The first impressions of other countries~

[Viola]

Let's talk about our first impressions of other countries.
It's not for good or bad meaning, just the first thinking of the country.
For me~

USA--- Big apple and Mc Donald's and statue of Liberty.
Canada--- chacolate or dessert that made from maple.
France--- romantic lifestyle
England--- imperial family,especially for Prince William.
Japan--- sushi and terrible tsunami
China--- many many many people live there, it seems everything made from China.
Thailand--- simon show and massage
Spain--- bull-fight and national football team
Italy--- yummy pasta and city Venice
Brazil--- passionate carnival
Australia--- kangaroo and great barrier reef and Sidney opera house.
Rome--- spectacular arena and the place filled with historical atmosphere.
Russia--- ice cold and wide land.

How about yours first impressins of other countries?
It's quiet interesting to see your ideas!!!

[hlysnan]

Eh? The Louvre is in France.

[Śrāmaṇera]

England--- imperial family,especially for Prince William. And Louvre!

If Le Louvre is in England, then I am the Prince Charles...

[johntm]

Never been anywhere, so keep that in mind
Mexico-Drug cartels and Mexican food, and a few nice places
Canada-similar to America but less fat people, more weed. And colder. Also a few other differences
England-Bad accent, cool history, bad food, intrusive gov't
France-*le surrender*
Russia-badass Spetnaz
Ireland-drunks and leprechauns
Netherlands-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD AND HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKEEEEEERS
Belgium-chocolate, waffles, future study abroad prospects
Germany-beer, BMWs, Nazis
China: Lots of people and products made with lead paint
Japan: good food and anime. Have a slight disdain for Japan Because they provide the anime that fuels weeaboos
Egypt: Pyramids and civil unrest
Italy: Good food, attractive girls, pretty cool language. Oh, and guidos, too.
Greek: Cool history and bankruptcy.
South Africa: Only civilized place in Africa
Brazil: Speak a really weird version of Spanish Recently I've been getting interested in Pirahã, so I think of that too
Switzerland: Neutral on everything, pretty cool country though
Somalia: Reminds me of what I've heard of Detroit
Iraq/Afghanistan: Sand and terrorists, sand and terrorists everywhere. Oil too.
That's all I feel like doing now. Don't take this seriously, yes I know these aren't true, these impressions come from the internet (mainly 4chan's /int/). I know this isn't all to those countries, but it's what I think of when I think of those countries.
I want to travel to most of these places.

Edit: Since when is Rome a country OP? And added more, being stupid and only did North American/European countries :/

[ILuvEire]

Do you mean what I think of, or my first impressions when visiting? I've only visited a handful of countries but:
Mexico: Wow, looks just like Texas. Everyone is super nice. Horchata everywhere.
Quebec: French motherfuckers everywhere (and because of that, everyone is sexy). Super classy and cold.
Italy: Damn it smells great here, and everyone is feeding me.
Austria: I'm freezing my balls off; is that snow? Oh God. Everyone is feeding me, but it's gross food. Ah well, whatever, it's food.

[hlysnan]

Places I've been. I chose to do cities/states instead of countries because they tend to differ.

Manila, Philippines: smells like firecrackers, cheap clothes and food
Bataan, Philippines: very polluted, motorbikes everywhere
Hong Kong, PRC: rather dirty and polluted, and it's very populated, unlike the Disneyland, which is the complete opposite (spotless and relatively empty)
Singapore: very hot (and clean!) and all the shops open so late (like 10-11am), cheap clothes and food
California: friendly people, but there's homeless people everywhere (especially in San Francisco and Los Angeles), and it isn't very clean (except for the Disneyland), BIG servings of food, and doughnuts for breakfast
Las Vegas: poker machines, themed hotels, small poker machine toys for children

[Viola]

England--- imperial family,especially for Prince William. And Louvre!

If Le Louvre is in England, then I am the Prince Charles...

haha!!
sorry~ it's my fault!!
wish your are Prince Charles!

[Viola]

Eh? The Louvre is in France.

thanks for your corrections!

