I'm going to Americah!!
 

I thought about playing it cool and not making a big deal out of it but then I remembered I haven't attention-whored in AGES!

Anyhow, today I got the final confirmation that I am indeed going State-side, unfortunately it's for work so it's unlikely I'll see much more than the inside of office buildings, hotels and airports. We are traveling on Monday (yes, this Monday!) via Frankfurt, final destination - Houston, Texas. (:

Anyhyoo, this be my first trip across the pond, and for anyone even remotely acquainted with me on this forum, you'll 've noticed I'm essentially American on the inside so visiting my cultural would-be homeland is gonna be SUPER exciting.

For anyone who has ever been to or continues to live in the area, this is the time to shout about some cool things to see (if I have some time to explore, which given past experience with these sorts of trips, is a bit unlikely BUT STILL!) and/or your mobile phone numbers/home addresses and other stalk-friendly information.

Yay!
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/americah.jpg

Houston! I lived there 14 years. Do you know what part of town you'll be staying in, and how long?

Yeay, Adidasss! That's very exciting! I wish Iowa weren't so far out of the way. :( No one ever comes to Iowa. :( :(

But you should have fun in Texas. Just don't assume those Republican sexist, homophobic people down there represent all the U.S. ;)

It has been a long time since I've been to Texas. I was in El Paso with my Mexican-American college boyfriend one summer, and we went across the border to Juarez several times, which was all very interesting. I like seeing the historic forts.

I hear Galveston is nice. Will you just be in Houston, though? Hopefully some Houston Texans know what's nice to see there.

Houston WTF? I hate that place. Congrats on your trip though, hope you have a good time. Good luck with Houston airport BTW, it's named after Bush for a reason, it ****ing sucks.

Well our American office building is on Park row which according to google maps is near some huge-ass park called....um, George Bush park...:\
Well actually, if I ever get a chance to visit properly with my sister, we definitely plan to visit Iowa. Middle-America is what it's all about...;)
Just Houston, yeah. I wonder though, how much is Houston like the rest of the U.S. (excluding New York and San Francisco), architecturally, culturally, people-wise? Are(n't) big American cities pretty much all the same?

Nope. I think you'd find they're fairly different from each other from region to region, in terms of architecture and culture.

Houston is the stereotypical cowboy city. The entire city was built on Texas oil money. You'll probably never see a city where American Football is so popular. George Bush is god as far as they are concerned. Period.

I definitely wouldn't say all American large cities are the same, they are VERY different depending on where you go. Like VEGAN said, don't let Houston be your view of America as a whole.

Urgh. This doesn't sound very promising, does it. :/

Excellent! :thumb: I'll plan to see you then, Adidasss, and show you all around the...corn. :/

Houston is an enormous city and I don't believe it's so much different from other huge cities in the middle of the country and the people there are nowhere near as homogeneous as you suggest. Sure you can generalize a bit but this is like saying that all people in, say, Los Angeles have bleach-blonde hair, plastic surgery, drive convertibles and are all assholes.

I live in Austin and although it is much more, um, liberal and whatnot - it is also much smaller and people still need to go to Dallas or Houston for world-class things like theater, museums, and restaurants. Lay off Texas, people. Houston is a fine city to visit.

Yeah, maybe in a political cartoon. We do have real people down here, y'know. I'd actually say the city of Houston is far more "liberal" than people think. We even have a gay mayor. Anyway, it's not the best city to base your opinion of the U.S. off of, but it's not bad at all! If I was a more reasonable distance to it (I'm about an hour offset currently) I'd say let's grab a beer. Then again I wouldn't say that because I'm not 21 and couldn't go to a bar and drink it. So the most we could do is grab lunch, which is kinda weird because I don't even know you well over the internet... so, yeah anyway have fun! If you get any free time, Houston's concert houses and it's theaters are pretty nice, and Rice Village is a fun place to hang out.

Hope you have a good time there, Marijan.
How long will your stay be? I'm sure you could convince your co-workers to have a night out on the town? You should bribe them with drinks on you.

(I didn't mean try to get them to take body-shots off you, but hey, whatever works!)

Thanks for the info. And no worries, if it was a tourist trip it'd be kinda cool, but I probably won't have a chance to hook up with anyone, let alone weird out under-aged strangers...;)

We'll probably be leaving on Friday. It might or might not be fun, depending on how the negotiations go (Americans are notorious hard-asses...;)) but I have to say, I'm looking forward to them a bit, if nothing else, I won't have to adjust my accent so people understand me (everyone I work with has a thick Italian/Croatian accent and look at me like I speak Chinese when I forget myself and throw out the round r's). And if we do go out, It'll be for corporate dinners with corporate douches...:\

Say. Can anyone imagine me in a business suite doing some serius corporate business...:D

Well in either scenario, you'll still be in a place you've never been, around people you've never been around, and for it to all be worked out without any funds from you (I assume) it's gotta at least spark the curious adventurist in you. Regardless of what happens, you're still fortunate to be able to do it. Most people I know haven't even been out of their own state, much less off their own country or continent. Make it fun, even if it's near impossible to do so!


That'd be pretty hot, yo.

Seriously? Yikes!

Neat! Sucks you have to go to Texas though :p:

In related news, I'm trying to study abroad next year, ideally in an English-speaking country in the UK such as England.

