Yatsufusa 2024-08-06 19:14:22

(Edit: Readers might want to skip ahead and read what @YendorNG had to say about my partially questionable advice. I'll leave the rest of this comment unchanged to not add unnecessary confusion.)

Some things that come to mind...:

People in the US do not know what "bread" is. If you want some, forget about the supermarket and prepare to look for a bakery.

Their medicine has stronger dosages than in most other countries - because there's less concern for safety. As for immediate and long term-risks, you'd have to talk to a medical professional on a case-by-case basis.

Is somebody shady looking is asking you to enter a privately owned building _or_car_ do not go with them! They can effectively legally murder you without going to jail for it, thanks to a law called the "castle doctrine".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine#State-by-state_positions_in_the_United_States

Also: The whole "United" States stuff is B.S.. If you plan to travel between states, you will be treated as if you were traveling to a completely different country. That includes having to pay for "importing" certain goods you happen to have with you. Such as groceries.

Consider that 'Donald Trump' got voted into the most important office the USA have to offer by a _majority_. There are issues in that country that are beyond "fixable".

I'd recommend exploring the country with friends who live in the US and can play tourism guides as well as immigration helpers. Prepare to have "...And you think this is 'normal'?"-conversations - which is something that will happen to you in every foreign country.

Take care, Finasty.

EmilyRose420 2024-08-06 19:30:27

Can't wait for you to be in the states! Any questions you need ask me!

AmmoGuppy 2024-08-06 20:47:43

Definitely save up for a passport and a visa. The bread here isn't that bad. "The castle doctrine " is an antiquated law that remains in some lawbooks but it's not a "get out of jail free" card ( you'd have to have good lawyers or a good reason in court). Just stick with your friends and stay away from shady people/ parts of town just like anywhere else. With that definitely have a friend from there be a tour guide to acclimate you better. The only time youd have to worry about imports is when you first come into the country. Whether international or by Canada or Mexico. Look up what you can and cannot bring into the US ( manly for agricultural saftey and combating trafficking) Going between states no problem. If by air some flights carriers may not allow you to bring food or drink on board. State tax is a thing unfortunately so the price you see in on the label will probably be a bit more at the register. Airports are notorious for having overpriced stuff. The US does have problems but it's not a dystopian hellscape either.....yet. lol. If you have anymore questions will answer the best I can.

jthrash 2024-08-06 21:34:31

@Yatsufusa No need to scare Finasty. We have our problems, and like you, my actual "pride" in my country will sort of depend on whether we can keep Donald Trump out of office (especially with the "Electoral College" giving some of the most unpopular Presidents of our time a huge advantage even if they don't, you know, get the most votes). But American exceptionalism is kind of a real thing, for better or worse--our economy has recovered from the pandemic lockdowns far better than most European countries; our Copyright Office has slowed down misuse of AI so far simply by saying you can't get a "copyright" unless it was made by human artists at some point in production, not purely a result of robots and algorithms; and like you said, different states might as well be different countries, but I can at least confidently say in my own neck of the woods that it is quite safe here to the point of being a little boring.

Heck, the price of a new PlayStation 5 in the US hasn't gone up with "inflation" like it has in practically every other country, that's how insulated we can be from the entire world's problems. Even if Donald Trump unfortunately squeaks by (despite the current momentum against him) in the Electoral College (or God forbid, a repeat of the 2000 Florida recount) and we're stuck with his crying for the rest of his days, he won't have quite as many allies as he did in 2016--Brazil's Bolsonaro is out, the UK recently voted out the "Brexiteers" that have been causing most of their problems, France is still fending off their far-right for now, the extreme right is slowly but surely weakening in places like India and the Middle East...

I know it's kind of a "kid's" movie, but American Tail is a classic representation of the immigrant experience in the US. Little Fievel discovers the hard way that his overly-optimistic view that "there are no cats in America" is a delusion, yet he learns to adapt (and even make a cat friend that doesn't want to eat him) while staying true to his and his family's heritage and beliefs. Anyone who thinks the United States is a proper "power to the people" democracy that rewards hard work over nepotism or wealth will be disappointed, but if this country is less oppressive or rigid than the country of their birth in any way, they will be fine.

Yatsufusa 2024-08-06 21:54:55

@YendorNG

I accept your expert opinion on this as factual. I would, however, like to share a few remarks about how I arrived at the point where I wrote what I wrote.
I'm a rather private person, but for the "Where the heck do you come from?"-question that readers would likely have: I'm from a financially more stable part of Europe.

1. A certain 'Castle Doctrine' case was something that blew up _big_ in the news over here in 2014 (it seems). ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Diren_Dede ) What received less local coverage was that the person who did the killing was actually found _guilty_ and sentenced to 70 years in prison. I just learned about it after using search terms related what I could still remember about the case. Basically due to bias, everyone over here expected the shooter would walk free. When the man was convicted, there must have been significantly less news coverage and nobody in my social circles talked about it.
I still believe somebody could be 'tricked' to enter a house and that a shooter could later claim they entered uninvited, but I'm now a lot less worried about Finasty's fate in the US.

Dear YendorNG, thank you for clarifying!

2. The medicine dosages for most pre-packaged medicine in pill form is usually either taken as is or the pills are halved over here. A family doctor would prescribe a "normal dose" of 10 mg per pill would not be adjusted to 8 mg or 12 mg and a pharmacist would not put me on a scale after saying "Yatsufusa, you look a bit too fat/scrawny for the regular dosage..."
My assumption would be that the US dosages and the European "normal" dosages differ a bit and that that's why the effect would be "more potent".
Although I know of the thing with average weight of US citizens for quite a while, I did not take it into consideration as the deciding factor. (Once more, my personal bias made me believe the "less concern for safety" explanation without looking into it further.)

