1) First of all, and maybe this just reflects badly on the British, but Americans complain a lot less than Brits, especially about the weather, or traffic, or other things that could cause inconvenience. They’re maybe just more prepared and used to these kind of things happening because it never seems to bother them. I don’t think I’ve really heard any Americans complaining about the long queue in Starbucks or Wal-Mart either.
2) Since being here, I’ve had a pretty warm and friendly welcome at everything I’ve attended from most of the people there. It’s possible that a lot of that is to do with me being foreign and in which case, I’d like to think that international students would receive the same reception in the UK. Regardless, it’s still nice that people are so keen to make an effort and greet me so kindly. But I think people are generally more welcoming and approachable here.
3) Education. I’m still a bit indecisive about this, but I’ll sum up some of the good points about the American education system. I obviously don’t know what it’s like in schools here, and I know that I’ve only been here for 6 months, and I can also only speak for Leicester Uni and Kent State Uni, but it seems that you get a much broader education here. At Leicester, you basically only have lectures in the subject of your degree, which means that when you graduate, three years later, you know a lot about that particular subject. Here at KSU, you can’t graduate until you’ve taken classes in a certain combination of other subjects. For example, chemistry students have to do a certain number of maths classes and language classes. Some other non-art majors require students take some art classes, too. This means that when you graduate, you’ve taken a broader range of lectures, making you a bit more well rounded. These extracurricular classes also give students a less intense study pattern as it breaks up their weekly schedule and gives them opportunity to study something different. I’ve also noticed that this then makes them more engaged and focused on the classes for their actual degree.
4) Again, this will vary with city in both countries, but Kent is very clean, tidy and well kept. Both the university campus, including the buildings, and the small city that lies next to us, are always litter free and quite modern looking, in a clean sort of way. In comparison, Leicester and other UK university cities that I have visited can be in bad condition and could sometimes do with a bit of a tidy.
5) Anyone who knows me knows that there is no sporty blood in my body, but it is exciting to live in a country that has such a high population of sports fans. With sports matches being advertised and televised so much more here, there seems to be a larger social aspect to sport than there is in the UK. In the US, it's really common for people to sit down and watch some sort of "game" together or to actually go to a game, or even just to discuss recent sport results. Obviously, people do like sport in the UK, but this is reasonably limited to football (as in, soccer) or rugby and maybe cricket in summer. However, with american football AND basketball AND baseball being such a big deal here, it's really easy to start a conversation with most people about their favourite sport or sportsman, which is not always such a popular or common topic for discussion in the UK.
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