Every residence has a mailbox, where you receive mail daily except Sunday. If you want to send mail, put a stamp on it. It costs a little less than fifty cents, but no longer has a monetary value; if the price to send mail goes up, the old stamp you bought is still good. Many mailboxes have a red metal flag that you tip up to tell the postal carrier you have outgoing mail in the box.
Most people have mobile phones, and I think this works pretty much the same in Europe. Dial 1 before a long-distance number, which has ten more digits, written like
1-222-333-4444. The 222 is the area code. If you are dialing a number in the same area code as yourself, you can dial just the last seven digits.
There are many different options. Most people have cable or satellite for TV. Some people receive TV on an antenna, which is free. There are about five or so channels available that way. With the cheapest cable, about say 20. With more expensive plans, you can get more and more channels, up to hundreds. Some people are discontinuing their TV service, and receive programming over the Internet. These services usually have a monthly charge.
Radio is still popular by antenna, especially in cars, but satellite is also available in cars. Internet streaming music is increasingly popular.
Pretty much everywhere, children will be in school from age 5 to 18, called kindergarten and 1st through 12th grades. Schools are usually divided into elementary, middle or junior high, and high schools. The exact grades in each vary by region. The last year of elementary school is either 5th or 6th grade, and the first year of high school is 9th or 10th grade. Some children start even earlier. Free public school is available for all children, but some parents pay to send their children to private schools instead, which are sometimes better quality.
In addition to academics, all levels provide other activities, but these are especially important in high school: team and individual sports, arts, marching band (performs at sporting events), orchestra, plays or musicals, cheerleading. Most high schools will have at least an American football (boys) and a basketball (one for boys and one for girls) team, and might have other teams such as baseball, soccer, lacrosse, water polo ... whatever's popular.
College is four years for most people and leads to a bachelor's degree. Some people don't attend college, and some attend two-year technical or community colleges that grant associates' degrees after two years. Other students at those colleges transfer to four-year degree institutions. After a bachelor's degree, some students continue for a master's degree or Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy, but available in most subjects, not just philosophy). That's the highest degree in most subjects. Some subjects have their own highest degree, like MD for medicine, JD for law, DDS and DVM for dentistry and veterinary medicine. Those professions require the advanced degree.
Some colleges are operated by state governments, others are private. State colleges are cheaper, but still not free. The federal government provides loans to pay for college. Many people have difficulty paying off these loans, because some college programs do not necessarily lead to high-paying careers. Most students move out of their parents home and sometimes move many miles away for college.
The most popular extracurricular activity in college is drinking. It's technically illegal for most college-aged kids, but enforcement is lax. Team sports are also popular.
This is not provided by the government, but most people have insurance to cover unexpected expenses. Insurance is usually provided through your employer.
Most people have cars, even one per person in a family. Cars are used for almost all travel, from going to work up to vacations hundreds of miles away. Only when traveling a distance that would take up to a day or more do most people choose to fly. Trains are almost never used; long-distance trains are as expensive as planes. Only in large urban areas do people use trains for their daily commute. Some of these are underground "subway" trains. Buses are also used in cities. A few people in cities do not own cars by choice.
Most food shopping is done in supermarkets, a.k.a. grocery stores. These sell meat, fish, cheese, milk, fruit, vegetables, frozen foods, bread, packaged snacks and deserts, soda, beer, wine, juice: just about any food or drink. Most have a bakery, where they bake fresh bread, cakes, cookies, etc., and a deli where they will slice meats and cheeses to your desired quantity. Many supermarkets also have products usually sold in a "drug store", such as personal hygiene products, over-the-counter drugs, and even a pharmacy.
Mini-marts, a.k.a. convenience stores, are smaller versions of the same, with less selection and more emphasis on packaged foods. They are so called because they may be more convenient to reach than your nearest supermarket. Convenience stores are sometimes combined with gas stations and/or liquor stores, except in states where liquor must be sold in a special state-licensed store.
Malls are large indoor shopping complexes with multiple stores in the same building. The kind of stores in a mall usually sell durable goods, like clothes, electronics, and jewelry. There also are often fast-food restaurants for shoppers spending a long day shopping there, and needing a meal. Customers usually drive cars to the mall, and park in a large parking lot that surrounds it. A shopping center inverts this. The stores surround the parking lot, and are entered from the outside. This form of shopping is more convenient if you are only shopping at one store.
In cities, there are stores lining streets just like in Europe, which many people travel to on foot.
Pretty ordinary. For most people, their interaction with law enforcement is getting pulled over for speeding or coming back to their parked car to find a ticket for parking improperly.
Small roads in cities and towns intersect at stop signs, larger roads may have multiple lanes in each direction and stop lights, interstate highways have on and off ramps and traffic never stops, except when there's a lot of it. Then it stops a lot. Often happens in cities.
Three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast is the most different of the three; most people wouldn't eat what they eat for breakfast at lunch or dinner time. There is a lot of variety in what people eat for breakfast: cereal with milk, baked goods, eggs and egg dishes. Orange juice and coffee are popular morning drinks. Lunch is often a sandwich. Dinner is varied, usually including meat, and often Americans eat international cuisine for dinner and even lunch.
Most Americans dress informally, even casually, even at work. Only a few jobs still expect a suit and tie.
Americans don't really think about this on a day-to-day basis. It just works. If you feel cold or hot, you adjust the thermostat. In some parts of the country most houses aren't equipped with air conditioning, since it's rarely needed. Most have central heating and/or air, so you don't see the equipment. It might be gas or electrical. Cooking is also gas or electrical.
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