat. of course, there's cities that are dying and have crumbling infrastructure, but the average is pretty decent.
the oddest thing was definitely the banking system. for how technologically and financially advanced america is, the banking system comes from the previous century. no account to account transfers other than checks/ach (zelle and fednow don't count), no sepa-like receive-only credentials, no card2card, no virtual cards, horrible banking apps, huge reliance on cash, the whole credit card and score system as a whole. the list can go infinitely. it makes a lot more sense when you start reading into regulation and putting yourself into the shoes of big banks, but still. lots of things missing that are intentionally being held back from consumers through regulation burden. and the financial culture is very weird as a whole. but american consumers keep the world running, and it really is a consumer's paradise