Hungarian influencer Fiona Bones tells us what it is like living in the U.S.

Everyone has heard about the American Dream, and many have fantasised about living it. But is it really the way one would imagine? The way it is portrayed in movies? Fiona Bones, a Hungarian girl who moved to the States just before starting eighth grade, tells her story in her newest YouTube video.

Fiona starts the video by apologising to her non-Hungarian-speaking audience in English, before switching to Hungarian, as she has been spammed with comments begging her to make a video in just Hungarian.

She has made videos about Hungary before, introducing her friend, Gabby, to Hungarian culture, food and language. But this time, she finally tells the story about just how she ended up in the USA in her latest video.

Her mother won a green card to the States when Fiona was in 7th grade, and within a few months, they packed their lives up into six suitcases and flew across the globe to start anew.

She explains the difference in the school systems since she had to finish school there. She says the grades are different, the US not only having an elementary school and high school, but also a middle school – which is 6th to 8th grade. In the States, pupils also have the same class at the same time every day, while in Hungary the schedules are different each day of the week. American students also go from class to class, while here, the teacher comes to the class’s room.

She adds that she feels like it is way easier to fit in if one moves there as a child than as an adult because school makes an easy place to make new friends.

Even though Fiona started her video by saying that the US is nothing like you see in the movies, she does admit that kids do take the yellow buses to school.

She goes on to talk about traffic and public transportation. While she lived in Budapest, she never would have thought that she would ever need to drive, but she says that you cannot go anywhere without a car in the States because everything is far apart. She lives in California and says there are no trams or subways, there are only buses, but they only go once an hour.

In the USA, one can get their driver’s license at 16-years-old. They get their permit at 15 and a half, learn to drive for half a year, then have to pass two tests. Fiona says they need to know way less than in Hungary, and that there are so much fewer traffic signs stateside.

Fiona goes on to talk about money. She says that despite the wages and salaries being higher, so is the cost of living. A one-bedroom apartment costs about $1400 (420,000 HUF) a month, and then there is insurance to pay and groceries to have, and maybe even go out sometimes.

Her next topic is – somewhat surprisingly – coupons. Fiona mentions something she has not liked about the US ever since she moved there: tax is not included in the prices in shops, restaurants, etcetera. So if she goes to McDonald’s, and buy a $1 hamburger, she actually has to pay $1.25 because of the added tax. She says that there are a lot of poor people there, and so many use coupons when shopping – there are even reality TV shows about the extremes some coupon users will go to. She demonstrates a few coupon books she has at hand and exchanges the prices from dollars to forints, so Hungarian viewers can better understand.