Start of the Academic Year
America starts the academic school year earlier than most other countries. It is not uncommon for Americans to go back to school in August, not September like usual. Other countries will wait for summer to be over before school begins to start, but this is not the case in the states.
Schools in the southern part of the hemisphere will typically start the academic year in January or February. Not only do Americans like to spend more hours of their day at school than normal, they go back to school earlier than most! Sometimes as early as August. This is very strange to non-Americans.