x-treme america!

I'm going to the States in about a week and I'm trying to prepare myself for the impending culture shock. I wouldn't worry so much about this if I were going to Minneapolis or Milwaukee, but I am flying into New York and then going south to Texas - from "yikes" to "yeehaw." That's like going to Afghanistan and being picked up at the airport by the Taliban, or being teleported into the middle of a beer-chugging contest during Oktoberfest in Deutschland. Extreme, to say the least. But I'm not one to shy away from a little extremity. (I just gave the word a new meaning.) I really only have to deal with New York for a few hours, and I'm going to Austin, Texas, which is the least Texas-like place in the State - or so I've heard. But anyway, if they don't mess with me, I won't mess with them.