Hi European here.
I always heard America is pretty competitive and that the people are very direct/speak their mind.
I’m quite the sensitive person, so I was wondering if it could be hard for me if I would ever go to America and if I needed to become more “tough”.
And would someone like me even be welcomed or would I be rejected?
It is so variable.
It is generally true that folks on this side of the pond are more direct and blunt than folks that I’ve met from Europe, or even from our lovely neighbors to the north. But I wouldn’t say it’s aggressively so. It’s also the case that it’s a matter of degrees.
I’m from the southern US, and we tend to be way less blunt, and more wordy than many other areas. Like, the New Yorkers I’ve known will just up and say something, in one sentence, and it’s up to you to like it or lump it. A southerner is likely to edge around a subject a little more, and feel you out before deciding how to say something, and then say it with relatively careful wording.
I’m not even talking about harsh things, I’m talking about something like asking if you like hamburgers.
It isn’t perfect, but we tend to be nice to visitors. Not everyone, and not as much as we should, but the places I’ve lived, or visited long enough over time to get to know people, you’re more likely to run into people being curious and helpful as a tourist, or even immigrant, than they would be to someone from the next town over.
So, I don’t think you’d have to “toughen up” to visit or live here.
The caveat to all of that is that there are assholes here. There are everywhere, but we’re a big country, so even a 1% asshole group is a lot of people.