Welcome to the USA! This will be a short one as the US is a country everyone knows at least a little bit about. America’s movies and TV shows are so pervasive that everyone knows what to expect from the US.

That’s why I was genuinely surprised at the level of culture shock I experienced when I moved to Boston to study for a summer in 2010. Despite sharing a common language, it’s really staggering how different US and British cultures are. For example on my first morning, going out for breakfast with my housemate I was flawed by the question - “how would you like your eggs, sunny side up, over easy or over hard?”. This question completely floored me. I’d like to think my knowledge of American egg frying styles has improved since then.

America’s optimism, can-do attitude and enthusiasm for a good time have changed me forever. I made a really close group of friends during my time in Massachusetts and one friend in particular who I haven’t been able to shake since…

Here’s to America. Land of the free, and also coincidentally the only place I’ve ever been told off by the police for walking along the beach after dark!