Foreigners Share What They Find Most Surprising About America

REUTERS/Adrees Latif

The U.S. has historically had a huge immigrant population. But what makes American culture different from the countries immigrants are leaving? 

Foreigners, as well as others who happen to know people who are new to the U.S., have been using this Quora thread to share what they think makes America unique. Their answers to the question "What facts about the United States do foreigners not believe until they come to America?" were pretty fascinating. 

We've picked out some especially interesting tidbits. 

America is so huge that it would take weeks to see all of its major cities. 

"Foreigners cannot believe how vast the United States is. I am from the West Coast of the U.S. and my Italian relatives come here thinking they can visit me in Seattle, plus also see New York City, Miami, the Grand Canyon and Hollywood all in a week--by car. I can't get them to understand that it's 3,000 miles from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts." — Candace Dempsey

"So much space. My god, America seems like such a BIG country. Look at the Netherlands: we are smaller than the state of Georgia. And in this country, land is expensive. It's a basic principle: if something is scarce, and many people want it, then it will be expensive. But in America, we have amazing amounts of land available and for such a low price." — Chrys Jordan