>>- ride the city bus
>>- loiter
>>- buy bread
>
>Are you sure it's the culture or location and not age? :o)

I did mention that it'd be interesting to compare what I'd do if I was there now with the two lists.

>I only ask because reading your 2nd list, many of those things I did here as well in the past. It seems that much has changed here over the years. I remember going to visit friends or family with no notice on a whim. I remember meeting friends or acquaintances accidentally, riding the city bus (when I was on a route), and just hanging around (also riding a bike to actually get somewhere). Of course all of that was when I lived in a town that was much smaller. Do you never buy vegetables and fruit at farmers markets or roadside stands? I make fewer phone calls now as well, but back then the phone was the primary means of communication. Every day a friend or a family member would call. I don't think you are "Americanized" at all. I think the world (not just the U.S.) changed and you with it. :o)

So it goes. Though, some of the habit changes happened quite rapidly, in the first few years. I even tried going to work on a bike, but the hills of Charlottesville didn't work too well with it. A bicycle thief did, against it :).

The shopping habits changed right away. Instead of buying food by a couple of totes every two or three days, we simply had to switch to weekly grocery, because that's how it works here. And then our grocery bills rapidly went down from $800 a month to $500 then to $300, as we learned the ropes (and had bought most of the small kitchen and hygiene stuff).

> I understand that back in my hometown of 8,000 it is still much like it was when I was there. Some towns never change.

But the definition of town is also different. Something below 10,000 would be called a village over there, up to 20,000 may be called a little town (varošica - a diminutive form of Hungarian város, city), and a town only above that.

BTW, I extended my previous reply and quotes in the (slightly extended) blog, if you don't mind.