[Tenebrarum]

Of the few places I've been to, here goes:

- Sydney, AU: Sunny all year round, vast, beautiful nature, kinda empty, not that much to see, melancholic. Too many threatening drug-addicted beggars.
- Melbourne, AU: I was there for only three winter days, so I can't say much. It was cold and very windy and Christmas-y. Coffee, coffee and more coffee. Downtown looks better and fresher than Sydney. Some tell me it's the most American city in Australia, not least because it sprawls in planned grids.
- Canberra, AU: Neat, sterile small town that gives you a "What the hell am I doing here?" feeling.
- Singapore: Best described as a shopping mall. Disappointing, expensive food.
- Malaysia: Rude airport officials, rude customer service. Disappointing food. Don't like it.
- Bangkok, Thailand: Multifaceted, juxtaposed, real. Developed yet undeveloped. Rich yet poor. Liberal yet conservative. What Saigon could have been? Lime fruit is used in pretty much every dish.

[Śrāmaṇera]

Impressions of the few places I've been to in my short life :

Northern Ireland : Gloomy.
(it still is the saddest place I've seen)
Scotland : Cloudy.
(but you don't need the sun to enjoy Scotland anyway... Edinburgh is an awesome city, wish I could go back there one day).
Iceland : Lunar
(The first time I set foot in Iceland it was in the middle of summer and I'll never forget the way from Keflavik airport to Reykjavik with the lava fields and that amazing emptiness).
Spain : Hot. Jellyfish.
(August in Barcelona + Costa Brava... so many jellyfishes on the beach)
Switzerland : Snob.
(their accent)
England : Fizzy.
(English people are just so interesting. They always seem so full of life)
P.R. China : Dirty and noisy. Suffocating.
(I see more things now fortunately but that was the first impression)
Japan : Home ? Boring ?
(after fantasizing a lot about Japan, the first time I got there just seemed plain to me compared to China : it just felt as if I was in my home country, everything was just easy, convenient, people nice and peaceful... no surprises. Maybe that's why I like Japan. I like being bored.)

[Michael]

Mind you, I've only ever been to Italy and Mexico in the course of my life. The rest is just what I think. I only plan on visiting Brazil, Poland, the Isle of Man, Italy, and Mexico in the future.

Brazil - Fun, fun, and more fun. Samba. Corcovado. Cachaça. Churrasco. Oh, and the pretinhas.
Mexico - Fierce pride. Increase in crime. Cerveza, tequila, y mezcal. Some affection.
Poland - Scenic villages. Hardworking citizens. Common Catholicism. Pope John Paul II.
Italy - Food, food, and more food. Noisy. Earthquakes. Annoying relatives. Dialects abound.
Spain - Paella. FC Barça. Good soccer. La Sagrada Familia. Regional autonomy for all.
Portugal - Enchanting. Fado. Mariza. Wine. Lasting legacy. Perseverance. Slavic languages.
Paris, France - Weak. Sissies. Stubborn. Disgusting food. Good language, though.
The Netherlands - Marijuana. Hookers. Getting off the hook. Clogs. Windmills.
Canada - Utopia. Better than us. Special. Perfect. Weird accent. British America.
Greece - Nisiotika, and good music in general. Parthenon. Awesome language. Tzatziki.
Yugoslavia a.k.a Serbiacroatiabosniaherzegovinamontenegro - Pointless division. Cannibalism.
Armenia - Foreign. Interesting. Seismic. Unique. Better than the Turkish and the Azeri.
England - Tea. Royal Wedding. Backstabbing royalty. Anti-Celtic. Not that different from us.
Scotland - Haggis. Bagpipes. Kilts. Highlands. Beauty around every corner. Mirth.
Ireland - Celtic. Ancient. Rolling green meadows. Tranquility. Many children. Gaeltachtaí.
Northern Ireland - England needs to get the fuck out. Belfast. Titanic. Shipyards.
Isle of Man - Isle of Man TT Races. Manx tailless cat. Heaven. Manx language, my favorite.

[Lenguas]

Here are my two cents on 3 of the places you mentioned.

Mexico - Fierce pride. Increase in crime. Cerveza, tequila, y mezcal. Some affection.

Never been there, but want to go some time. I have so many different images in my mind of what it would be like, so it will be an interesting experience. It seems to be a hybrid of European and Native American culture. That must be fascinating. The food is fantastic. Are restaurants in Mexico like Mexican restaurants in the US?

