z

Young Writers Society


American Places.



User avatar
763 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Female
Points: 3888
Reviews: 763
Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:39 am
Lava says...



Okay, so I don't know much about the US save the major cities, tourist spots etc. Otherwise it's zilch. Nada.

I need information on some town/towns with a city(or a larger town) nearby. And well, a little information and the general characteristics of people there.

And I would like a little information on the general lifestyles of Americans. Including mundane stuff like food that you normally eat, work timings (general), religion (a bit in Christianity, Jewish please) etc.

If you could just start me out with places it would be helpful as i don't know what to google for.

You could even give me helpful links.

Thanks a ton! :)
~
Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, too embarrassing to let anyone know.
- Ian McEwan in Atonement

sachi: influencing others since GOD KNOWS WHEN.

  





Random avatar


Gender: Female
Points: 890
Reviews: 20
Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:23 pm
MySunshine says...



I don't know much about the States either, except the experiences I've gathered in my high school year there, so I can't help you a whole lot.

However, I think it would generelly help the others more if you tell them more specifics, as the States are huge and there are lots of villages and towns. As far as I know, the lifestyle and personality of Americans kind of depend on what state they're living in, but since I've never really been to a lot of places there, I can't tell you anything else besides the usual stereotypical things.

I assume this is for a story or something like that? So I'd suggest you tell us if you've been thinking of a particular part of the States as that would make it much easier to help.
You know what I mean? ;)

MySunshine
♥And if you go, I wanna go with you. And if you die, I wanna die with you♥
  





User avatar
365 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 3225
Reviews: 365
Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:40 pm
Antigone Cadmus says...



^^ I can help you a lot with Judaism. There isn't a large Jewish population here in America. Most of us aren't very religious (today, most of the kosher laws have been abandoned), but in some cities (New York, mostly) there are Orthodox Jews who follow the Torah laws perfectly.

I'm being pretty vague, so tell me if you'd like more posted about Judaism.

Also, there isn't really a "general" American lifestyle. All towns are different. All jobs are different.

If you told us what part of the states you wanted your story to take place in, I we could help you with figuring out regional foods and accents.

Hope this helped,
Sakura
Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
-Catullus, Carmen 85
  





User avatar
763 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Female
Points: 3888
Reviews: 763
Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:30 am
Lava says...



I would like to know more on Judaism. Where do Jews usually live? As in where is their majority of population? Thanks :)

Nad States:
1. Illinois and it's neighboring states
2.Florida
3.texas

Thanks again!
~
Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, too embarrassing to let anyone know.
- Ian McEwan in Atonement

sachi: influencing others since GOD KNOWS WHEN.

  





User avatar
763 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Female
Points: 3888
Reviews: 763
Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:06 am
Lava says...



Okay, So I'm gonna be more specific.

1.A town in Illinois, preferably near a city. It's climate, general stuff about people, and a little on neighboring states as well.

2.General stuff about people from Florida.

3.General stuff about people from Texas.

And yeah, I want to know about stereotypical things, about the school life in the US. (I don;t know much about it, except it's radically diff from what we have here.) School life as in, the subjects you can take, graduation (like what all you need to get into a college)

I know I have NO CLUE about these things, but if you could start me on, it would be helpful. Thanks.
~
Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, too embarrassing to let anyone know.
- Ian McEwan in Atonement

sachi: influencing others since GOD KNOWS WHEN.

  





Random avatar


Gender: Female
Points: 890
Reviews: 20
Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:28 am
MySunshine says...



Well, I can tell you my thoughts from when I spent a high school year in the States.
About stereotypes - I think you've pretty much heard it all: that most Americans are rather big because all they're eating is fast food and all that. I can assure you that's totally not true. I've seen a total of four people or so that were not all that slim, but not "unnaturally fat" either.

