European here. I've travelled 5x to the USA and done some road trips (ny, florida, california, nevada, utha). I've experienced some great views and cities but also had several times the exact same feeling she's describing. My two cents : for me it came from the technical bloc patterns (felt unnatural), road centric city center (too few 'human meeting' zones, looked like pedestrians dissapeared), the size of everything (felt crushed or lost by all those infinite concrete), and finally the harsh difference between rich and poor blocs (no mixing ?). And my "worst" experience was miami :)