The most surprising things about America, according to a Silicon Valley engineer who moved from India 7 years ago

A LinkedIn software designer named Aniruddh Chaturvedi moved to the US from India in 2011.
In an email to Business Insider, Chaturvedi listed what he found to be the most surprising things about American culture.
They include a love of road trips, the price of soda, and Americans' tendency to display the US flag everywhere.

Sometimes you don't realize what makes your country unique until you hear it from an outsider.

Aniruddh Chaturvedi, a senior software designer at LinkedIn, came to the US from India in 2011 and was immediately surprised by certain aspects of American culture. He now lives in California.

In a Quora post, Chaturvedi explained what he found most surprising about the US, drawn from his experience at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and from his time working at various Silicon Valley tech companies. He emailed additional thoughts to Business Insider.

Here are the highlights, from the apparent high integrity of American students to the outrageously low price of soda:

In America, "everyone is highly private about their accomplishments and failures."

Shopping in America is a chore.

"The retail experience is nowhere near as fun/nice as it is in India. Because labor is cheap in India, there is always someone who will act as a 'personal shopper' to assist you with holding your clothes, giving suggestions, etc."

"In America, on the other hand, even if you go to a Nordstrom or Bloomingdales, there is almost nobody to help you out while you're shopping. Shopping in America is more of a commodity/chore than it is a pleasurable activity."

American students love to collaborate and support one another.

But students seem to know where to draw the line.

"Unfortunately, it is expensive to be healthy in America."

"Rich people are thin/well maintained, poor people are fat. This stems from the fact that cheap food is fatty, rich people don't eat cheap food — they tend to eat either home-cooked food which is expensive or eat at expensive/healthy places. Unfortunately, it is expensive to be healthy in America."

And overweight people have it harder in society, too.

There is a "dearth of African-Americans in technical fields."

"This probably stems from the fact that they aren't given enough opportunity."

Americans place an emphasis on nature and the outdoors.

In American restaurants, the serving sizes are huge.

"I am by no means a small eater, but it usually takes me at least 1.5 meals to finish the entree."

And Americans tend to 'waste a lot of food.'

"It is very easy to buy in bulk because it's so much cheaper, and as a result, a lot of wastage occurs."

Americans are obsessed with buying coffee.

Single-parent households aren't unusual in the US.

"Split families, not having married parents, etc., is not seen differently than the contrary."

Americans support the LGBT community in great numbers.

Supermarkets in America have a strange way of pricing their goods.

"The way that stores price their products makes no apparent economic sense, and is not linear at all."

"For example, at a typical store:"- 1 can of coke : $1.00"- 12 cans of coke : $3.00"- 1 Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar : $3.00"- 12 Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars : $7.00"

Somehow, in America, soda is "cheaper than bottled water."

And fast food is cheaper than healthy food.

"Fruit and vegetable prices, as compared to fast food prices:

"- Bag of grapes: $6.00"- Box of strawberries: $5.00"- 1 lb tomatoes: $3.00"- McChicken: $1.00"- McDouble: $1.00"

Americans may not realize "the sheer variety of products available" at stores.

And Americans get to take advantage of amazing return policies.

In the US, you get unlimited soda refills and lots of soda options.

American flags "are displayed everywhere."

Holidays in the US are "over-commercialized."

Americans seem to live in an "almost classless society."

"Anybody can buy anything," thanks to credit.

In America, "it's very difficult to tell who's wealthy and who's not."

"The wealthy people usually don't have many material possessions. Every millionaire I know drives old cars, wears Levi's jeans, etc. They tend to spend more on experiences."

"A lot of people I know who have fancy stuff usually go into credit card debt in order to fund their lavish lifestyle. It's strange! Perhaps expensive material possessions are simply a form of validation that rich people usually derive from their work, their family, friends, etc, which may not necessarily be the case for the average consumer."

"I'm almost certain that the 1% isn't the main clientele for any luxury brand in the US."

The US is very spread out, and Americans don't mind driving long distances.

Many major US cities are "riddled with homeless people."

"It's unfortunate, and the worst part is that the homeless here will come up to you and misbehave. I know of numerous cases where my friends have been heckled, assaulted, etc."

"I've been called racist expletives by homeless people who asked me to stop gentrifying the city. That never happened in India where the homeless were generally polite and knew that they'd face immediate consequences if they talked back or misbehaved with you."

"San Francisco, New York, LA, and other cities in the US are really glitzy and glamorous from the outside — cities with a lot of money, amazing infrastructure, the best minds and industries. While this all holds true, nobody talks about the homeless people other than the people who live in those cities (and surrounding areas)."

American infrastructure isn't up to par.

"Honestly speaking, there's a dearth of modern infrastructure in the United States. All the hallmarks of American infrastructure are now crumbling and at least 100 years old."

"LAX, for example, smells of sweat and tears from people whose flights have been delayed for the fourth time. Compare that to India where the airports are modern, roads are wide and clean, there's new and shiny metro systems everywhere, etc."

In much of the US, "most people think of it as a very big deal to leave the country."

"I don't know why they think that, especially given that it's usually cheaper to fly to the EU or South America than it is to fly to a city in a neighboring state!"

This is an update of an article originally written by Gus Lubin.

The most surprising things about America, according to a Silicon Valley engineer who moved from India 7 years ago

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