I can proudly say I've been to plenty of states. Hoping to go to London if I get the internship at last.fm headquarters :D

Yea seriously. Southern Louisiana for ya...
I was probably being a little restrictive with the demographic though...

Folks I know who're my age and older have usually traveled to at least 3 or 4 states that closely neighbor Louisiana. Still yikes.

Yeah Houston may be mostly conservative/Republican, but there are some cool people there and some cool areas. Sure it was build on oil money, but it's not like everyone's walking around in tight jeans and cowboy hats. Food is king, you'll find some of the best food of any nationality there. It's all about dining in that city. It's so damn hot most of the year, you just want to sit somewhere to eat and drink. Make sure to get some good Tex-Mex, margaritas and even some real Mexican food at a Taquaria! Those are definitely Houston's (and Texas in general) specialty.

Sounds like you'll be on the West side if you're by George Bush park. Too bad, basically the burbs. I'm not too familiar with that side of town though, could be nice but probably not that interesting. If you get a chance, I highly suggest heading inside the 610 loop toward downtown. Check out the Montrose, Upper Kirby, River Oaks, West University, Museum District (including Hermann Park) and Midtown areas. Memorial and Sabine Parks are great...take a cruise on Memorial Drive from 610 West into downtown, one of the prettiest drives you'll experience in Houston. Then turn back the other direction on Allen Parkway to River Oaks and Upper Kirby and the rest of the inner loop (all the stuff I mentioned above). I really do miss that area of Houston. Houston Metropolitan as a whole...meh. Much too spread out and ugly except for the man-made master developed communities- which look nice but fake and are rather boring unless you have a family. Even then, it's suburban life.

Enjoy your trip though! I'm sure Conan and Nonsubmissivewife can give you more accurate/recent pointers if need be.

Yeah, still yikes for sure. Reminds me of a guy I used to know from Alabama who was actually proud of the fact that he had never been north of South Carolina or west of Mississippi.

Haha.. I don't know why he'd be "proud" of that. I think the major reason why most people around here don't get very far out is they lock down region-specific careers (which around here is the oilfield) and/or end up with families and little means to travel far for the sake of traveling far when they've got their lives to attend to.
But I guess there is that "southern pride" thing after all...
You're from up north... Have you eaten your food? It's like cooperative, non-insulting, man made materials. ;)

I know, I always thought it was such a weird thing to be proud of.

I have to be completely honest with you: I've re-read this part of your post several times and I have idea what what you're saying here. :confused:

http://i27.tinypic.com/f4rc4o.jpg

:love:

Never been to Texas. Just remember that Texas doesn't represent the entire USA. I think sometimes people from outside the US forget how gigantic this country is. Our states are bigger than a lot of countries. It is unbelievable how different the cultures are depending on what state you live in here.

Bland.



I guess I could have just said that.

Really? Where I grew up is known for things like lobster, clams, oysters and haddock. I don't personally like seafood, but I've never thought of that stuff as being considered bland by most people.

That's on the west side of Houston...only about a 20 min drive from my hizzouse. :D But yeah, there isn't much around that part of town. Actually finding it hard to believe a corporate office would be located there. Hmmm...


Seriously? I'm curious to know exactly how much time you've spent in this city. Houston is actually very culturally and politically diverse.

No, you shouldn't let Houston be your view of America as a whole...just like you shouldn't let any one city in the country be your view of America as a whole.

Everything he said is true...though it sounds like you won't have much time to do anything. :( Holla at me and we'll work something out. :D

It isn't... actually it's all wonderful and the mere thought of it makes me hungry.

It's less about the food itself, and more about how it's cooked and seasoned.
That's what I meant about bland. I could be eating the tongue of the very last bottle-nosed dolphin on the planet... if it isn't seasoned well, it's bland.

I know it's just my own culture and tastebuds and all that... Just saying. That's what the comment meant. Kinda runs the same course as having a musical opinion. ;)

Well, like I said I'm not even really a fan of my own region's cuisine so I don't really have much of an opinion on the subject. Actually I'd probably enjoy Thai, Indian or Caribbean food more than anything else most days of the week. Talk about good seasoning!

Indian is awesome in my experience. And I never got the burning shits from it. But I guess that comes with the territory if you're used to Cajun cuisine.

I'm not sure if I've had the burning shits from it or not but I have definitely had the tears-streaming-down-face experience with Indian a couple of times. I'm convinced that no other cuisine on Earth can reach the levels of spiciness that really hot Indian food reaches.

if you get a chance you should see the water wall,....thats pretty cool

la carafe is the city's oldest bar,...and some say its haunted,....i'm just sayin

God...fucking...damnit....today the 'mericans called to "postpone" the meeting. >:[

So I won't be leaving on Monday...let's hope "postpone" isn't a euphemism for "fuck you, have a nice life". >:[

Damn, what a disappointment. Hope it's not canceled.

You ought to come here on an actual trip, rather than business sometime. I reckon there's probably 25 cities I'd visit in the U.S. before Houston, that's just me though.

NO ONE EVER COMES TO NEW YORK, DAMMIT. SOMEONE COME VISIT ME.

Ps, sounds fun. I've never been to Texas.

I go to New York all the time. :laughing:

LOLwut?

I think that's the city that almost all foreigners want to visit first and foremost. I think it's a bit overrated a city to be honest, but then again I'm not a huge fan of the northeast.

Yeah whatever.

I don't mean no one ever comes here. I mean no one from MB comes here. Lmao.

Are you saying I don't count? :p: