I’m from the islands, and I moved to America about several years ago. It’s been an interesting transition, integrating into the culture. Some of the changes have been pleasant and inviting, however there are some things that have been quite challenging to get used to, but one thing that has been a culture shock is the amount of air conditioning most people use here. On my island, air conditioning is a scarce thing that you may come across. The weather there is so perfectly balanced that air conditioning isn’t needed throughout the entire year. Some commercial companies would have air conditioners, like restaurants, but they don’t set the temperature too low. In America, it seems like pretty much everyone is obsessed with the chilly air conditioner, so when I bought my first lake house here, I met with a local air conditioner technician to go over options for my new home. Especially being that it was in a southern state, he was shocked when I said I only wanted one window AC unit. He talked me into getting a multi-split air conditioner. Honestly, I rarely use most of the units because I believe that just one of them does the trick, cooling down the house to my liking. Whenever I visit a friend’s house, they turn the control unit up a little bit just before I get there. I don’t like chilly air conditioning because it feels synthetic. Life without blasting chilly air is honestly something I miss about the island.