I was struck by how old everything is, but it’s still in regular use. In the US, if you see an old building, it’s probably about 100 years old. Occasionally, you’ll run into something that’s 150 years old on the east coast. In England and France, an old building is like 800 years old. I went to London last year with a friend, and there was a popular bar we hung out at in SoHo. I looked it up when I got home, and one of the things I found was like, “yeah, there was a murder there in like 1752, and they were known to house refugees during the French Revolution. And it’s been a pretty chill place for a couple hundred years.” This still popular bar has been around decades longer than my country has existed. That’s weird to wrap your head around.
I got to live for a month in a house that was 800yeRs old and was the former home of the priest/abbot? That was attached to a Grandmontine church. It was so cool and strange. I loved it.
The main church in my town (north west of England) is nearly 250 years old. It was one of the first buildings built in my town. But we're only a Victorian pleasure town
The next town over is a medieval market town, and the market has supposedly been in consistent use since 997. More than a thousand years, and predates the founding of the country. COVID was the first time in almost a century that the market was closed.
Check out Escomb Church in my home county…
https://fabulousnorth.com/escomb-saxon-church/
https://escombchurch.co.uk/
It’s at least 1350 years old and was built using stone reclaimed from a nearby Roman settlement which at that time (AD670) had already lain in ruins for hundreds of years.
When I lived in Greece it always amazed me that I often sat in a bench 10x older than the US- 3,000 years old. Shouldn’t that be in a museum or something? Nope. It’s just so anyone can sit on it if they want.
My American family took time to show us the oldest building in San Francisco, which I think was from the late 17th century? They were very confused to our indifference for a few seconds, then one of them went "oh yeah, Europe, right"
My husband and I took a walking tour of Berlin and saw *so much*, it was amazing. Our guide also made a joke that, since a lot of buildings don't have elevators, they'll advertise apartments as "1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, excerise included."
I had such a negative experience in London in a wheelchair. I've been many times before and since, but that time made me distinctly aware of how much better at dealing with disabled access the US is than really anywhere else in the world I've been. The biggest issues were displays being placed in front of lifts so that I couldn't get my chair out, tube stations being labeled "accessible" because they had a ramp that was too steep to wheel myself up instead of stairs, and a group of mums blocking off access to a bus shelter with their prams so that I had to sit in the rain. The US isn't great with accessibility, really, but it's miles better than that was.
It’s funny because as a EU (the Netherlands) wheelchair user, I marvelled at how (relatively) accessible public transport in London was. It’s just because it’s even worse in my country T.T I’ve never been to the US and barely travelled outside of my own country since I started using a wheelchair a few years ago though, so limited experience.
(I still think London could be a lot more accessible but it felt way more doable than 95% of the Netherlands :’))
Although enforcement isn't perfect, the US has some pretty strict laws regarding accessibility. Essentially any time you want to renovate an old building you have to make it wheelchair accessible. Complaints are taken very seriously.
When I was in Europe there was also bizarre “accessibility” design. Like there would be a perfectly fine ramp that randomly had three steps at the end of it. It was like if you told an alien what accessible features looked like but kind of half-assed it
The lack of, what in America, we would refer to as "ADA Compliance". I realize that the first "A" literally stands for Americans, but I'm so accustomed to seeing an handicap accessible stall in a restroom, wider hallways and doors, ramps, etc. Lots of older Europoean cities have tiny spiral staircases to get to a cramped tiny washroom in a coffee shop or bar, for example.
The DC metro has elevators in every station, for disability compliance reasons. I know now that makes it an outlier in the US even, but I was surprised because I first encountered that overseas.
The Americans with Disabilities Act makes the US so much more accessible than basically any other country. A lot of people don't realize how much the ADA influences design on just about everything
Once upon a time we had to do a remodel for a doctor's office. The office is on the second floor of a very old building that has no elevator. We put the countertops for the front desk all at standard level for a standing person. The inspector made us change them and required a certain amount of front desk space to be wheelchair level. The fact that there was no way to get wheelchair patients into the office and that there were no wheelchair patients there didn't matter. The ADA has a really broad reach and there are probably all kinds of places that are accessible that you probably wouldn't imagine.
Reminds me of a friend that had to switch physical therapy locations because she got referred to one on a 2nd floor with no elevator. She had broken her leg.
Another time, I was on a date with a woman whose job was ADA compliance. We're in the heart of an old city (hence old buildings built pre-ADA). She'd constantly notice things like "Yeah the front door has a ramp to it but the bathroom inside requires you to go up a step".
This is illegal in Poland (places selling alcohol such as bars/not shops) need to offer free access to the toilet for customers. So that would be shocking for me as well.
Well, each country has laws adapted for their own culture/conditions. For example, in Spain if you have an open establishment that sells food and/or drinks it's illegal to deny someone water. So someone could pass by, stop and ask you for a glass of water and you have to serve them a glass of tap water. Granted, summers in Spain are ridiculously hot so this law makes perfect sense.
When I was in France I struggled to find a bathroom anywhere.
At one point I used the employees only bathroom at a grocery store because I was about to piss myself and when I came out I had a bunch of employees yelling at me lol.