Canada - Utopia. Better than us. Special. Perfect. Weird accent. British America.

I've been there.
Victoria, British Columbia - Very bland. The same as here, except more to do, slightly different scenery, more immigration from more exotic places like China and even the Philippines, imitating London in some ways. It's called "the most British city in North America". The capital of BC.

Vancouver, British Columbia - Oh, wow, I'm in Asia. It seems redundant that they actually have a "Chinatown" in this city. I need to learn Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese if I am to understand what people are saying around me. I can also try to speak French to people, because many people have taken it in school. Whether they remember much is another story. Everyone is always constantly coming up to us to ask us directions, because they assume we're locals. I feel like a boring person because I'm from North America and not somewhere more exotic like a lot of people here. This is definitely the city to go if you want to experience Asia without having to go to Asia. And if you're from Canada or the US to experience feeling like a foreigner and not a foreigner at the same time. The climate's the 4th mildest in Canada. It's rainier than Chicago, but less snowy. Chicago averages 43 inches of snow; Vancouver 19. In Vancouver, snow falls on 11 days per year, but does not remain on the ground for long, as no month averages below freezing. Summers are nice and not humid.

The accent: I can imagine it would sound quite different to someone from Chicago, but the accent isn't much different than the accent here. The only difference is they have a stronger Canadian shift and Canadian raising than here. People from here don't pick up on the Canadian shift, since many of us have it ourselves to a certain extent, so that doesn't sound any different. Some people pick up on the Canadian raising, although many people can't even hear that.

England - Tea. Royal Wedding. Backstabbing royalty. Anti-Celtic. Not that different from us.

London, England - Oh wow, I'm in Victoria, BC, except with an accent, and had to take a hugely long plane ride to get here. Too modern. Too much has changed to make it resemble North America. I didn't go during the Royal Wedding, so it was probably more interesting during that time. There are a lot of historical buildings, but the overall modernity of everything and general sameness to the US and Canada makes it annoying to pay so much just to arrive back at home. It does have a lot of foreigners though, and it is a hop skip and a jump to the Continent, so it's a good place to go to practice languages. And you're right next door to the Celtic nations as well. And the Royal Family lives here, so that's neat. But you probably won't get to meet them, so, yeah.

[Kenny]

Too modern. Too much has changed to make it resemble North America.

Modernity does not equal "resembling North America". Not everything's about America. You thought they were stuck in the 19th century?

The few places I've been to:
Paris, France - Wow, so much nicer than Budapest. And not nearly as many beggars, but still a lot. The huge penile thing downtown (yes, that would be the Eiffel tower). The Seine - wow, isn't that tiny compared to the Danube. Still cool. Shitloads of turists, wow, annoying. (no racism intended:) Black people, scores of them. (That generally strikes me as odd, because in my hometown there is like a total of 2 of them.) Noisyyyy. (after about 3 days) Okay, let's get the hell out of here.

Péronne, Bourgogne, France (a small town with no more than ~500 inhabitants) - Silence. Finally. A good night's sleep. Everyone's supernice. Dinner = 3 hours with all kinds of yummie things and wine. I love the landscape. I love the people. OMG I don't wanna leeeeave.

Pardubice, Czech Republic - The receptionist lady doesn't speak any of the 8 languages we tried. Time to use our hands then, yikes. They seem to have a "no likey" attitude towards us, Hungarians. Looks a lot like towns back home. The ratio of nice people vs. rude assholes is about 1:1. Their beer is their only chance at redemption.

Düsseldorf, Germany - (walking out of the airport terminal, looking at the map on the wall) Holy mother of Jesus Christ, Düsseldorf is further away from here than Eindhoven. (once downtown) Cool looking. Awesome cars. Funny people with funny answers. No one seems to know where the venue we're looking for is or how we could get there. Whatever. Streetcars, yay. Food: not too different from what I'm used to.

Eindhoven, the Netherlands - Bicycles everywheeere. How do people manage to speak this language without throwing up? Nice folks. More bicycles. Somewhat multicultural. Apparently rugby is a thing here? (we made ourselves a group of Kiwi friends who were staying at the same places as us, they were there for some rugby junior championship-y thing, but they just loved watching us cube) ... Oh, weird food, or rather tasteless.

