Some thoughts on the US...

Well, like I said earlier I'll most definitely need to go back to D.C. and spend at least a full weekend exploring all the different museums, especially the Smithonian but also try to get a tour to the White House and Capitol Hill.... But one lesson I most certainly learned during my first business trip here in the US was that it is a VERY diverse country.  There were participants from as far as Seattle, the Bay area and Illinois and each and had forgotten how vast this country really is - the participants from the West Coast had a 5 hour flight into the city, almost as far as London from NYC... Also culturally there are just really big differences between the different states. And the country functions in a very decentralized way as well - there are hardly any federal regulations, it seems like most things are regulated per states. One example would be getting a driver's license - so some states would accept a German/ European one others make you retake the test. Taxes are VERY different according to the state you live in - and of course with New York I picked one of the most expensive states to live in. They don't only have the federal tax, but also the state tax and on top of that a city tax - so that adds up to almost European tax levels.... The difference being that we do not have an extensive social security system here - so what are we funding then? At first I was afraid that most of my tax money goes to fund the war in Afghanistan (and some of it certainly does), but actually I was relieved to hear that a lot of it actually goes towards schools. So apparently there are large differences in the quality of schools according to states. For instance you would not want to send your kids to school in Florida where they have no state tax... It also seems fascinating to me that insurers are licensed according to states, so you need to check before you move whether your insurance will also cover you in the state you move to... When going shopping the difference tax levels actually come in quite handy - many New Yorkers do clothes shopping in New Jersey and I will make sure to buy furniture in the Ikea over there as well... Taxes are still very confusing to me though - most prices are without tax so you always need to add a few percent - but for a hotel room you might actually have to figure in tourism tax and other service fees as well - so whatever you were quoted at first might well increase by a few dollars... Anyway, I guess it's because I was listening to a session on personal finance today that I have been thinking about this ever since.
Another issue that I was shocked about was that although Obama finally took a clear stance on same-sex marriage in the US just today I read that in North Carolina gay marriage was getting banned - but then again there are states like Connecticut or New York in which it is legal and in California it seems the weirdest things happened and gay couples seem to have been allowed to get married for a few months only and then it got prohibited. How can one country be so divided on these issues? And with upholding the value of personal freedom and choice so highly how can they allow their governments to become involved in such a personal topic but not want them to provide for health insurance? I guess I'll have to stay here a bit longer and see a bit more before I can answer these questions- if ever...

Ok, back to watching a new show "don't trust the b in apartment 23" - they have a German flatmate and make so much fun of her - hilarious...