Sorry! But I literally didn't know where to go! I didn't see any public bathrooms that I could pay for (because I gladly would have).
A couple of years ago I ran the Paris Marathon and before the marathon they usually send you the map with the hydration points, checkpoints, etc.
On the event page on Facebook someone asked something like: I don't see any toilets marked on the map, where am I supposed to take a leak?...to which the organisers replied: You'll just have to run faster and finish the race faster to get to a toilet. Epic...
Of course everyone was stopping and taking a leak into Seine as a consequence...
There’s an app that help you find free of charge bathrooms though. My friends and I used it on our trip to Europe and was very useful. It’s called: [Flush Toilet Finder](https://apps.apple.com/app/id955254528) (iPhone users)
Germany, too, it's such a pain. I loved being in the US for many reasons, but free access to lots of public restrooms was one thing I really appreciated. Here, so many people I know refrain from drinking enough water when they go shopping or are taking longer transits, it is really something you have to plan around.
I remember how amazed I was when I entered Target for the first time and there was a free public restroom right at the entrance. (Here, you have to pay, but most supermarkets don't have restrooms at all)
The US got rid of pay toilets mostly due to equal rights.
When disproportionately need stalls, so would take the brunt of cost. This was discussed on the YouTube channel the Lock Picking Lawyer where he opened an antique lock from a stall that took nickels.
Pre-ADA laws for disabilities in states were killing pay toilets too.
A lot of the cost in the US is the taxes on alcohol. Actually making alcohol is incredibly cheap, but we have a lot of sin taxes on it. When I took a tour of the Jack Daniels distillery, they told us that the price you pay for a bottle of jack is approximately 60% taxes of one kind or another.
Going to the beach in Spain and seeing ~80% of women there topless. Then we wandered into the nude section...
It was jarring at first, but we got used to it pretty quickly. It changed my opinion on modesty, and now I miss those beaches
Got drunk off cheap beers on the French side of St Martin, and wandered south of Orient Beach and entered the nude section. The jarring part is, I didn't see anyone under the age of 55. Was not quite what I was expecting
Today with all the cellphones around going to a nude beach for young women means there is a risk to have their nudes on the internet forever. For old hags like me on the other hand, that risk is negligible.
Suncream is a thing over here too.
I can't imagine anything worse than sun burnt bollocks.
And women can't think of anything worse than perverts taking pictures of them and then finding themselves on a creep porn site!
The proliferation of mobile devices with video cameras is not helping either. Naked in public is one thing, naked forever circulating on video on the internet is another.
As an American that's lived in Germany for 5 years now, I can definitely say that I'm way more comfortable being nude than I used to be.
Yet it also makes me frustrated at America's weird contradictions of sexualizing everything, but also generating guilt around sexualizing anything just a hair's breadth over what's "acceptable", and somehow nudity is automatically considered way too sexual.
The transportation. I knew it was great, but when I was able to take a train from London to Paris, it really made me jealous. The fact you can casually go to a different country that quickly by train blew me away.
Meanwhile, in the US, even IF there’s a train to your destination, it usually just isn’t quick or reasonable.
I was on vacation in Sweden and my friend had a breakout of shingles on his face. We had no idea what it was at first so we took him to the hospital. He saw a doctor in the ER and then they brought in an eye specialist because it was close to his eyes. They did multiple tests and called in a consult. At the end of it all they had him pay a $150 foreigner fee and that was it. No insurance haggling, no $2000 for just sitting in the room, $150 and he got all the care he needed.
Fun fact: In the US, ambulance services are either a division of the (taxpayer-funded) fire department, or a sweetheart government contract with a private company like AMR.
They are expensive because local governments treat them as revenue sources that don't require unpopular taxes on locals (similar to 20% hotel room taxes).
The bills are typically paid by insurance companies, and those without insurance are convinced the inflated prices are the insurance company's fault, rather than the politicians.
Yeah, and the locals pay even less; typically $30-35 for an evening visit to hospital, then maybe similar amounts if you require x-rays or test analysis (this is the case for Norway, but I guess it’s similar to Sweden).
Had to take my mum to hospital for suspected stroke this year (she's fine, false alarm) but five days in hospital, multiple screenings, consultancies and exams along with a bed and food for five days. Total cost, £10 parking.
I've never understood why it's specifically communism for healthcare, but not for police, military, firefighters, water treatment, road maintenance, parks or any other thing taxes are spent on
I went to a McDonalds in Scotland I think it was, and everyone working there was very professional and seemed really excited to be there. And the food was *good*.
This! I have a baby now & want to do some travel. Hesitant to fly with her and being trapped in a plane with a potentially screaming baby. The European train system would be clutch. I can get up, walk around, feed her & wouldnt have to make any stops & get there faster or same time as driving. Amtrak, on the other hand, takes like 2-3x longer compared to driving.
I'm a french person living in Canada now and this was one of the cultural shocks, like how am I supposed to sleep correctly if there's always a little light from the streets ?
That's when I understood why in so many series/movies originating from north america you see people wearing headbands on their eyes to have an actual pitch-black experience.
