30 Aug The four most surprising things about everyday life in San Francisco

I thought I knew a lot about the American everyday life before moving to the U.S. I’m from Norway, where we watch a lot of American TV-shows, listen to American music and keep up with American news. I know my One Tree Hill, Michael Jackson, who the president is and other basic American references. So I thought I was quite prepared for the everyday life in San Francisco. And in many ways I was, but there are still a lot of things that has surprised me.

I won’t mention all of them, but here are the four things that have surprised me the most about everyday life in San Francisco.

1. The bigger, the better (and cheaper)

A lot of people told me this before I came here, but it still has shocked me how big the portions of food and the packages of groceries are. And a lot of times, it´s cheaper to buy huge packages than it is to buy the amount of food and drink that you actually need. You can buy a small bottle of soda for $ 1,50, or you can buy two liters for $ 1,75. So obviously, I now have two liters of soda in my fridge.

2. You cant trust the Public transportation system

San Francisco is a big town and there are long distances between the different parts of the city. So unless you have a car, you need to take the Muni (the public transportation system) a lot. And Muni is (almost) never on time. So planning your trip based on the Muni app or Google Maps is not a good idea. The bus could arrive ten minutes early, twenty minutes late, or it could just not show up at all. And if you don’t pay attention and wave your hands like crazy so that there is absolutely no chance that the bus driver could miss the fact that you want to get on the bus, he or she will just drive pass your stop.

3. Everyone says bless you

I sneezed during one of my classes this week and I also did it on the bus one day. Both times, at least five strangers were throwing their blessings at med. ”Bless you”, ”bless you”, ”oh bless you”. The first time I got a bit overwhelmed, which made me sneeze one more time. The second time was during a class, and it was the only time during the entire lecture that people spoke out loud without the professor permission. He didn’t even seem to notice. Bless him.

4. Students are always on time (and always leave early)

So far, in all of my classes, students have arrived 5-15 minutes before the class is suppose to start. The professors arrive exactly on time, and the courses start immediately. Another strange thing, is that five minutes before the class is supposed to be finished, everyone starts packing their bags and are getting ready to leave.

Where I’m from we would consider this kind of rude, because a lot of times the professor still has some things left to say. But the professors just talks louder and louder and tries to make it possible for us to hear what he or she is saying, and doesn’t really seem to mind that people make it very clear that they are about to leave. The minute the class is over, almost everyone leaves immediately. Maybe that is why the American students are always on time for the next class. I’m still working on getting rid of my European habit of being exactly on time, or maybe a couple of minutes late…

– Ingvild