School stuff also depends on the school. I was in a little town in Minnesota, which meant that they don't have as much courses like, for example a school in the Twin Cities might have - like Calculus and French and all that.
I had to go to the school and choose my classes - mandatory were English 10 and American History, it's what the organisation required. The school year consists of four quarters, and for each, you can choose classes - I think a maximum of six classes per quarter. It's either a "skinny" - meaning one period - or a block, two periods. After the fourth period, there's lunch and then resource, where you can do your homework and such, and then the last two periods.
There's always a class requirement for students of a certain grade: I was in 11th grade then, but I had English 10 and AH with 10 graders, because they have to take that class in 10th grade. I'd suggest you google schools in Illinois or Florida and visit a homepage - usually, all the info is there, about school life and courses and college requirements.
Some other things I can tell you is for example that there are three different "types" of school: elementary, middle and secondary school. Secondary school is basically high school, I think.
Also, there are 'names' for the students from 9th till 12th grade: 9th graders are 'freshmen', 10th graders are called 'sophomores', then comes the 'juniors' and lastly, the 'seniors'.

That's about it, I guess. If you need any clarification or want me to elaborate more on one topic, just tell me and I'll try ;)
♥And if you go, I wanna go with you. And if you die, I wanna die with you♥
  





User avatar
763 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Female
Points: 3888
Reviews: 763
Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:40 am
Lava says...



Hi!! Thanks a lot. Was helpful.

Here are a few more questions:

And how is the ranking system? How are the meritorious students rewarded? Do you get marks, grades? Could you please give more info on these rankings/grades.

What is the final exam (if one) they take to leave school?

Are the nerds/geeks mocked?

What is this thing about “Homecoming queen?”

What’s the duration of a typical school year (from which month to which; including longer holidays like I guess you’ll have about a month for Christmas, summer hols and all that.)


When does college usually start? (As in, month, roughly)

Do they enter college like as soon as they’re out of school? How many years does it take to complete an M.S. and a PhD?

Is there ragging in colleges, and what about campus interviews & placements?
~
Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, too embarrassing to let anyone know.
- Ian McEwan in Atonement

sachi: influencing others since GOD KNOWS WHEN.

  





User avatar



Gender: Male
Points: 790
Reviews: 2
Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:42 pm
Lionheart says...



Again, many of those questions can be answered differently depending on a variety of things. I'll answer them from my knowledge, as some of the latter questions are arising as I enter college in the Fall.

Ranking System: Students who take advanced classes such as Honors, AP, IB; will usually have extra points added to their graded which is refered to as being weighted. Other than that, they get special recognition at graduation and such if the GPA is at least 3.5 (4 being the highest unweighted). THis increases your class rank which looks better when applying for college, nothing much else.

Exams are different from school to school, so I'll tell you what my school does but many do not do this. Many schools require that every class have a final exam, whether it is given by the state (usually multiple choice) or made by the teacher (which can be pretty much whatever they want). But, my school allows you to be exempt from exams if you meet certain requirments; such as it not being a state sponsored class with a state exam, passing the class, and not having too many absences. Again, many schools have different policies.

Are nerds/geeks mocked...sometimes... I would put myself under that area, though I'm not mocked very often. Really, it depends on what cliques are "popular" and such, most of the popular ones at my school are also the smart ones taking the most advanced classes so that usually doesn't happen. Then again, my school is mostly academic and not very sports focused. I guess it'd happen in a sports focused school, but I'd only know that from seeing those cheesey 80's teen movies.

Homecoming Queen, basically a popularity contest for a popular girl in school; though I'm speaking in general terms here. Basically, they are awarded during the school's homecoming which usually involves a football game and a dance. There is a homecoming king as well. I'm sure someone else can give a better answer to this question.

School usually starts somewhere in August and lasts until the end of May or beginning of June, in which the other months are summer vacation. The biggest holidays are Christmas (or Winter Break) which is around 2 weeks (month in college) and Easter (Spring Break) which is usually in March or April for about a week. Areas that are heavily Christian will use Christmas and Easter, but areas that are more diverse will use Winter and Spring.

College, at least for where I am going, starts in August.