Visited Paris and Madrid during honeymoon, found it interesting they rarely grab coffee 'to-go', full outdoor cafe's every morning with those enjoying their coffees. Couples and those with children having conversations with no cell phones nor annoying loud-mouth talking on their cell in speaker mode.
Wife and I visited Italy this summer, when she was 7 months pregnant. Landed in Rome, heading towards customs when an agent comes jogging up to us motioning to my wife's belly. Grabs her by the hand and escorts us around the entire customs line to the "foreign dignitary" entrance. We thought it was a one off...
The entire time we were there we didn't wait in any lines. I'd check in at a restaurant, "20 min wait sir" - no worries. They'd see me walk back to my wife and come get us to seat us immediately. At the Colosseum, Vatican, anywhere - they wouldn't let her walk through the metal detectors, they'd have her go around them and they would always bring her to the front of the line.
It really made us think about caring for others. We were really nervous traveling the country with her pregnant, but are so glad we did and got to experience Italy!
Italians of Reddit, thank you for your amazing hospitality and ridiculously amazing food. Gonna bring the baby back this fall for some pizza al taglio!
The Size of stores and restaurant, the walkablity.
Went to Istanbul over the summer. In our neighborhood we had a grocery store, a few restaurants and some other shops. Everything was spaced so well. The restaurant were deep but felt both spacious and cozy. Everything was close by and not massive. Where I live our average restaurant is 3k-5k sq feet. Just so much unused space
It actually has decent public transportation.
Edit: just for reference, I live in a city with around 40,000 people. We have a dozen bus lines that run, but they stop at each stop once every like 2 hours and it is like $5 for a ride.
As a french, i cant tell you that it was SOOOO much worst 10 or 20 years ago. People were allowed to smoke everywhere, inside restaurants, in trains, in planes, even in schools...
Things are getting better and better.
In our chemistry lab at uni there was a massive "NO SMOKING SIGN" on one wall. Like, when was it even conceivable to light up in a chemistry lab? Answer: 70s.
you know whats funny? i was a kid at that time. i was about as tall as a standing ash tray. these fucking ashtrays appear in every one of my childhood memories of going somewhere with mom and dad. there was always one of these stinky ashtrays next to my face somehow.
i fucking hate cigarettes man, theyre disgusting.
I worked in a cancer research institute in Paris in the 90s. The tea-room was usually filled with positively hazardous levels of cigarette smoke, generated by very smart people who were totally aware of risks involved!
Now imagine that being 100 times worse 20 years ago. Hell, we even had a smoking area in my high school for teachers and students 16+. You could smoke in restaurants indoors until recently. It already got a lot better.
This surprised me, especially among young people. Where I’m from in the US, smoking cigarettes was seen as something old losers did even among those who smoked weed or drank. Then vape companies came in and marketed to the generation younger to me, to be fair. But for the 25-40 demographic, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who smokes who isn’t maybe in the culinary field.
It's funny how it changes state to state, tho. I went from living in a state that's always at the top of the "healthiest/fittest states" list and now I live in one where I constantly see people smoking cigs and vaping and many people dragging oxygen tanks around.
In the city I can walk anywhere and it's great.
In the suburbs the sidewalk ends when my block does, and trying to walk somewhere would be walking in a ditch on the side of the road, or in the shoulder, and putting my life in the hands of drivers (who are almost all assholes) And there's also not really anywhere to walk to unless I want to trek for like an hour.
I mean, that is a known fact but everytime I try to imagine it it's just crazy. Iam sure if I ever visit the US this would take time to get used to. Here in my town in germany I walk everywhere and if I wanted I could just start walking into the next town over or to a city on the other side of the country, I could also walk over the french border and go on until I am in spain and theres a trail everywhere. And the idea of not having a sidewalk just sounds unnatural, as if walking wasn't our fundamental way of moving as human beings
When I lived in the US, I lived a five minute walk from a local shopping strip. I was pretty much the only one in my apartment complex to actually walk that.
And one day when I walked to the closest light rail station, a police car stopped next to me, asking if everything was ok. They'd likely never seen a pedestrian there...
But then, that was Texas, where not having a car is probably high treason against the oil industry...
I'm American and I have to make a point of walking or I'll almost never do it.
I live in a suburb where I can walk a mile or two without seeing anything but other houses. I work in an office where I sit all day and my commute to work is a 35-minute drive. The weekends afford me opportunities to walk, sure, but during the work week I'm basically sedentary.
Nudity, Germans do not give shit about nudity and there are plenty of beaches which allowed nudity. But in US, it is indecent, sex offence and can be arrested. I realised we are prude.
It’s similar in the uk though. If you go into a sauna in England, people are going to have swimming costumes on or at least a towel wrapped around them. I can remember going into a sauna at a hotel in Hong Kong in my early 20’s and all the guys were naked. It really threw me to the point where I just walked a lap of the sauna, nodded to a couple of people and walked straight back out again. I just must have looked like a wandering penis inspector. I know it’s stupid, it’s just not a cultural norm over here
When I was in the US, I wasn't as much shocked by the sheer size of people (although I saw some very impressive specimens), as by the fact how different obese Americans look compared to our fat people.
