The most surprising things about America, according to a Silicon Valley engineer who moved from India 7 years ago

Aniruddh Chaturvedi

• LinkedIn software designer Aniruddh Chaturvedi moved to the US from India in 2011.
• In an email to Business Insider, Chaturvedi listed the most surprising things he discovered about American culture.
• They include a love of road trips, the low price of soda, and Americans' tendency to display the US flag everywhere.

Sometimes you don't realize what makes your country unique until you hear it from an outsider.

Aniruddh Chaturvedi, a senior software designer at LinkedIn, came to the US from India in 2011, and was immediately surprised by certain aspects of American culture. He now lives in California.

In a Quora post, Chaturvedi explained what he considered the most surprising things about the United States, drawn from his experience at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and from his time working at various Silicon Valley tech companies. He emailed additional thoughts to Business Insider.

Here are the highlights, from the high integrity of American students to the outrageously low price of soda: 

In America, 'everyone is highly private about their accomplishments and failures.'

"Someone's performance in any field is their performance alone. This is different compared to India where people flaunt their riches and share their accomplishments with everybody else."

Shopping in America is nothing like it is in other countries.

"The retail experience is nowhere near as fun/nice as it is in India. Because labor is cheap in India, there is always someone who will act as a 'personal shopper' to assist you with holding your clothes, giving suggestions, etc."

"In America, on the other hand, even if you go to a Nordstrom or Bloomingdales, there is almost nobody to help you out while you're shopping. Shopping in America is more of a commodity/chore than it is a pleasurable activity."

American students love to collaborate and support each other.

"Before I came to the United States, I heard stories about how students at Johns Hopkins were so competitive with each other that they used to tear important pages from books in the library just so other students didn't have access to it."

"In reality, I experienced the complete opposite. Students were highly collaborative, formed study groups, and studied/did assignments till everyone in the group 'got it.' I think the reason for this is that the classes are/material is so hard that it makes sense to work collaboratively to the point that students learn from each other."

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