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so I'll be going on an exchange year as a high school student on 30. july. My host family lives ~30 miles close to Atlanta in Georgia. They have 2 childs, one 9 years old girl and a boy in my age ~16. They have a big garden and 4 dogs, their hobbies are gardening and hiking.
Now, because I know that a lot of TLers live in the US, I come here with some questions about the US and stuff like that. I also might be blogging my thoughts as a foreigner about the States here on TL later in the year.
So for now to my questions. Please not that in Germany, there are a lot of prejudices about the US, e.g. people there are fat/eat only fast food.
1. ARE PEOPLE ALL FAT IN THE US??? To that also note, do people tend to go to eat fast-food more then once every two weeks with their family? I know that that is very dependent on the host family you end up getting, but I'm just interested in the general case.
2. Do people in the southern states tend to be prude? Like for example, girl with hot pants = bad. And girl and boy in the same room alone = bad.
3. Are most people crazy religious in Georgia? In Germany you here a lot of reports about churches in the US where people pray themselves in trance (what the hell?!). I dont ofcourse expect to come in this kind of family, but I would dislike it to end up in a family where I have to go to church 3 times a week. Plese not that I'm on a catholic school in my hometown, its not like I have something against it 
4. Are high schools the same as they are in High School Musical? :D
I dont of course mean stuff like dancing and singing but rather things like cliques, f.e. a nerdclique, a cheerleader clique blabla. Because I dont see that in my own school. Another school related question is: Is the high school easy? Thats what everyone is telling me atleast.
5. How much do the kids drink and smoke (talking about weed, not about cigarettes, fuck that shit!).
And how often do house parties where kids drink alcohol get busted? When I get caught by da police, drinking or just on a party where under 21 people drink alcohol, I'llbe send home...
I think that's everything. Sorry for my bad language, its going to better in just a few months :D
Fuck typo in the Headline, I meant year of course -.- can a mod be so kind and fix this? 
 
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To answer your first question, people aren't really that fat in the US in general. An important thing to know about the US is that it is really big, just slightly smaller than Europe in area. Although the population of the US is less than half the population of Europe, it is almost four times the population of Germany. What this means is that the US has a lot of different regions, which are pretty different from each other. People on the west coast tend to be fitness freaks, for example. On the other hand, where you are going, you can probably expect to see a lot of obese people.
For the rest of your questions, you'll really need somebody from the Atlanta area.
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Holy fuck bro stop the over-generalizations, the people your going to meet over there are the people your going to meet over there. America is a melting pot, you never know what your going to get.
That being said ill swallow my pride and try to give answers to your stereotypical assumptions with horrible stereotypes of my own.
1. Older people tend to be the fat ones, you shouldn't run into to many fat kids in high school.
2. I dont live in a southern state and i also dont have any context on how promiscuous German girls are (which im assuming is what your naturally comparing them to.) All in all, high school girls are high school girls... Horny, shallow and stupid.
3. That is so dependent on the family and general community you cant even stereotype.
4. High school is stupid fucking easy, so you'll fly by with straight A's as long as you don't derp the entire time your there. Also in my experience hardcore clique's generally only develop in smaller communities, so if your going to a sub 700 pll school probably yea, if its above 700 pll school probably not.
5. Its fucking high school, kids drink, smoke, and party as much as anywhere else in the world. If your coming over here in hopes of getting you're dick wet and your not horrible looking and socially retarded it should be super easy. There can be greater legal repercussions in america though when it comes to getting caught with drugs/beer.
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I believe research points to people in the US are in general fatter/more obese than in Europe. My own personal experience coincides with this notion aswell. It's just a bit of a culture thing to eat a lot of fat food and such. However it definitely matters what your surroundings are. The population of the college my sister attends for example wasn't noticeable fatter than any regular universty in Europe. I know from a girl in my class who went to high school for a year in the US that yes, high school is easier in general than in Europe but it heavily depends on what type of classes you do or something. All the other points I have no idea.
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On July 07 2012 00:16 Kuja wrote:
Holy fuck bro stop the over-generalizations, the people your going to meet over there are the people your going to meet over there. America is a melting pot, you never know what your going to get.
That being said ill swallow my pride and try to give answers to your stereotypical assumptions with horrible stereotypes of my own.
1. Older people tend to be the fat ones, you shouldn't run into to many fat kids in high school.
2. I dont live in a southern state and i also dont have any context on how promiscuous German girls are (which im assuming is what your naturally comparing them to.) All in all, high school girls are high school girls... Horny, shallow and stupid.