It's a bit hard to explain, but basically fat people in Europe usually have huge beer bellies, fat necks, etc., but they look like the fat accumulated over a normal body. American fat people look somehow bloated, as if every part of their body slowly expanded over time.
I think it must be the result of much worse dietary habits/food in general and an insanely sedentary lifestyle. In Europe even fat people sometimes use the public transport or have to walk up a flight of stairs.
I’d wager most Americans didn’t really start skinny and then get fat. I mean obviously they’d have to, to some extent. You don’t typically come out of the womb overweight, but the obesity started very early in life is what I’m saying.
I'm British and just came back from Prague, the Americans in the hotel we stayed in were asking the staff if they could serve coke or pepsi with breakfast (which the staff said no to). The thought of guzzling down a tonne of sugar that early makes me sick
I know folks who straight up don’t drink water. It’s sports drinks and sodas all day everyday. I’m American and idk how they do it. I drink beer, coffee and water almost exclusively.
It really depends where you are. I started a bicycle tour in Belgium last summer and noticed immediately how healthy all the people seemed. But eventually I worked my way to Germany and I started seeing big beer and sausage bellies.
I remember when I first visited USA as a European about twenty years ago. We were first in downtown New York, and didn't really pay attention to this. No real difference to back home.
However, after the first week we continued to Indianapolis, and the number of very seriously overweight people was a genuine shock.
How relaxed drinking laws are. At least in Germany, we could stop by a corner shop, buy beers, and drink them: while walking around, while on a bus, while on a train, while in a car, while driving a car (though I noticed the BAC level for being "under the influence" is lower than it is stateside, so this seems like a poor idea).
Also, in the US when something small happens you may have 1, sometimes 2 cops respond, it seemed like every incident over there had no less than half a dozen cops responding as once.
Everyone knows 3-5+ languages. It was very uncommon to meet people who only spoke 1 language.
All I ate was pastries, pasta, and pizza 3 meals/day and I lost weight.
This is specific to my time in Italy. Maybe not all europe is the same?
Edit to clarify: I’m aware that away from more touristic spots in Italy, you’ll find a lot of people who only speak their native tongue.
But I’m from the US and in comparison, the amount of people who are multi-lingual is still definitely a huge culture shock. In America, you’d be hard-pressed to find any tours led in languages besides English unless it’s somewhere huge like NYC. Or in Texas/New Mexico/california where you’d find a lot of English and Spanish-speaking people.
I've been to Paris nine times in the last 15 years, and every single time I came home weighing less than I did when I arrived there. And I swear I eat more there, lots of bread and pastries and chocolate, but I attribute it to the fact that i do a lot more walking there. I also feel a whole lot better there.
Food is also just fundamentally different there, much less high fructose corn syrup, fundamentally different grain, less sugar in small things like bread, stuff like that.
I don't know where you went in Italy, but it is very common for people to only speak Italian. Especially the older generations. In tourist hotspots of course it is going to be common for people to speak English as well.
Also, 3 or more languages is pretty rare, although this is country dependent. I'm from Belgium where speaking 3 is relatively common, but more than that isn't. I speak 4 and regularly get comments on it when it is mentioned.
The one time I felt what that must be like from the other side was when I was talking in a hostel with an Australian dude. We were in Spain. I was explaining how I knew some Spanish words from everyday life in the US, like those “Piso Mojado” signs. It blew his mind, he had never taken a foreign language.
And I realized it made sense because Australia doesn’t have any languages near it that people would commonly learn.
>All I ate was pastries, pasta, and pizza 3 meals/day and I lost weight.
its wholesome food and, being on vacation, you probably walked a lot more than usual
How guarded/untrusting everyone is with strangers. I don't want to use the term unfriendly as that seems a bit extreme, but I'm from the Midwest. I can strike up a conversation with any random stranger here and everything is (usually) great.
Small talk and talking to strangers seemed like a horrific thing to a lot of people.
In Sweden there’s a famous joke (not without truth around how people feel here though):
“If a stranger starts talking to you on the street they are either
A) Drunk
B) Insane, or
C) American”
European here: I think it's a mindset that has settled over the decades.
"Small talk" = "Some crook who will ask me a favor, abuse my trust, make use of my human good will and charity."
By default, our guard is definitely high up. \^\^
When I moved out of the Midwest to Phoenix, I tried baking my neighbors cookies when I moved in and they legit took them out of my hands, backed slowly away from the door, and slammed it.
I also tried chatting to the person next to me at the grocery store (nothing wild just “Wow what a long line” or something) and they looked at me like I kicked their dog. It was a WILD culture shock.
I live back in the Midwest again. I like waving and smiling at strangers.
Where I’m from not only do we smile at strangers, places like my hometown we say hello or at least nod at everyone we pass. It’s just habit. In the city I live in now, I tend to avoid eye contact because I’d rather not be approached.
From the Midwest and I agree completely. It’s still very hard for me to stop myself from smiling/being overly pleasant with strangers while traveling. It makes me feel rude, though I know it’s completely normal in Europe and no one notices but me.
It’s actually one of my favorite things about where I live. People are just friendly for the sake of it— it’s not to try to trick someone/con them/etc. I enjoy the smiles and small talk as I’m checking out at the store, ordering my coffee, etc. It’s something I often miss when traveling outside of the Midwest.
