The other day a friend asked me whether it has been Push or Pull factors that made me leave Rome and move to the US. After briefly thinking that it was an odd question, I told him that it was both: After three years I felt like I had seen my fair share of Rome and Italy and that it was time to move on; but at the same time, for some reason I’ve always wanted to live in the US.
There’s all sorts of reasons why I want to live here and a lot are of course travel related – the US is an entire continent and I think that one could never get to know it properly with the odd two-week holiday here or there. But travel aside, what I love about the US that it’s the kinda the same, but different.
I noticed it for the first time when I was here a couple of years ago and had popped to a shop to pick up some groceries. Supermarkets, like everything, are huge in the US and when I went to the checkout area there were at least thirty checkout counters and ten lines of people queuing for them. I joined one of them and spent the next five minutes wondering how people knew when it was their turn and how they knew which counter to go to. Everything was very orderly, but also random… I got a bit “nervous” when I approached the front of my line and still had no idea how this system worked.
Eventually I noticed that I was standing on a purple line and that there was a monitor with flashing colours above me that showed which colour line was next and to which till the customer should go. Relieved, I made my way to the till, paid and waited patiently for my change. After 30seconds of awkward silence the assistant – clearly confused why I was still there - asked me if I needed anything else. I told her I was waiting for the change. She pointed to the other end of the checkout counter where I saw a little bowl with my change in it. Apparently, this was dispersed automatically and returned away from the counter to make space for the next customer as soon as possible.
There’s all sorts of reasons why I want to live here and a lot are of course travel related – the US is an entire continent and I think that one could never get to know it properly with the odd two-week holiday here or there. But travel aside, what I love about the US that it’s the kinda the same, but different.
I noticed it for the first time when I was here a couple of years ago and had popped to a shop to pick up some groceries. Supermarkets, like everything, are huge in the US and when I went to the checkout area there were at least thirty checkout counters and ten lines of people queuing for them. I joined one of them and spent the next five minutes wondering how people knew when it was their turn and how they knew which counter to go to. Everything was very orderly, but also random… I got a bit “nervous” when I approached the front of my line and still had no idea how this system worked.
Eventually I noticed that I was standing on a purple line and that there was a monitor with flashing colours above me that showed which colour line was next and to which till the customer should go. Relieved, I made my way to the till, paid and waited patiently for my change. After 30seconds of awkward silence the assistant – clearly confused why I was still there - asked me if I needed anything else. I told her I was waiting for the change. She pointed to the other end of the checkout counter where I saw a little bowl with my change in it. Apparently, this was dispersed automatically and returned away from the counter to make space for the next customer as soon as possible.I loved this little episode – it was such a banal everyday situation, but refreshingly different from what I know. It was a bit uncomfortable, it made me think, it made me laugh… I realise that this is not a good reason to move to a country, but I look forward to more moments like this and letting America surprise me with them.
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