3. That is so dependent on the family and general community you cant even stereotype.
4. High school is stupid fucking easy, so you'll fly by with straight A's as long as you don't derp the entire time your there. Also in my experience hardcore clique's generally only develop in smaller communities, so if your going to a sub 700 pll school probably yea, if its above 700 pll school probably not.
5. Its fucking high school, kids drink, smoke, and party as much as anywhere else in the world. If your coming over here in hopes of getting you're dick wet and your not horrible looking and socially retarded it should be super easy. There can be greater legal repercussions in america though when it comes to getting caught with drugs/beer.
yeah ok thanks for the reply man :D I know I over-genralized, but these were just some prejudices that you end up hearing here in germany when you say you go to the US, so I just threw them in
About your 3rd answer: Atleast here in germany there is a general consensus that people in the south are more religious then in the north(ofc you can argue about that, but atleast the numbers tell that)
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As parties being busted ect.
If you start to feel uncomfortable with the amount of noise/chaos going on, it means you should probably leave that party, it has gotten out of hand.
that goes for all of you kids out there.
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On July 07 2012 00:28 PrinceXizor wrote:
As parties being busted ect.
If you start to feel uncomfortable with the amount of noise/chaos going on, it means you should probably leave that party, it has gotten out of hand.
that goes for all of you kids out there.
haha thanks for the advice.
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On July 07 2012 00:26 GoSuChicken wrote:Show nested quote +On July 07 2012 00:16 Kuja wrote:
Holy fuck bro stop the over-generalizations, the people your going to meet over there are the people your going to meet over there. America is a melting pot, you never know what your going to get.
That being said ill swallow my pride and try to give answers to your stereotypical assumptions with horrible stereotypes of my own.
1. Older people tend to be the fat ones, you shouldn't run into to many fat kids in high school.
2. I dont live in a southern state and i also dont have any context on how promiscuous German girls are (which im assuming is what your naturally comparing them to.) All in all, high school girls are high school girls... Horny, shallow and stupid.
3. That is so dependent on the family and general community you cant even stereotype.
4. High school is stupid fucking easy, so you'll fly by with straight A's as long as you don't derp the entire time your there. Also in my experience hardcore clique's generally only develop in smaller communities, so if your going to a sub 700 pll school probably yea, if its above 700 pll school probably not.
5. Its fucking high school, kids drink, smoke, and party as much as anywhere else in the world. If your coming over here in hopes of getting you're dick wet and your not horrible looking and socially retarded it should be super easy. There can be greater legal repercussions in america though when it comes to getting caught with drugs/beer. yeah ok thanks for the reply man :D I know I over-genralized, but these were just some prejudices that you end up hearing here in germany when you say you go to the US, so I just threw them in About your 3rd answer: Atleast here in germany there is a general consensus that people in the south are more religious then in the north(ofc you can argue about that, but atleast the numbers tell that)
Yea well I don't know, it really just depends on the family you get and the size of the city/town your going to. Smaller towns tend to be more religious and larger towns/citys tend to be significantly less religious. Oddly enough im getting this weird vibe that they are probably going to be religious, but idk. Also if they are protestant DO NOT tell them you are catholic even if you aren't catholic don't tell them you go to a catholic school if they don't already know, just don't.
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I think I can help here, I haven't spent much time in the south but I have extensive experience here in h'Murikah.
1. No, there are fat people, just like how fat people exist in other countries (shocking, I know), but not every single one. Obesity is a bit of a problem in some states more than others, but to say that "everyone" is fat is a gross overstatement.
2. It depends on your host family and friends you make. The more religious they are the more likely they are to be prude-like, and even then the entire southern states can't be rounded up into that category. It really depends on who you meet and that sort of thing.
3. This can be talked about in a few ways:
A. Are there crazy religious people in Georgia? Probably, just like there are a few extremists anywhere in the world, pay them little heed and you'll forget they even exist.
B. Are people in Georgia very religious? This to me is a little more true. I'll state here that I'm not from Georgia and thus have no distinct authority on saying who is or isn't religious, but by and large southern states are well known for being religious. This likely means church once a week and saying grace before meals, 3 times a week seems a bit much. You seem like a very smart and tolerant individual, I have no doubt that whatever you run into in Georgia you'll easily manage :D.
4. Actually, there is mandatory smiling and dancing in between class periods... kidding, kidding. I'll tackle this in two parts.
