In Taiwan, walking from the parking lot into a mall usually just takes an elevator ride or a short stroll. It's rare to walk a long distance. However, in the U.S., no matter where you go, finding a parking space alone takes a lot of time, and after parking, you still have to walk a long way to reach your destination.

When we walked to the movie ticket counter, I noticed the movie listings were displayed on an electronic board with a black background and red letters, which was a huge contrast to the colorful boards in Taiwanese theaters. If I hadn't checked the movie info beforehand at home, just reading the titles would have left me clueless about which movie to choose.

Before entering the theater, you could buy popcorn and drinks at the entrance — everything was self-service, where you help yourself first and pay afterward.

We picked the smallest size of popcorn, but even with four people, we couldn't finish it. It's hard to imagine how long it would take to finish the largest size!

After buying movie tickets and snacks, we were ready to enter the theater! What surprised me was that the movie tickets didn’t have assigned seat numbers — seating was open, and everyone could freely choose their preferred spot.

This was my first experience watching a movie without subtitles. Maybe because I grew up watching Taiwanese TV with subtitles, I've become heavily reliant on visual cues, always reading the subtitles and missing out on the visual details in the movie.

Another memorable experience was during emotional scenes, when the American audience around me would collectively go 'Awww~'. It gave me quite a shock! Not just kids, but even elderly grandparents with white hair would naturally express their emotions this way.

When watching American cartoons growing up, I often heard 'Awww~' sounds during touching scenes and thought it was just a sound effect for the show. It turns out, it's actually a genuine emotional reaction in real life.