Before I came to this country, I thought that girls in this country liked to wear very “hot” clothes like little tops and skirts. However, after coming here, I realized that most of the time they dress completely different from what I had thought.
Americans dress comfortably and are not too particular about dressing up. In the streets of America, you can see people dressing casually: some wear short pants with long cotton wool sweaters, wear yoga pants anywhere, or wear slippers outside. What is more puzzling is that in the hot summer some people wear a sweatshirt on top and shorts on the bottom, but their feet are stirred with a pair of bulky shoes and a pair of thick cotton socks; while in the late fall season, American girls wear thin tops, barefoot, and sandals on the street.
They pay great attention to the texture of clothing fabrics. In the U.S. clothing market, both casual wear or suits are made of comfortable materials. Based on my observation, jeans, sneakers, T-shirts, and shirts are the must-have styles. This might be because jeans can be matched with a variety of tops and shoes and suitable in either casual or formal situations. For sneakers, because Americans spend a lot of time exercising, sneakers are their first choice of shoes for most people. T-shirts and shirts are their favorite clothing styles. No matter what season, there is a corresponding shirt style, and in most stores inside the mall, shirts are the most popular style. In China, people pay more attention to their style. Different people have different preferences. Therefore, there are a wide variety of styles in the shopping malls in China. Nowadays, you can even see people wearing Han Dynasty traditional clothing on the street or wearing Cheongsam, which is a traditional Chinese dress worn by women in the Qing Dynasty when they are visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Another thing that is very different from China in clothing is that the standard size in the US is larger than the Chinese sizing standard. For example, I wear size M in China, yet I have to wear size XS when I arrive in the United States. The largest size in the majority of stores in China is XL, which is the M size in the United States. In China, no matter how old are trying every day to control their weight. This causes most people to have weight However, in the United States there is no such anxiety at all.
To conclude, after studying abroad for about 8 months, I realize that the cultural images that we learned from TV shows, movies, or the internet are different from the real culture. To fully understand a culture, you need to immerse yourself in that culture.
[Chinese]
美国穿着
在我来到这个国家之前，我对这个国家的女孩的穿着的看法是，她们喜欢穿一些非常 “热 ” 的衣服，如小上衣和裙子。但在我来到这里后，我发现大多数时候的穿着与我想象中的完全 不同。
美国人穿得很舒服，不太讲究穿着打扮。在美国的大街上，你可以看到人们穿得很随意:有 的人穿短裤配长棉毛衫，在任何地方穿瑜伽裤，或者在外面穿拖鞋。更令人费解的是，在炎 热的夏天，有些人上身穿着运动衫，下身穿着短裤，但脚上却蹬着一双笨重的鞋子和一双厚 厚的棉袜;而在深秋季节，美国女孩在街上穿着薄上衣，光着脚，穿着凉鞋。
他们非常重视服装面料的质地。在美国的服装市场上，无论是休闲装还是西装都是由舒适 的材料制成的。根据我的观察，牛仔裤、运动鞋、T恤衫和衬衫是必备的款式。这可能是因 为牛仔裤可以与各种上衣和鞋子搭配，适用于休闲或正式场合。对于运动鞋，因为美国人花 很多时间锻炼身体，所以运动鞋是大多数人的首选。T恤衫和衬衫是他们最喜欢的服装款 式。无论什么季节，都有相应的衬衫款式，在商场里面的大多数商店，衬衫是最受欢迎的款 式。在中国，人们更注重自己的风格。不同的人有不同的偏好。因此，在中国的商场里有各 种各样的风格。现在，你甚至可以在街上看到穿着汉代传统服装的人，或者穿着旗袍，这是 清代妇女在参观北京紫禁城时穿的中国传统服装。
在服装方面与中国非常不同的另一点是，美国的标准尺寸比中国的尺寸标准要大。例如，我 在中国穿M号，然而到了美国却要穿XS号。整整两个尺寸太小了。在中国的大多数商店里， 最大的尺寸是XL，也就是美国的M尺寸。你不可能买到更大的尺寸。而在中国，无论多老的 人每天都在努力做的是控制他们的体重。这导致大多数人有体重焦虑，因为在中国的主流 审美观是以瘦为美。然而，在美国，根本就没有这种焦虑。
在国外学习了大约8个月后，现在我意识到，要深入了解一种文化，你需要沉浸在这种文化中。