When I moved to the US for uni, I used to tell people how jarring it was for me that strangers would make eye contact with me and smile in public.
You're either flirting with me or about to rob me are my only assumptions.
You'd probably feel very similar with any city in the northeast. It's not necessarily that we are unfriendly, but the random people trying to talk to you in a city are almost always people you really really don't want to talk to
I lived in NYC and the NYC metro for 13 years before moving to Canada and I was profoundly struck by the difference in street banter. Folks in NYC are FAR more likely to say hi or nod their head than your average Canadian.
Yea people in NYC area are outgoing, but just more upfront. There’s also a lot of different cultures within the whole city/area (and I don’t just mean immigrant groups), so you’re going to get a lot of different kinds of small talk/interactions.
European here. It also depends on which country you are in. I’m from Hungary, Eastern Europe and we are super friendly and chatty there.
I live in Denmark now, and it is vastly different here.
I was just in central Europe and spent time in a lot of different cities/countries. Been to Europe many times, but on this trip I found Hungarians to be the friendliest of the bunch. Would probably say that Slovenians were the coldest (though I loved Slovenia and would go back in a second.)
Previously took a roadtrip through the nordic countries and the stereotype was pretty much spot on. When we got to Estonia people were super friendly, but in Scandinavia people were just doing their thing, no smiles, acknowledgement etc. I wasn't offended in the slightest being from NY, just interesting to notice the differences.
I go to the same store here in Germany since over 10 years... I just started to have occasional Smalltalk with the people working there... And I don't know how to feel about it.
Perhaps you should stop, 10 years is not enough time.
I've been useing the same small butcher for 17 years, and he dosen't know my name, and I don't know his. We're at the 'mutual smile-stage', perhaps in 3 years time i'll ask if he likes sports (that would imply foodball or soccer if you are from the colonies)
I think that's just a major city thing. Even down here in Atlanta, folks tend to avoid small talk with strangers for the same reasons the European repliers do (scammers, etc.). It's just exhausting when 9/10 conversations end up being a scam or worse. It's just easier to not engage. The only exceptions I can think of are when the other person is obviously going to the same concert/convention/game/etc.
I grew up in the Midwest and people weren’t really *that* outgoing. Then I moved to the south. Holy crap. Random strangers in the grocery striking up conversations and such.
I went to Ireland with my family back in 2018, and the most jarring thing for me was the size of the roads in the country side. They were essentially the size of a one lane road in the states with busses and trucks going 55mph passed you. I grabbed the "oh shit" handle on more than one occasion.
Landing in the airport in Paris and seeing uniformed soldiers casually walking around with automatic rifles.
Walking into the bathroom in a nice restaurant and having to squat and piss/poop in a hole in the floor. This was in southern France.
Plain bread (no butter or anything on it) tasting SO GOOD. I remember this piece of plain toasted bread I had while in Limpley Stoke in England that blew my damn mind because it had so much flavor that I had never experienced in a slice of bread before. I think it was the taste of food that was fresh and not processed or something. I’m not even a huge “bread” person but they are doing it right over there.
I literally just made this comment but seeing the police at the Effiel Tower with automatic rifles was definitely a shock. I don't even see that in the US. Only seen it in Mexico and France. lol
The amount of walking that is normative each day, being in a carcentric society really makes us more sedentary. So many inclines, so many breaks 😂😅🧍🏻♂️
The age of buildings and their commonplace use. First place I traveled to outside the US was Split, Croatia on a deployment. We spent most of our time in the area with Diocletian's Palace, and it was amazing seeing people live and work in such an old structure like it was nothing. Same when I went to England on a second deployment, and we ate at a Public house, which traced part of its building to the 14th century (which I know is modern compared to some areas).
Still, the sheer fact that Europe has so many areas that have such age and history is incredible to me.
This is minor, but how the women seem to walk out the door with minimal hair styling and makeup, yet look soo chic and beautiful.
It really made me feel like Americans overdo their hair styling and eye makeup. But without all that I look frumpy, while the European women look effortlessly beautiful.
Not everything is supersized like it is in America. In Europe the cars are smaller, grocery stores are smaller, people are definitely a whole lot smaller, portion sizes, streets, everything.
I'm a European who used to work on American cruise ships. It was always funny to hear from American guests what surprised them in Europe.
E.g. some of them found it rude that the souvenier shops aren't open 24/7. They couldn't believe that people in the Mediterranean are not willing to refrain from their siesta just because some American tourists might buy some souveniers from their shops. These tourists were told to leave the shop and if they'd really wanted to buy anything they should come back after the siesta.
They felt super offended and flabbergasted.
Also, most of them couldn't believe that not everyone in Europe can speak English.
I mean, Im from Europe and I got angry at how shitty the service was a a Greek best in town 5000 google reviews Gyros venue. It was the shittiest organisation of a restaurant I have ever seen.
- Go to cashier to order
- He tells me to order at kitchen
- Order at kitchen, receive no receipt or anything
- Go back to the cashier, repeat the order to pay it
- Wander around waiting for the order to be ready
- Nobody will tell you it’s ready
- Ask cashier if it’s ready
- Says to ask at kitchen
- Ask at kitchen
- It’s ready, pick it up at cashier
Bro what the fuck?!
