One of the more entertaining phenomena this year is taking place right now. Freddy is an anonymous German tourist visiting the southeastern US for the World Cup games. He’s documenting his travel with two friends on X/Twitter.
Sometimes it takes a foreigner to remind us of how good we have it here. To be clear, Freddy isn’t in awe of the famous landmarks. He’s in awe of the mundane. The little things we all take for granted in the U.S.
Freddy’s journey through the American south.
Things like eating scattered, smothered and covered hash browns at Waffle House at 2 a.m. Visiting a Buc-ee's 75,000 square foot “gas station” with an astounding 80 toilets and urinals. Seeing enormous Ford pickup trucks that appear capable of towing an aircraft carrier. (Ford is giving Freddy a Ford F-150). Driving buttery smooth interstate highways that stretch for hundreds of miles in one state. Enjoying frigid Air Conditioning, something rare in Europe these days.
American gas station
What's striking isn't simply that these visitors enjoy America. It's the sense of wonder they bring to experiences and things that most Americans stopped noticing years ago.
Freddy walks into Buc-ee's “gas station” and reacts as though he's entered another dimension. Americans walk into Buc-ee's and wonder why the brisket isn’t ready yet.
Freddy marvels at the choices in an Wal-Mart. An American grumbles because they stopped carrying four-flavor Life Savers candy.
Freddy drives for six hours and is astonished to learn he's still in the same state. Americans complain about the traffic.
Most Americans have spent their entire lives surrounded by things that Europeans cannot fathom. Things like the Coca-Cola freestyle soda machine with more than 165 beverage combinations and flavors available. Or the soda fountain at QT that offers either cubed or crushed ice. But for us, they are just table stakes. We've grown accustomed to comfort and abundance.
Back in the 1300s, Chaucer wrote that familiarity breeds contempt. I think the modern version is familiarity breeds indifference. Because familiarity doesn't just make things comfortable. It makes them invisible.
A homemade sign welcoming Freddy to Louisiana.
Many Europeans arrive carrying a mental picture of America formed largely through corporate media coverage. If that were your primary source of information, you'd expect to encounter a nation perpetually on the verge of collapse. Instead, they often find ordinary people living ordinary lives, talking to strangers, enjoying sporting events, buying strangers drinks, and enthusiastically recommending restaurants that serve portions large enough to feed a family of four.
The America they encounter is often more cheerful, friendlier, and warmer than they imagined. Not perfect. Not free from problems. Just more normal. And that normality can be surprisingly attractive.
One of the recurring themes is how incredibly nice Americans are - even to Germans whose ancestors killed our ancestors in WWI and WWII. What Americans regard as casual friendliness can feel remarkable to people from cultures where interactions with strangers are less friendly.
Yesterday American football legend J.J. Watt arranged for the three guests to stay in a five-star hotel in Houston. They found an enormous number of gifts in the room, including signed jerseys from Watt and friends.
Gifts waiting in Freddy’s hotel room in Houston.
Visitors notice things that regular Americans overlook because they haven't spent decades ignoring them. Their perspective reminds us that many aspects of American life are neither universal nor inevitable. They're cultural habits we've come to regard as background scenery.
It’s like a stranger staying in your home. They are overwhelmed with the space and beauty of your home. You, meantime, are frustrated with the finicky plumbing, the nosy neighbors and the dysfunctional Homeowner’s Association.
Americans complain constantly, but beneath the complaints there remains a stubborn belief that anything is possible here. We are the people that created Wal-Mart, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Starbucks. Like it or not, we are the only country with a trillionaire and reusable rockets that go up into space and return back to earth.
People move across the country for opportunities. They start over. They reinvent themselves. They pursue ideas that seem unlikely to succeed. Some fool had to open the first 75,000 square foot gas station. Some fail spectacularly. Others succeed beyond our wildest expectation. As the Sinatra song says, if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.
Foreign visitors often pick up on this before Americans do because they're observing it from a distance. They aren't distracted by the daily frustrations that dominate domestic conversations. Instead, they see a society that still assumes the future can be brighter than the present.
LSU Tiger Stadium
What we often forget is how unusual much of modern American life would seem to almost anyone but us. Football stadiums that hold 102,000 fans. Bean burritos for $4 at Taco Bell, which Freddy calls outstanding. Guns available for sale at Bass Pro Shops. Unlimited chips and salsa at any Mexican restaurant. The Germans remind us that many of the things we take for granted are, in fact, remarkable.
Perhaps that's why so many of these travel stories resonate. They aren't merely accounts of Germans discovering America. They're accounts of Americans rediscovering America through German eyes.
Every nation possesses qualities that outsiders admire and residents overlook. But there is value in occasionally borrowing someone else's perspective. It helps us distinguish between genuine flaws and mere familiarity. It reminds us that gratitude often begins with noticing.
Watching Germans marvel at America may say less about Germany than it does about us. Their sense of wonder highlights how thoroughly we've adapted to a place that remains, by any objective measure, unusual. The scale, the ambition, the abundance, the contradictions, and the optimism all blend into the background when you've spent a lifetime surrounded by them.
Visitors don't have that problem.
They arrive seeing America clearly.
For a brief moment, so do we.
What do you take for granted in this great country of ours? Leave me a message by clicking the link below. I promise that you’ll hear back from me cause, you know, I’m a real person and all.
Last year 1.2M people read Wit & Wisdom. The newsletter comes out every Monday via email. It’s always free, and I’m are always looking for new friends. Please join us.
