To be a bit envious of this lifestyle? (USA)

[ThePinkPonyClub]

I've just watched School Swap: UK to USA on Channel 4 and have ended up feeling a teensy bit jealous of the kind of lifestyle that's possible over there.

Even normal, non wealthy families seemed to be able to live really outdoorsy lifestyles where they can hike and hunt and boat amongst the gorgeous scenery. I feel like in the UK, even rurally it isn't possible as everywhere is so densely populated especially when the weather is nice. The weather is also a limiting factor!

I'm obviously not jealous of the MAGA/Trump craziness or the crappy healthcare and all the rest of the political stuff but purely the lifestyle side of things, it seems so much more possible to live in that free, outdoorsy kind of way.

And the schools seemed to have a much more positive, enthusiastic culture with things like school sports and dances, compared to the UK teens in their drab uniforms staring at their phones the whole time in their miserable, run down secondary school.

aibu? Anyone live this kind of life in the UK? If so, where?!

North America is a continent. South America is another one. And even if you just take the US, it's functionally a continent due to its size. You get the same diversity as a continent because it's continent-sized.

The UK has far, far more types of crisps, cakes, and chocolate bars than the US does. In the US, you can't get Smarties, Fry's chocolate cream, Turkish Delight, chocolate buttons, Crunchies, Twirls, Flakes, Wispas, Picnics, Milky Bars, Minstrels, Maltesers, Lion bars, Boost bars, curly-wurlies, and god knows what else. These don't exist in the US, and there are no equivalents. We have about five chocolate options. For crisps, it's Lays (Walkers), Pringles, or Doritos. You can't get Discos, Skips, Frazzles, Wotsits, Hula Hoops, Monster Munch, or Walkers Sensations. And there are virtually no cakes, not like the UK where we have Kipling's etc.

Last time I was home, I took a photo of a couple of aisles of Sainsbury's to show my American friends. An aisle packed top to bottom, end to end, just with crisps. Same another with chocolate. You do not see that in US supermarkets, which isn't surprising since the UK has way, way more options in crisps, sweets, and cakes.

In the US, the snack aisles are full of peanuts and other nuts, and SO many different types of crackers.

My DD 12 is encouraged to play sports, she’s in football and netball teams albeit in her slightly rundown secondary school 😂 there are also art, drama and homework clubs I believe, they have student of the term for different lessons.
in juniors she was actively encouraged in cricket, athletics, football, netball and academically.
being outdoorsy can start as simply as finding a local woods and taking a walk.

I feel the same way. Their houses are huge and the scope for decorating beautifully seems so much better than here. I’m sick of washing machines in kitchens…

A good percentage of people have washing machines in utility rooms in the uk. 🤔 A lot of US homes are hard to put character into.

I don’t have the stomach to hunt, but I have great respect for hunters. Every hunter I know takes the task seriously. They hunt for food, not sport. A family can stock their freezer for a year from one deer that lived free and then was killed during hunting season. How is eating farmed meat superior?

Just to be clear, I eat meat. Since I don’t hunt, I typically get my meat from a grocery store unless I get lucky and have a friend or family member who gives me a portion from their hunt. I think that makes me a giant hypocrite. I like that my meat comes cleaned and packaged so I don’t have to think about the gory details of being an omnivore.

America has an abundance of wild game. In my area some of it is so abundant that there are periodic culls by parks officials so the animal a don’t starve. That meat is also used for food.

hunting for sport is immoral, but you won’t convince me that hunting for food is better than farming, especially industrial farming.

This

This is so often said of houses in the UK and yet I don't think I've ever lived in a house with this set up, even as a student. Absolutely all my friends now - middle earning teachers, nurses, accountants mainly - have a utility room or, at worst, a large downstairs loo with space for a washing machine.

That’s the same in the US though. I love Maine, Vermont, NYC,California and the Pacific Northwest however if I lived in most other states I’d need a shed load of money to visit them. In fact I think Copenhagen from UK was cheaper when I did it. It’s so much closer for a start to the UK than a lot of the US is to its citizens spread around it.

There are lots of tiny, poor quality houses as well.