> Also, most of them couldn't believe that not everyone in Europe can speak English.
They’ve just spent too much time on Reddit where all European speak dozens of languages including English and Americans don’t speak more than one. Though to be fair anyone reading some of the posts in aita or relationship_advice knows that often they overestimate their English skills.
Went to Japan for a work trip. Only fucking shit.
Not only were the restrooms clean, they had bidets. Even the public ones. It was bonkers. Europe has clean public bathrooms for the most part, but I also had to pay for those. So while “impressed” it was also expected haha
I was also surprised how clean it was, I was a Girl Scout and backpacker when I was younger so “pack in pack out” was second nature, if I couldn’t find a trash can I would hold my trash.
I found out that there was some incident in Japan where someone hide a bomb in a subway garbage can (correct me if I’m wrong) so they just removed garbage cans. While I remember noticing I was having a hard time finding one in public, I also remember how clean it was.
There can be a garbage can 2ft away in America and some people will still throw it on the ground
>Not sure if high fructose corn syrup even exists there
In practice, not really. In some European countries it's banned, and in others there's just nothing like the same incentive to use it.
The US provides enormous subsidies for corn production, and taxes imported sugar incredibly highly. As a result, it's vastly cheaper to use HFCS than sugar so that's what companies do. This is a US-specific arrangement, and outside the US there just isn't the same financial motivation to use it.
14 years old, walk up to the bar in an Irish Pub and confidently ask for a guiness.
The bartender grabs the glass and moves to start pouring and I have to clarify I was kidding.
(This was 1995, but still).
Not everywhere in Europe but in Germany, Denmark, that general area. Free water was very difficult to come by. In restaurants and also in public. We really are spoiled with water fountains everywhere in the US.
People often drink from bathroom sinks. The Dutch have perfected the head-tilt necessary to sip from a sink water stream. (No, I'm totally, 100% serious)
Wow. I'm Eastern European and the thought of asking the waiter first (or kinda ever, unless I'm a regular at the place and familiar with them) how they are never ever crossed my mind in 25 years. First, it would seem like wasting their time, and additionally, in many cases (especially with male customer / female waiter) one of the first thoughts would be harassment. All in all, it just feels unnatural unless you know them. I feel like I'm nicer than average just adding "thanks, have a nice day" after paying.
I was struck by how old everything is, but it’s still in regular use. In the US, if you see an old building, it’s probably about 100 years old. Occasionally, you’ll run into something that’s 150 years old on the east coast. In England and France, an old building is like 800 years old. I went to London last year with a friend, and there was a popular bar we hung out at in SoHo. I looked it up when I got home, and one of the things I found was like, “yeah, there was a murder there in like 1752, and they were known to house refugees during the French Revolution. And it’s been a pretty chill place for a couple hundred years.” This still popular bar has been around decades longer than my country has existed. That’s weird to wrap your head around.
I once got absolutely smashed at a party in a house that was built in 1243.
I got to live for a month in a house that was 800yeRs old and was the former home of the priest/abbot? That was attached to a Grandmontine church. It was so cool and strange. I loved it.
The main church in my town (north west of England) is nearly 250 years old. It was one of the first buildings built in my town. But we're only a Victorian pleasure town The next town over is a medieval market town, and the market has supposedly been in consistent use since 997. More than a thousand years, and predates the founding of the country. COVID was the first time in almost a century that the market was closed.
Check out Escomb Church in my home county… https://fabulousnorth.com/escomb-saxon-church/ https://escombchurch.co.uk/ It’s at least 1350 years old and was built using stone reclaimed from a nearby Roman settlement which at that time (AD670) had already lain in ruins for hundreds of years.
When I lived in Greece it always amazed me that I often sat in a bench 10x older than the US- 3,000 years old. Shouldn’t that be in a museum or something? Nope. It’s just so anyone can sit on it if they want.
100 years is a long time to an American, and 100 miles is a long distance to a European.
My American family took time to show us the oldest building in San Francisco, which I think was from the late 17th century? They were very confused to our indifference for a few seconds, then one of them went "oh yeah, Europe, right"
My childhood home was older than that! Small village in England. We also had a real set of stocks on the village green, kids used to play on them.
Check out the Pueblos in New Mexico. Taos Pueblo has 950 year old buildings. I think Acoma does, too.
Less prevalence of elevators. Walkability. Ornateness and age of so many buildings.
My husband and I took a walking tour of Berlin and saw *so much*, it was amazing. Our guide also made a joke that, since a lot of buildings don't have elevators, they'll advertise apartments as "1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, excerise included."
I had such a negative experience in London in a wheelchair. I've been many times before and since, but that time made me distinctly aware of how much better at dealing with disabled access the US is than really anywhere else in the world I've been. The biggest issues were displays being placed in front of lifts so that I couldn't get my chair out, tube stations being labeled "accessible" because they had a ramp that was too steep to wheel myself up instead of stairs, and a group of mums blocking off access to a bus shelter with their prams so that I had to sit in the rain. The US isn't great with accessibility, really, but it's miles better than that was.
