Growing up in Colombia, movies were basically my only window into American life. Whatever I saw on screen, I’d take as the absolute truth, and let me tell you: Hollywood had me fully convinced the U.S.A. was this hyper-polished, over-the-top, glossy version of reality where everything was bigger, cleaner, and somehow perfectly timed. Looking back at the films I used to watch, it’s really no wonder why I grew up holding some very wild assumptions — but as a now-22-year-old American resident, I honestly can’t help but laugh at how wrong (and hilarious) most of my beliefs were back in the day.
Here are 15 things that reflect how I pictured the United States growing up as a non-American Gen Z kid:
1.
I thought everyone exclusively drank out of red Solo cups at parties.
2.
I assumed every kid owned a bicycle and rode it everywhere.
3.
I really did believe high schoolers actually stood on cafeteria tables when they meant serious business.
4.
I thought everyone in Texas owned a cowboy hat and went to rodeos.
5.
I genuinely thought lockers were this huge, life-defining thing, and that decorating them was a non-negotiable rite of passage.
6.
I believed everyone had a basement and that half of them were haunted.
7.
I assumed cheerleaders actually ran the entire school.
8.
I was convinced that people with minimum-wage jobs could still live in huge apartments.
9.
I assumed everyone went all out decorating their house for the holidays.
10.
I thought every high school had cliques that actually sat together like a real-life zoo exhibit.
11.
I was convinced every teenage boy in California went surfing before school.
12.
I was under the impression that teens all got brand-new cars for their 16th birthday.
13.
I thought every house came with a walk-in closet.
14.
I seriously believed there was nothing more important than for a girl to be crowned Prom Queen.
15.
I thought every American family ate dinner together every night at 6 p.m. sharp.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty much the America I believed in as a kid. If you also grew up abroad, did you find yourself able to relate to these? What would you add to the list? Drop your own movie-made assumptions in the comments down below!
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