This is my new friend, Tim, who’s from Germany. He had his first trip (a business one) to the US a month ago. He went to Kansas. He said he loved how friendly the people are, and he took in a Wichita State basketball game, which he said is incredible to see 10,000 people in an arena going as crazy as they were.

But here’s the funny part of his story:

The first night he was there, he was rousted from his hotel bed at 2:00 am because of a tornado siren alert. He spent the next hour in a church’s storm cellar, but never saw a twister.

The next night, he was awoken by an earthquake…in KANSAS!!! The next day, his locally-based associates calmly told him it’s because of fracking. Yes, fracking.

Welcome to your first impressions of the US, Tim!