When you ask what America is like, I figure that you're not asking about geography. For all the diversity rightfully commented on in the previous answers, I find a lot of common qualities in most Americans, as people. I think most Americans, like people in other countries, don't want the government in their face, but expect certain safeguards in the culture to fall back on. Most Americans don't hyperventilate about politics (Mudcat is very unrepresentative of most Americans.) In an average week, I'm not likely to talk about politics more than twenty or thirty minutes, and 90% of the time, I'm the one who starts the conversation. Americans don't talk nearly as much about religion as it might seem (although there probably should be a lot more conversation about how religion is being used in a grab for power and wealth.)

If you sat down and had a beer with most Americans, you'd probably find a lot more similarities with people where you live than differences. Most folks want a decent job that pays well, a boss who isn't a pain in the ass, enough security so that they can sleep nights, and a decent place to live. Amenities would include a full refrigerator, gas in the car, a back yard to barbeque hamburgers over a grill in the summer, and a fool-proof cure for crabgrass.

Now, as has been pointed out, you can find Americans that don't fit a single one of these descriptions, and they too are a part of what America is.

The one thing you can probably count on, is being surprised at how often people don't fit their stereotypes. For example, I know a lot of black folks who LOVE Kenny Rodgers and Barry Manilow (and the Grand Ole' Opry.) I've known a lot of Italian Americans who love country music and cowboy movies.

People usually aren't as advertised. The media is made to exagerate differences, not similarities.

Jerry