A. Do cliques form like this? Yes, it's not as alienating as you think. Cliques form because "like attracts like" so to speak. I fit into my schools nerd clique (a TL poster may have been qualified as a nerd, what sorcery is this?!), I made fast friends with a bunch of guys who loved Brood War, Star Wars games, and we all tended to gel together. Unlike high school musical, the stereotypes aren't one-dimensional. Despite being a nerd I also enjoyed weight lifting a lot, and most of my friends practiced martial arts. Long story short: cliques form, but they aren't too specific, and they aren't that bad, so don't worry you'll find a place.
B. Is high school easy? Yes. I want a long winding tale of, "how could you ever assume our American education is so simple?!" but alas, it is quite easy. American public education is sort of renown for its mediocre quality. Now, when you get to our universities, THAT is where I can tell tales of epic pain and learning. But high school... high school was cake.
5. Drinking and (weed) smoking is very, very common. Even in religious communities you can't escape that sort of atmosphere. As far as house parties getting busted, it all depends on who is running the party. If things get too out of control a good host can settle things for a bit or call off the event for fear of getting a hefty fine. On the other hand, if things escalate out of control the police are sure to shut it down, and you sir may just be in trouble. Now, this is where I normally go on a sage-like rant about how you shouldn't risk this stuff and how I got through high school without it (without weed or alcohol, I won't mention what I *did* do, however), but this is your life to live man, and I'll trust that you will make whatever decision you think is best at the time.
Holy wall of text! I hope I answered most of your questions, and I wish you the best of luck when you get here man.
Oh, and your language skills are superb considering this is your first time coming to the states (I assume), so nice work on that too!
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On July 07 2012 00:08 munchmunch wrote:
To answer your first question, people aren't really that fat in the US in general.
Dude, yes they are. US definetly has an obesity problem, something like 50% of adults are overweight, tends to be greater down south.
On July 06 2012 23:42 GoSuChicken wrote:1. ARE PEOPLE ALL FAT IN THE US??? To that also note, do people tend to go to eat fast-food more then once every two weeks with their family? I know that that is very dependent on the host family you end up getting, but I'm just interested in the general case. 2. Do people in the southern states tend to be prude? Like for example, girl with hot pants = bad. And girl and boy in the same room alone = bad. 3. Are most people crazy religious in Georgia? In Germany you here a lot of reports about churches in the US where people pray themselves in trance (what the hell?!). I dont ofcourse expect to come in this kind of family, but I would dislike it to end up in a family where I have to go to church 3 times a week. Plese not that I'm on a catholic school in my hometown, its not like I have something against it 4. Are high schools the same as they are in High School Musical? :D I dont of course mean stuff like dancing and singing but rather things like cliques, f.e. a nerdclique, a cheerleader clique blabla. Because I dont see that in my own school. Another school related question is: Is the high school easy? Thats what everyone is telling me atleast. 5. How much do the kids drink and smoke (talking about weed, not about cigarettes, fuck that shit!). And how often do house parties where kids drink alcohol get busted? When I get caught by da police, drinking or just on a party where under 21 people drink alcohol, I'llbe send home...
Answers:
1) Let me just say this, years ago our highschool had several foriegn exchange students. Two were from Turkey I believe. Almost all of them ended up gaining weight during their stay in the US. It's not secret that we eat poorly, and individuals unacustom to a high calorie diet do sometimes gain weight. Obviously it depends on your host family as you say; some US families eat a lot of fast food and some do not. Southern cooking tends to be less healthy, but again that depends on the family. But in general, teens do tend to consume a lot, and when hanging out with US friends you probably will end up going to a lot of fast food. Use common sense, but ordering salads and stuff might be seen as a bit odd for a teenage male.
2) Lol, not in Atlanta. In some rural parts of the deep south absolutely, but Atlanta is a pretty modern city pretty similar to Tampa or Houston. Definetely has elements of southern culture, but it's not like the Beverly Hillbillies.
3) Depends on what you mean by "crazy". As a southern state, most people will tend to be practicing Christians. Also means people will tend to have a more negative view on things like gay marraige, but being a modern urban city there will be more leftist leaning people as well. The stuff you're talking about does go on in the deep south, but only in very remote rural areas. Interestingly there are still churches in the appalachian mountains where they still worship with snakes. Atlanta is far removed from all of that nonsense though.
4) No. US highschools depend greatly on where you are. In more affluent suburban areas, they probably aren't terribly different than European schools. As for being "easy" that's really subjective.