Yes, North America is a continent, the US is not. The North America continent includes the vast land mass of Canada which is not in the country of the U.S. which continent is the US a similar size to? Europe is more than double the population and way more diverse than the U.S it still has obesity rate of 23 %. I mean regardless of your photo aisles, the processed food consumed by the average American (the country of) is higher than the UK and Europe, hence the very high obesity rate. It isn't only availability of chocolate and crisps, what is the other stuff being bought by the average American in a typical supermarket, not Wholefoods, which is not going to be frequented by your average American, that is for the Elites like it is here. I'm not sure why you would deny the problems when it is clear and evident that the problem exists, I don't deny the stats in the UK just because anecdotally I don't know people or DC that fit that category.

Back to the OP, I just don't think it is arguably better, different but not better. It depends what you like to do in your spare time. I like a bit of outdoors stuff but I'm more a city person and like cultural activities.

What came across strongly to me was the gun culture and how normalised it was to have a gun one family said all children had guns. Also the very insular nature of the American families.
It was also very interesting that the American girl from a mixed race family wanted to stay in London because she said she felt much more at home there.

I agree some of the houses in USA looked like shacks.

I can't think of anything in US supermarkets that isn't readily available in the UK.

I know the US has obesity problems, but it's not for lack of healthy food available.

And yes, the US may be a country, but like I said, its size means it's functionally a continent, as in, there is way more diversity of culture, lifestyle and geography than you find in somewhere the size of the UK. It's so large and contains such multitudes, due to its size, that you can't really say that the US is this or that. Case in point: Brits think that the US is full of obese people eating crap, but where I live, the shops are bursting with healthy food and few people are obese. In fact, it seems to be full of health nuts. I know lots of people who go to bed at 9 and are in the gym at 4.45 am.

YABU, much rather the UK where there's not all the school gun shootings.

I lived in Britain for 32 years and have now lived in America for 18 years. My experience is that life is a million times better in the US, in all kinds of ways.

The chances of a child being shot at school are absolutely minuscule. They have a far, far higher chance of being killed on the way to and from school than being killed by a school shooter.

You have plenty of choice of great places to visit apart from the coastal spots you mentioned though. Believe it or not, the rest of the US has national and state parks, lakes, rivers, mountains, dunes and sandy beaches, snow, slopes, places you can sail, kayak, enjoy museums, nightlife, theatre, opera, symphony orchestras, hiking, biking, etc.

As opposed to the wonderful housing stock in the UK!
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159899291#/?channel=RES_BUY

In the UK you pay an insane amount for a shoebox with no storage and thin walls and ceilings. And the weather's rubbish. Here, even flats have great storage, and we have snowy winters and guaranteed warm, sunny summers.

Oh, that's alright then. 😕 🙄

What do you mean by character? Feature walls? Orla Kiely wallpaper?

The U.S. isn't a continent size but it is silly to compare to the UK, I agree with you but that's why I compared it to Europe which is way more diverse seen as it includes many different countries and cultures and still has just over half the obesity rate that the U.S. has. The healthy food maybe available but a) is it being bought and cooked at a sizeable amount b) is there a significant drive for the outdoorsy life? Extrapolating from your own experience which sounds incredibly healthy, doesn't really prove anything. Out of 152 local authorities, I live in one of the top 5 for lowest rates of obesity, do I think that the rest of the UK is the same- no I don't!

There is virtually NO chance that your child will be killed at school by a shooter. That is not a reason to be put off coming to the States. 🙄 A much healthier reason would be that you would miss your friends, family, and home, not because you're terrified by exceedingly rare events that the media likes to make out are coming to a school near you soon!

I have lived in America for 19 years - half in Virginia on the coast and half in Philadelphia. Some
things are great - going to the beach or zoo after school when the kids were small, better weather, being just a few hours drive from mountains, free
museums in DC, friendly people and general life still feels quite like a vacation over here. We don’t need to leave the country for vacations just drive and there are cool caverns and Amish farms etc and different scenery in every state.

that said, food is crazy expensive here now - $14 for a dozen eggs! $8 for a pack of butter. And the trump stuff is awful.

being just a few hours drive from mountains

Can get that in the UK too 🙂