Here are some of the things I have noticed here in the U.S. now that I am an obnoxious study abroad snob and claim to know the world because I lived for a handful of months in the upper middle class section of Santiago:
1) Gringos are more distracted than Chileans: Last week, I was sitting in lecture for my Media Studies class (comprising about 50 people), and the girl next to me texted the WHOLE TWO HOURS of lecture!! The most annoying part is that her phone was on vibrate so for the WHOLE TWO HOURS I felt like there was a hive of bees next to my ear. Also, gringos try to multi-task much more. It's not uncommon to be having lunch with friends and have at least one friend be texting as they are talking, or to be texting while someone else is talking, and thus, not participating in the present conversation. I find this annoying. In Chile, this was a very uncommon thing to do. The sad thing is, I'm starting to pick it up again, and hope to reverse this bad habit. Why I feel here that I can't wait another half hour to text (so I don't disrupt bonding time with my friend) I have no idea. No idea.
2) Cars actually stop for pedestrians: One of the first things I noticed in Chile was that cars would go at the speed of light down every road possible, and that unless there was a green light for you the pedestrian, you were not safe. They wouldn't even stop for you at designated crosswalks (the one without lights). Even with the green light, you were pushing it. Traffic would also change directions on some major streets later on in the day, which made crossing the street safely a bit more challenging. Here, you can be 10 feet away from the crosswalk, and the car will make a complete stop and (for the most part) patiently wait for you. Ironically, I feel even more nervous with their over-cautiousness here. Probably because I am still in survival mode/extreme distrust of drivers thing that I developed while in Chile that has carried over here.
3) People are on time: WHAT?!?? I'm still trying to re-adjust myself to this concept. In Chile, 1:00 really meant 1:30, and bastantes veces, later than that. Often, when I thought I was late to class, the teacher showed up later than me (and sometimes didn't even show up). So I got used to taking my time and being tranquila about getting somewhere because, really, how "late" could I be?? Ooohhhhh that shit don't fly here. You're 15 minutes late to meet a friend, you are met with an evil glare and/or a mini-interrogation session ("What took you so long?" "Why were you late?" etc). Now I have always been someone that has tended to run on the late side, but now it's even worse. Even with the 10 minute grace period at Berkeley (where classes don't start until 10 minutes after the hour), I still manage to show up late. Which is bad, because whereas my friends are probably grading me on my friendship, at least it doesn't show up on my transcript. Apparently grades in your actual classes do.
4) People talk over each other much more here: In Chile, conversations were much more tranquilo: I talked, the other person listened, they talked, I listened, and the cycle continued. When I got back, I was so overwhelmed with multiple voices talking at once, someone interrupting me in the middle of my story to tell a story that was related to mine ("That reminds me of the time..."), and voices getting progressively louder to try to grab the story spotlight. Granted, I'm a talker, so it's not like I never do this. But I try my best to grant people their moments. And in Chile, it was just way more calm and relaxing talking to people. It felt like more of a conversation as opposed to a talking competition. Luckily, a lot of my close friends here aren't like this, but it's still very apparent in day-to-day life how group conversation dynamics operate.
More to add later.....