5) It really depends on who you hang out with and where you go to school. In a typical suburban highschool, drinking and weed smoking do go on but in general are uncommon. Just about every school has a group of "stoners" who smoke a lot of weed but tend to be unpopular and not well thought of. Among upperclassment of the jock/prep crowd, smoking and drinking do tend to be more common. But just about every school has a group who don't smoke or drink much.
Other things you should know about Atlanta:
1) It's hot. In the summer it's very hot. Make sure you've got some good summer clothes, also a good coat as in late August tropical storms make their way up the eastern coast and tend to dump a lot of rain.
2) All soda/softdrinks are known as "coke". Coca Cola company is headquartered in Atlanta and the local culture has sort of adopted "coke" as the new official word for soda. Hopefully you're not a fan of pepsi products as coke products are pretty much the norm.
3) While Atlanta does have it's fair share of leftists and democrats, Georgia is still a conservative state in the deep south. If you are staying with a suburban family, there is a good likelihood that they are more conservative as well. Though despite what the European media suggests most of the time, conservative christians in the US are as a whole very nice people so you really shouldn't worry. Just try to be a bit mindful of what you say. Terms like "crazy religious" and "gun toting redneck" can be construed as pretty offensive by some people.
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exchange yeah
Well at least you've got the boston accent 
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Welcome to the greatest country in the world.
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1. Compared to Europe, that's a definitive yes. Now I've lived in the USA a good majority of my life, and when compared to places in Europe I've visited before (Berlin, Paris, Rome, Geneva, London) as well as Asia (Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul), you'll be able to tell you're in America when you step off the plane because you'll see obese people everywhere in the airport. I don't like stereotypes or generalizations either, but this one tends to be pretty true. But when I say obese, I don't mean 300 lb. people walking everywhere. But you'll be able to tell that a greater proportion of the population is heavy set than your European/Asian counterpart.
2-5. Those are all basically gross overexaggerations of the relative truth. The South does tend to be more conservative, but it's rare to find super prudes/extreme churches. High schools have cliques, but they're not as grossly bright-line and cliche as television shows. Kids drink and smoke all the time in an irresponsible manner. But I don't see why you'd take the risk given you're of legal drinking age in Germany + the more liberal stance on weed in Europe. It shouldn't really be that much of a hyped forbidden fruit to you as compared to highschool kids who want to do what's illegal.
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Yes, we do all burst into song during school using our choreography homework. Better take some voice lessons now, you don't wanna seem unpopular. Maybe get good at basketball too.
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On July 06 2012 23:42 GoSuChicken wrote:so I'll be going on an exchange year as a high school student on 30. july. My host family lives ~30 miles close to Atlanta in Georgia. They have 2 childs, one 9 years old girl and a boy in my age ~16. They have a big garden and 4 dogs, their hobbies are gardening and hiking. Now, because I know that a lot of TLers live in the US, I come here with some questions about the US and stuff like that. I also might be blogging my thoughts as a foreigner about the States here on TL later in the year. So for now to my questions. Please not that in Germany, there are a lot of prejudices about the US, e.g. people there are fat/eat only fast food. 1. ARE PEOPLE ALL FAT IN THE US??? To that also note, do people tend to go to eat fast-food more then once every two weeks with their family? I know that that is very dependent on the host family you end up getting, but I'm just interested in the general case. 2. Do people in the southern states tend to be prude? Like for example, girl with hot pants = bad. And girl and boy in the same room alone = bad. 3. Are most people crazy religious in Georgia? In Germany you here a lot of reports about churches in the US where people pray themselves in trance (what the hell?!). I dont ofcourse expect to come in this kind of family, but I would dislike it to end up in a family where I have to go to church 3 times a week. Plese not that I'm on a catholic school in my hometown, its not like I have something against it 4. Are high schools the same as they are in High School Musical? :D I dont of course mean stuff like dancing and singing but rather things like cliques, f.e. a nerdclique, a cheerleader clique blabla. Because I dont see that in my own school. Another school related question is: Is the high school easy? Thats what everyone is telling me atleast. 5. How much do the kids drink and smoke (talking about weed, not about cigarettes, fuck that shit!). And how often do house parties where kids drink alcohol get busted? When I get caught by da police, drinking or just on a party where under 21 people drink alcohol, I'llbe send home... I think that's everything. Sorry for my bad language, its going to better in just a few months :D Fuck typo in the Headline, I meant year of course -.- can a mod be so kind and fix this?
1. Yes. Everyone in the United States is overweight to some degree. While there are the occasional anorexic girls, for the most part we Americans resemble newborn calves.
