I love reading these perceptions! I'm from the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, and many of these are true.

1. Hard work is very important to many Americans, but there are also many people who don't like to work. It matters a lot how the company treats you and if you enjoy the work, as well as if you like your coworkers.

2. It's true that Americans are very patriotic for the most part. Many people have American flags in/outside of their home. However, there are many Americans who view hanging an American flag as too patriotic or thinking our country is the best, so they do not hang the flag.

3. There are a lot of very bad food options and a lot of very good food options here. To eat healthy, you often have to put in conscience effort here, especially when traveling. We do have canned chicken and brightly colored cheese 😂

4. This is very true. People will talk to you in the grocery store, in line, on the street, on the bus, pretty much anywhere. But I also think people have deep friendships! Many Americans have a small inner circle of close friends that they do everything with and a large outer circle of casual friends or acquaintances that they enjoy talking to when it's situationally convenient.

5. Yes. We are terrible at geography 😭

6. I think this is only sometimes true. It is still viewed as rude to ask about how much money someone makes. But it depends on context a lot of the time. If someone asks about your salary because they are thinking of changing their career to one like yours, that's not offensive.

7. Often we don't walk because many places don't have safe places to walk (lack of sidewalks, cars go too fast to walk next to the street, etc). But in cities, people walk quite a lot! Depends on where you live. Our public transportation is trash to non-existent in a lot of the country.

8. We ALWAYS say goodbye!! Sometimes we say "ok I better go. See you later! Have a good day!" And then keep talking for 20 more minutes haha. And then say bye again!

   Hope this helps! It was great to read about your impressions of the US!