Some choose to go directly after school, some travel, and others work for a time. Usually this depends on the individual's finanical situation. Also, a Bachelors degree usually takes about 4 years, Masters takes about a total of 5-6 years, and a Ph. D. can take a total of 8-12 years. Sciences tend to take longer than art degrees, at least in my experience.

*Didn't know what ragging was, so looked it up* Ragging is not as common in US as other countries, instead there is hazing. Hazing is not really that severe, though it is technically also illegal, and usally does not cause any physical harm except in extreme circumstances. Interviews and placement are usually very dry, mostly academic questions, though you can skip some classes through high exam scores.
  





User avatar
18 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 890
Reviews: 18
Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:29 am
J_Fang says...



When I was in high school there was an Indian family that moved to our region (Southern Kentucky).
If I remember right her family was from New Dehli.

A small perspective comparison:

Their teenage daughter (15) was way beyond everyone at and abover her age as far as academia:

Our highschool math department head, luckily from her was almost a PHD in Mathematics, so she was put in her class and had private assignments in Advanced Calculus and Triginomitry.

She was put in Advanced Chemistry II.

It can pretty much be summed up in, every subject (except physical education 'P.E.') she was skipped ahead to AP classes or beyond (she got college credit while in highschool).

I was in total awe of her.

----

I can't say how that helps really, but I figured it would give you an idea of our over-all education system compared to India's.

----

http://www.wehs.warren.k12.ky.us/

^^Is a link to my old high school, you might be able to poke around on there and find some things out.

As far as “clicks” are concerned there were:

Nerds: Chess Club, Academic Team or anyone that truly cared about academics and made that the primary function of their life.

Jocks: Sports Team members (ironically our football players had B+ to A averages, guess that's why we sucked)

Freaks: Any kid in the Goth or Punk scene.

Rednecks: Often members of the FFA (Future Farmers of America). Loved country music, big trucks and were horrendously racist. They dipped in class (snuff tobacco).

Preps: “I'm like totally pretty.”

The Hip-Hop Crowd: No I'm not saying that as a nice way of saying the black or African-American group...It was literally just people that were way into rap, r&b, etc.

The Stoners: The kids obsessed with smoking pot! (Hard one to figure out huh?:)

The Inbetweens--People like myself that either had friends in pretty much every group or just didn't associate with anyone. Often beating the nerds to class to sit in the back of the room.

::In truth it was hard to be labeled a nerd in our school and actually get outcast due to it::

As for getting into college...

The ability to get a loan pretty much covers it or have the cash to drop for it. (ain't capitalism great kids?)

Academic requirements do exist for some major universities (technically they all have them, but if you're willing and able to drop the cash they will overlook some things).

3.2+ GPA is a general requirement and certain ACT or SAT scores (or both) are required for certain universities.

Here's a link that has the University of Kentucky's requirements (it's a web viewable PDF):
http://www.uky.edu/Admission/files/application.pdf

UK is actually a really good school and has some of the higher requirements for entry, although there are higher and lower.

Such as:
Premier School:
Harvard
Harvard does not have clearly defined, required minimum scores; however, the majority of students admitted to the College represent a range of scores from roughly 600 to 800 on each section of the SAT Reasoning Test as well as on the SAT Subject Tests. We regard test results as helpful indicators of academic ability and achievement when considered thoughtfully among many other factors.
On their site they claim that High School performance isn't necissarily important, although good performance in academics is a plus.

Less Stringent on their requirements:
http://students.asu.edu/freshman/requirements
  





User avatar
100 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 2878
Reviews: 100
Fri Jun 05, 2009 8:16 pm
gsppcrocks10 says...



Well, Seattle WA (The most NW continental state) is a pretty big city, with about five-ten small towns near it..... Shoreline is one, there's also Tacoma, (Though that's not very close). The big religion here is Christianity, (At least around where I live). Most americans nowadays eat fast food. In case you were wondering, the most popular fast food restraunt as far as I know is Macdonalds. >.<
Just another quack spouting psychobabble.

"If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm mad. That's the way history is written."
  








Some call me a legacy, others call me a hero. But I assure you, dear admirers, I am only human.
— Persistence