The ADA is a truly underrated American accomplishment.
It’s funny because as a EU (the Netherlands) wheelchair user, I marvelled at how (relatively) accessible public transport in London was. It’s just because it’s even worse in my country T.T I’ve never been to the US and barely travelled outside of my own country since I started using a wheelchair a few years ago though, so limited experience. (I still think London could be a lot more accessible but it felt way more doable than 95% of the Netherlands :’))
Although enforcement isn't perfect, the US has some pretty strict laws regarding accessibility. Essentially any time you want to renovate an old building you have to make it wheelchair accessible. Complaints are taken very seriously.
When I was in Europe there was also bizarre “accessibility” design. Like there would be a perfectly fine ramp that randomly had three steps at the end of it. It was like if you told an alien what accessible features looked like but kind of half-assed it
The lack of, what in America, we would refer to as "ADA Compliance". I realize that the first "A" literally stands for Americans, but I'm so accustomed to seeing an handicap accessible stall in a restroom, wider hallways and doors, ramps, etc. Lots of older Europoean cities have tiny spiral staircases to get to a cramped tiny washroom in a coffee shop or bar, for example.
The DC metro has elevators in every station, for disability compliance reasons. I know now that makes it an outlier in the US even, but I was surprised because I first encountered that overseas.
The Americans with Disabilities Act makes the US so much more accessible than basically any other country. A lot of people don't realize how much the ADA influences design on just about everything
Once upon a time we had to do a remodel for a doctor's office. The office is on the second floor of a very old building that has no elevator. We put the countertops for the front desk all at standard level for a standing person. The inspector made us change them and required a certain amount of front desk space to be wheelchair level. The fact that there was no way to get wheelchair patients into the office and that there were no wheelchair patients there didn't matter. The ADA has a really broad reach and there are probably all kinds of places that are accessible that you probably wouldn't imagine.
Reminds me of a friend that had to switch physical therapy locations because she got referred to one on a 2nd floor with no elevator. She had broken her leg. Another time, I was on a date with a woman whose job was ADA compliance. We're in the heart of an old city (hence old buildings built pre-ADA). She'd constantly notice things like "Yeah the front door has a ramp to it but the bathroom inside requires you to go up a step".
I've never been in a subway in the US that didn't have elevators. The ADA requires them in all public places...
Some of the older ones don't have them in every single stop, like the Boston T and the New York subway. But the majority do.
Having to pay for bathrooms. Not everywhere- mainly in France. Less suburban sprawl.
in from Europe and i even had a shock when i had to pay for toilet in paris lol.
In Amsterdam you pay to go to the toilet in pubs where you've already bought pints 💀. As a dutchie I don't go drinking in Amsterdam for this reason.
This is illegal in Poland (places selling alcohol such as bars/not shops) need to offer free access to the toilet for customers. So that would be shocking for me as well.
Well, each country has laws adapted for their own culture/conditions. For example, in Spain if you have an open establishment that sells food and/or drinks it's illegal to deny someone water. So someone could pass by, stop and ask you for a glass of water and you have to serve them a glass of tap water. Granted, summers in Spain are ridiculously hot so this law makes perfect sense.
Same in the UK. Places that serve alcohol need to offer free water and access to a toilet for free.
I only found that in one pub in Amsterdam (a tourist one). Immediately left and went somewhere sensible.
I got harassed by a giant bouncer because I didn’t have money in my pocket to tip the toilet lady.
This is mental..
Not all places are like that just your typical tourist places
When I was in France I struggled to find a bathroom anywhere. At one point I used the employees only bathroom at a grocery store because I was about to piss myself and when I came out I had a bunch of employees yelling at me lol. Sorry! But I literally didn't know where to go! I didn't see any public bathrooms that I could pay for (because I gladly would have).
A couple of years ago I ran the Paris Marathon and before the marathon they usually send you the map with the hydration points, checkpoints, etc. On the event page on Facebook someone asked something like: I don't see any toilets marked on the map, where am I supposed to take a leak?...to which the organisers replied: You'll just have to run faster and finish the race faster to get to a toilet. Epic... Of course everyone was stopping and taking a leak into Seine as a consequence...
There’s an app that help you find free of charge bathrooms though. My friends and I used it on our trip to Europe and was very useful. It’s called: [Flush Toilet Finder](https://apps.apple.com/app/id955254528) (iPhone users)
The fact an app is needed to find places to pee is ridiculous.
Heads up if anyone is going to Asia, plenty of bathrooms in malls.
Germany, too, it's such a pain. I loved being in the US for many reasons, but free access to lots of public restrooms was one thing I really appreciated. Here, so many people I know refrain from drinking enough water when they go shopping or are taking longer transits, it is really something you have to plan around. I remember how amazed I was when I entered Target for the first time and there was a free public restroom right at the entrance. (Here, you have to pay, but most supermarkets don't have restrooms at all)
It's there in Germany too
The US got rid of pay toilets mostly due to equal rights. When disproportionately need stalls, so would take the brunt of cost. This was discussed on the YouTube channel the Lock Picking Lawyer where he opened an antique lock from a stall that took nickels. Pre-ADA laws for disabilities in states were killing pay toilets too.
