America – the land of limitless opportunity. This phrase is nearly as old as the United States itself, and pretty hackneyed by now. And the image of the US is not really the best in the world anyway. A global PR campaign for that nation wouldn’t go amiss. But actually, that country is not as black as it is painted: it is quite amazing to see what those long-ago settlers and their descendants have achieved over there in the course of the relatively short history of the United States. This year’s holiday has convinced me of that once again.

Gigantism and grand gestures
Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, and New York: these were some of the stops on my three-week trip. Such a road trip automatically puts your own standards (called eurocentric in scientific German) in an entirely new light.

Mainhattan? Yes, of course: compared to Bielefeld or Freiburg, Frankfurt’s skyline may be quite impressive. Helpfulness? With the exception of St. Martin, ‘old Europe’ is trailing far behind the USA in that respect: Have you ever been offered help when standing around in a German city centre – street map in hand? The same applies to service matters: I have never been asked at the REWE check-out whether I have found everything I was looking for or whether everything has been satisfactory. And last but not least, a minor breakdown of our hire car was looked at and instantly repaired by some friendly expert – without payment or any hint of annoyance in his facial expression!

American savoir vivre
In short: US-Americans surely haven’t got the best name in Europe. That is down to politicians and people like Michael Moore, who sometimes tends to make his fellow-countrymen appear stupid. But when you get over there yourself, you are quickly put right. The mentality of that country is to be discovered in the small events of life – not in Hollywood and not in the White House either.

And by the way: there is no hint about the financial crisis anywhere in the streets. The world’s economy may be going through the most serious turbulences since the 1930ies, but they were happily playing live music in the function tent on Wall Street every evening. It reminded me of the ‘White Star Line Band’ that played on the Titanic while it was sinking in 1912. Arrogance? Possibly. Or simply another outlook on life – the American savoir vivre. In any case, it was quite an experience for me.

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