2. No. It's easy to get laid with any girl, at any time, for any reason.
3. Not everyone. Some people are atheists, but a lot of people from Georgia resemble Fred Phelps.
4. Yes, across the board. Don't expect to have to do homework at home.
5. Often, I'd say 2-3 times a week. Almost every high school party gets busted to some degree. If you get caught, prepare to spend the night in jail (until you get bailed) and be slapped with an underage drinking charge.
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yeah you're going to run into a lot of fatter people down in the US relative to Germany. Even more so to a degree in the south, as Toast mentioned. If I could just re-iterate his entire post, actually, I would.
Though shouldn't living thirty miles outside the city skew up those answers a little? regarding religion and prudishness.
I will disagree with toast and make the assumption that school is easy. Doesn't Western Europe have a much higher standard, relatively?
And drugs are not uncommon, at least not on Long Island. I know nothing about southern highschools. 
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I'm from Atlanta, so I think I can answer this pretty well.
1. ARE PEOPLE ALL FAT IN THE US??? To that also note, do people tend to go to eat fast-food more then once every two weeks with their family? I know that that is very dependent on the host family you end up getting, but I'm just interested in the general case.
No. There are a lot of fat people, but there are also a lot of skinny people and normal people. The south tends to be fatter, as do less fortunate people, but host families tend to be decently well off, so you probably won't have much interaction with morbidly obese people.
2. Do people in the southern states tend to be prude? Like for example, girl with hot pants = bad. And girl and boy in the same room alone = bad.
It would help to know if your family lives on the north side or the south side. The girls don't tend to be prude. On the south side you get extremes, either very prude or giving it away. South side parents are also much more conservative than north side, so they will be mroe strict about boy/girl interactions.
3. Are most people crazy religious in Georgia? In Germany you here a lot of reports about churches in the US where people pray themselves in trance (what the hell?!). I dont ofcourse expect to come in this kind of family, but I would dislike it to end up in a family where I have to go to church 3 times a week. Plese not that I'm on a catholic school in my hometown, its not like I have something against it
Again, it would help to know north side or south side. But even south side, people don't go to church more than once a week. Much like anywhere else, there are a couple religious extremists, but generally Georgians are a "go to church on sunday" people and thats it.
4. Are high schools the same as they are in High School Musical? :D
I dont of course mean stuff like dancing and singing but rather things like cliques, f.e. a nerdclique, a cheerleader clique blabla. Because I dont see that in my own school. Another school related question is: Is the high school easy? Thats what everyone is telling me atleast.
This really depends on the school. Is it a private school? If its a private school, is it Woodward, Pace, or Westminster?
My experience was that in private schools there are cliques but they aren't exclusive. The three listed above are very clique-y but not based on "nerd/cheerleader/artsy etc".
5. How much do the kids drink and smoke (talking about weed, not about cigarettes, fuck that shit!).
And how often do house parties where kids drink alcohol get busted? When I get caught by da police, drinking or just on a party where under 21 people drink alcohol, I'llbe send home...
Lets be frank here. You're travelling thousands of miles on a very expensive trip for an incredible life experience. Do you really want to fuck it up, get caught by the cops, and be sent home?
I'm not telling you not to have fun. Having hosted exchange students, I can tell you that its an absolute blast. You're going to have a lot of fun, you're going to go to a couple parties, but be aware and find out in advance what kind of reputation the people in charge of the party have. If they have gotten busted before, don't go. It's not worth it. Smaller parties are a better idea because smaller parties usually will be dealt with by parents, not cops.
If you smoke, it might be a good idea to not smoke for the first month or two at least, until you can figure out the norm for where you are. As a previous person said, it really depends on where you're located. If you're in a private highschool, only the social outcasts and the super-jock people smoke, as its generally frowned on.
If you'd like more advice, we need to know where you're staying and what school you're going to
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I'll exchange a yeah with you, you don't need to go to the US for that!
YEAH!
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haha thanks for all the nice answers
I sadly dont know wether I'm on the south or north side yet, but I'll know that in a couple of days. I'm actually really, really excited to move to the US, going to be awesome hopefully.
@iGrok
I'm pretty sure I'll be going to a public school, since we dont have to pay for the school (its expensive enough, even without paying for school...)
also I dont smoke myself, but I just wanted to know about drinking habuts, because I really dont want to be send home just because I decided go to a party where people all get drunk...
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My brother's friend who's been to America was telling him all sorts of stories involving fat people. 1 of them was how some dudes needed to be fucking lifted (by a machine) into their vehicle.
Someone please correct me if he's wrong.
Edit: I want him to be wrong
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EPT