[Sol Invictus]

Estonia - we are in woods and it is raining
Lithuania - they are all catholics and their chocolate is too sweet
Poland - they are all catholics and it seems Lithuanians don't like them
Russia - evil, evil, evil
Sweden - What is their problem?
Norway - fish and mountains
Finland - more lakes and rocks
Germany - attention to detail and quality, and porn
Spain - must be hot
Japan - they are weird
Mexico - spicy food, bright colors
USA - lame
South America - jungle
Morroco - weird clothing
Rest of the north Africa - mostly desert

Do Latvia somebody, I'm considering doing a paper on its image in the world (it probably doesn't exist, so first thing that comes to mind would be perfect)

[Johanna]

Sweden - What is their problem?

Where in Sweden did you go?

[Lada]

Places I've been to, let's start from the East to the West:

Siberia - Japanese and Korean cars, no Ladas

Ukraine - Crimea peninsula, sea side resort where everyone speaks Russian, Kiev - one of the most beautiful cities in ex-USSR along with St. Petersburg

Turkey - 1) are there any other tourists besides Russians? 2) Men who open a shop in the midnight specially for you.

Poland - foreigners have to pay 1 zloty for toilet while locals only 0.5, awful service in road cafes. Monotonous landscape and lots of apple tree plantations.

Czech Republic - good beer, soviet houses and poverty in Prague suburbs - I don't know why but I didn't expect that to be in CR except for beer of course.

Austria - the heart of Europe, the true Europe, if I think about Europe, I think of Austria

Croatia - sea, sun, glagolitic alphabet and the most preserved coliseum - that's in Pula

Italy - great culture, Vatican, Venice, Roman Empire...and problems with canalisation - I stayed in the Roma's suburb and smell was kinda vomitive...

Germany (Munich) - very comfortable city for living but too expensive especially public transport

Luxembourg - when you look at the city from the above everything seems to be toyish - such a little cosy place where you can go to cure your nerves.

France (Paris) - gypsies living in the park, beggars sleeping under the bridge, overrated La Tour Eiffel, the most expensive taxi in Europe, La Geode, people sitting on the grass everywhere (that was a cultural shock for me)

France (Normandie & Bretagne) - cheese, calvados, snails, Mont St. Michel, all in all it's true France unlike Paris

Spain (Barcelona) - Gaudi architecture, aquarium, cool market and of course jamon

[Sol Invictus]

Sweden - What is their problem?

Where in Sweden did you go?

I don't remember, it was nice, but this is just that when ever I hear news from Sweden it sounds as if they hate everyone else. I understood that point of this topic is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about that country, not what you acctually thought when you were there for the first time (that I don't remember)

Siberia - Japanese and Korean cars, no Ladas

You need to come to Latvia. It seems tuning zhigulis are popular among some

[Cosi]

Poland - foreigners have to pay 1 zloty for toilet while locals only 0.5

Where the hell have you been??? To Cracow?!

[Levo]

First impression?

Estonia: Big sky, beautiful clouds. Big empty spaces. Cleanness.

Latvia: Resembles a bit Hungary (after having lived in Estonia)

Canada: Space, beautiful grass

Germany: WTF? Everyone told me all these but it is just shocking to experience it all in reality. Amazing!

Austria: Where are the Austrians? Burka everywhere.

Coming back to Hungary after 10 months: Fuuuuck...

[Lada]

You need to come to Latvia. It seems tuning zhigulis are popular among some

It's popular among some people in Russia too, especially among Caucasians

Where the hell have you been??? To Cracow?!

I haven't been to Polish cities, I was driving through the country from Belorussia. Everything what I saw was a road and multiple cafes and hotels along it. So this difference in price was in the first restaurant after Belorussian/Polish border...
I was also amazed how few cars we met even 40 kilometers from Warsaw, the road was so narrow and incredibly empty...

Austria: Where are the Austrians? Burka everywhere.

Austrians are under burka
Seriously I haven't seen many burkas there, go to Paris to see many of them.