I still think the dosage from pills would be a bit higher for most foreigners visiting the US.

4. in 2019 acquaintances of mine visited the US. I do not recall which state(s). They were quite fond of their memories about the trip. But as they described it, when they drove their rental car from one state to another, they had to stop the car at the border and were asked by an officer if they had anything to declare. And they had a bag of fruit they just bought (apples, if I remember correctly). They were not allowed to discard or eat those fruits or even gift them to people traveling into the other direction. The tariff was almost as much as they spend on buying the produce.
As I said: They had quite enjoyed their trip, so I have no reason to doubt what they said. Maybe some states are more open with each other than others? (Maybe certain states hate fruits...)

At any rate: Thanks for clarifying, YendorNG!

jthrash 2024-08-06 22:23:32

I've never even left North America, although my Mom is currently travelling out of the country for a vacation, so sooner or later I'll have my own experience with country-hopping plane flights.

I can probably help you with the US culture a bit, though. You might be getting some conflicting advice, but that's because the country is VERY big (in more ways than one) and all 50 states have different cultures from each other.

"Thanks" to our political polarization, we have "Blue" states and "Red" states.

"Blue" states are generally more socially progressive, have most of the art/animation/VFX jobs, eat and live a little healthier and accept different cultures. The downsides of "Blue States" is that the cost of living is more expensive, even if we get paid more to make up for it; people are very sensitive (a general rule of thumb, don't draw women with big boobs and tiny waists, you'll get in a lot of trouble if you do); and you need to learn to be more "inclusive" yourself to get along in cities like LA or Compton, such as become more accepting of people with dark skin, having a woman as your boss, the LGBTQA+ community, etc. I live in a "Blue State."

I also have family in "Red" States and have spent significant time in states like Indiana. The advantages of many of these states is that they are significantly cheaper to live in, have a better balance between "city life" and quiet "rural life," edgy or offensive jokes won't get you in as much trouble, value tradition and hard work more, and for better or worse your vote in Elections count SO much more in small rural states like Wyoming because of our outdated Electoral College. Downsides of "Red" States are that people will likely be more racist against you if you're not "white" (European/Caucasian) or worship the Christian God specifically; a disturbing trend towards censorship against anything politicians deem as "woke;" you'll STILL get in trouble for drawing sexy anime women (this time from Christian prudes); people are generally MUCH fatter and unhealthier in less-developed rural states where healthy food is hard to come by, while cheap, convenient MacDonalds and other junk food places are overly-abundant (I think some states actually BAN food they deem as too "woke," such as veggie burgers); and people generally vote against their own interests and vote for people like Donald Trump, even as they depend on federal programs like Federal Minimum Wage, Food Stamps and other stuff they vote against. Personally I would get DESTROYED in a "Red" State, but things like gas and groceries really are much cheaper in "Red" States like Texas, depends on whether the pros outweigh the cons.

Finally, the, uh, "Elephant Peach" in the room--our country's notorious obesity problem. Thankfully, you're not doomed to automatically become a land whale with crazy-expensive hospital bills who dies by your 35th birthday, the moment you step foot in the US. You just have to be more careful, reading the "Nutrition Facts" on the box to make sure the food you're buying doesn't have too much sugar, saturated fats or calories--ideally, stick with the diet you have now (especially if it's high in vegetables and low in meats) and avoid getting addicted to stereotypical 'Murican food like hot dogs, pizza, fried chicken or soda. Of course, avoid fast food (e.g. MacDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King, Jack in the Box) like the plagues they are. I'm American and I've never had any issues with my weight because I avoid MacDonald's in particular.

It is also kind of surprising how, despite the amount of extremely heavy people in our country, our culture seems very "fat-phobic"--Hollywood and Disney, outside of the occasional show with Melissa MacCarthy or Chrissy Metz, seems to actively refuse to acknowledge the existence of fat people at all. Asians Americans are often much thinner than most Americans because they still face the crazy-high beauty standards from countries like China, Korea and Japan. And before you ask, you will still be called a "chubby-chaser" in the US if you date a lady much bigger than you or even Favorite a lot of chubby OCs on Newgrounds here. It's too late for me...

jthrash 2024-08-07 07:49:53

@Finasty "Blue States" tend to vote Democratic (Obama, Biden, Harris), and include progressive-but-expensive states like California, New York and Washington. "Red" states tend to vote Republican (George W. Bush, Donald Trump) and are very traditional-but-cheap (as in you can actually afford to buy a house) states like Texas, Florida and Nebraska.

Every state is like its own country, so unfortunately different cultural rules apply depending on which state you live in. On the other hand, for now at least we have "freedom of speech" so you are not forced to act like other people or worship the same God(s) as everyone else. But there is some common sense stuff like don't "Drive Reckless," don't shoot people (even in states with loose gun laws), get along with and be tolerant with people that look and think different than you, and most importantly remember Americans are very prudish about things like nudity and the female body, so be careful about drawing or talking about sexy or NSFW stuff in public. Oh, and the age of consent is at least 18, though people tend to wait until their 20s or even 30s to even start start dating, let alone marry.

Also, on a positive note, Japanese anime like Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Spy X Family is SUPER popular in the US, as well as Asian-American pop culture such as BTS, Squid Games, Genshin Impact, etc. So your current art style and fan art would probably get you a lot of irl friends here around the same age as you.

lol56lol 2024-08-07 08:45:24

you could transform into an armed eagle