US vs UK terminolgy

Hi I am a UK guy.. I've been seeing a US girl for some few months now.  This is gonna sound silly but when over here on her first visit, she completely flipped out at the roads, the food, the sockets, the -whatever, you name it.  Her experience of the UK was such a shock that I cannot get a grasp at all on how she views me - she's gone into shut down... 

She described me in the words to her mother as 'very sweet' (I was there when she did).

In the UK 'very sweet' usually means s/he's 'nice', it is not really a romantic term.  Am I overreacting?  Does it mean exactly the same in the US.. just 'nice'?

I call my husband "very sweet" all the time, and I'm madly in love with him.

That said, you can't base her entire opinion of you on one phrase. It would be hard to venture a guess when we didn't hear *how* she said it.  Perhaps too, she was being guarded when speaking to her mother.

I agree with FallGal.    When my parents asked me about my now-husband when we were first dating (before they'd met him), I used more nice words..... not so much romantic or love words. 

You probably know how she feels by how she is when you're together..... don't worry too much about one phrase. 

Thank you - I feel a little better!  She was pretty sincere when she said it - no hesitation or apparent politeness.  I won't take anything detrimental from it.   

This kind of sounds like my husband when he visited me for the first time in the US (in NC, in AUGUST, so 30-40C heat!). He didn't realise that we are forced to drive everywhere (7 miles from the closest town), how much land we have (5 acres), the sockets (in the bathrooms especially), how slow the broadband was, everything!

We joked about it and when he visited for the second time over Christmas that same year (and when we were married), it was better.

I had prepared myself with what to expect with moving to the UK as much as I could, but it was still a shock for most things.

'Very sweet' in my family means that you notice small things, do things for one another, make the other person feel very welcome, and that you're close to one another. So, it's a good thing. Unless she is extremely close to her mother, I wouldn't expect her to say anything more romantic in front of her. I know I wouldn't!

I told my mother I was "vaguely seeing someone" for two years, she only found out it was quite serious when I casually dropped in that he was moving in with me

My mother did not know my now-husband's name for two months.  Only that I was "seeing someone."  I finally told her his name.  She asked what he does for a living, I told her.  I asked if she had any other questions and she asked, "Is he the one?"  Seriously.  Third question. 

I am very close with my mother but sometimes there are pressures from family (whether real or imagined) to meet the right person and settle down.  After having taken a few guys home through-out my years, I preferred to enjoy a new relationship without anyone asking too many questions when I was still feeling it out.

If you feel your girlfriend is being distant, ask her about it.  For me, I started to put my guard up when I realized I was falling in love.  I was always one of those "I don't need a man to make me happy" kind of chicks and a few months in with my now-husband, I realized I was MUCH happier with him in my life and that I would not be happy if things ended.  Sounds weird, but this was a tough pill for me to swallow.  I felt in control before him.  After falling for him, I knew I was vulnerable to being hurt.  I'm thrilled I took the "risk" but it was tough to realize I was putting my heart in someone else's hands.

Oh yeah, I don't tell my parents anything unless it's really worth mentioning. My mother gets really attached and thinks every guy I date is going to be the one I marry. She was more upset about my last break up than I was! There was a guy I was casually seeing for 2 whole years and they never heard a thing about him other than things like 'Oh dad doesn't have to come down to help put in my air-conditioner anymore, my friend X did it for me.' 

So, basically, don't judge anything on what she says to her mother. You don't know what the dynamic is between them when it comes to this stuff! 

My now-husband lied to his parents when we started seeing each other. He thought it would be easier to say he was going to visit an ex-girlfriend than some random woman he met online! 

I'd take 'sweet' any day!

she completely flipped out at the roads, the food, the sockets, the -whatever, you name it. 

When you say she 'completely flipped out'... what do you mean?
Sounds a bit extreme!

- she's gone into shut down... 

What do you mean? 

Sorry to be the pessimist, but if she 'completely flipped out'  and then has 'shut down' maybe she really didn't like it here and doesn't want to pursue a relationship if she knows she'd not be open to moving (unless you are open to moving there?).

All things considered it take a really open mind to move countries.... Yea, houses are smaller, no sockets in the bathroom, roads are narrow, cars are small, petrol is expensive, taxes are high, people walk... In the end thats why you want a partner to visit first because it is different.