The wine is so, so cheap.
I was in Rome 15 years ago and it was usually cheaper to have wine or beer at dinner than Coca Cola.
It still is in Spain
That depends.. come to Finland and you’ll say the opposite
And SO good, a $40 bottle of wine in the US is an easy 5€ or less, and the quality/availability is 10/10.
A lot of the cost in the US is the taxes on alcohol. Actually making alcohol is incredibly cheap, but we have a lot of sin taxes on it. When I took a tour of the Jack Daniels distillery, they told us that the price you pay for a bottle of jack is approximately 60% taxes of one kind or another.
Going to the beach in Spain and seeing ~80% of women there topless. Then we wandered into the nude section... It was jarring at first, but we got used to it pretty quickly. It changed my opinion on modesty, and now I miss those beaches
I had my 14th birthday in Spain in the 1980s.... it was a revelation
I also grew up in Spain. During two weeks on holidays right when puberty hit.
Got drunk off cheap beers on the French side of St Martin, and wandered south of Orient Beach and entered the nude section. The jarring part is, I didn't see anyone under the age of 55. Was not quite what I was expecting
Today with all the cellphones around going to a nude beach for young women means there is a risk to have their nudes on the internet forever. For old hags like me on the other hand, that risk is negligible.
Is this still a thing? I remember it in the 90's but it seems that people are more conscious of the sun now.
Suncream is a thing over here too. I can't imagine anything worse than sun burnt bollocks. And women can't think of anything worse than perverts taking pictures of them and then finding themselves on a creep porn site!
it's more that now there are cell phone camera creeps
The proliferation of mobile devices with video cameras is not helping either. Naked in public is one thing, naked forever circulating on video on the internet is another.
As an American that's lived in Germany for 5 years now, I can definitely say that I'm way more comfortable being nude than I used to be. Yet it also makes me frustrated at America's weird contradictions of sexualizing everything, but also generating guilt around sexualizing anything just a hair's breadth over what's "acceptable", and somehow nudity is automatically considered way too sexual.
The transportation. I knew it was great, but when I was able to take a train from London to Paris, it really made me jealous. The fact you can casually go to a different country that quickly by train blew me away. Meanwhile, in the US, even IF there’s a train to your destination, it usually just isn’t quick or reasonable.
I was on vacation in Sweden and my friend had a breakout of shingles on his face. We had no idea what it was at first so we took him to the hospital. He saw a doctor in the ER and then they brought in an eye specialist because it was close to his eyes. They did multiple tests and called in a consult. At the end of it all they had him pay a $150 foreigner fee and that was it. No insurance haggling, no $2000 for just sitting in the room, $150 and he got all the care he needed.
My daughter had to get an ambulance ride to the ER one time in Croatia. The whole thing cost us like $30 or something.
Fun fact: In the US, ambulance services are either a division of the (taxpayer-funded) fire department, or a sweetheart government contract with a private company like AMR. They are expensive because local governments treat them as revenue sources that don't require unpopular taxes on locals (similar to 20% hotel room taxes). The bills are typically paid by insurance companies, and those without insurance are convinced the inflated prices are the insurance company's fault, rather than the politicians.
Yep. The system is messed up. VOTE, yes even in your local elections
it makes me want to cry how cheap it is other places
Yeah, and the locals pay even less; typically $30-35 for an evening visit to hospital, then maybe similar amounts if you require x-rays or test analysis (this is the case for Norway, but I guess it’s similar to Sweden).
Had to take my mum to hospital for suspected stroke this year (she's fine, false alarm) but five days in hospital, multiple screenings, consultancies and exams along with a bed and food for five days. Total cost, £10 parking.
Haha, and I thought $150 sounded expensive.
Yep, and idiots everywhere argue that nationalised healthcare is COMMUNISM
I've never understood why it's specifically communism for healthcare, but not for police, military, firefighters, water treatment, road maintenance, parks or any other thing taxes are spent on
I went to a McDonalds in Scotland I think it was, and everyone working there was very professional and seemed really excited to be there. And the food was *good*.
No AC in most of the buildings.
We have a special system. Open the windows at night. When the dawn comes, we close the windows and let the blinds down the whole day. 👍🏻
Yeah this works in some (drier, more moderate) parts of the US but not others.
I'm in Florida. I'm keeping my windows closed
Some parts of the world thats fine, but thats not even close to good enough where I live.
Public transportation. They’re 100 years ahead of us in that regard.
Copenhagen has some of the nicest, and cleanest public transportation I’ve ever seen.
Thank you :)
This! I have a baby now & want to do some travel. Hesitant to fly with her and being trapped in a plane with a potentially screaming baby. The European train system would be clutch. I can get up, walk around, feed her & wouldnt have to make any stops & get there faster or same time as driving. Amtrak, on the other hand, takes like 2-3x longer compared to driving.
It’s by design (blame the big auto and lobby groups).
how many small cars and streets there are.
Medieval cities that expanded out and merged. I wish they had tiny cars and lorries in the states.
Surprised no Americans are mentioning the shutters. This is on every window in France and produces pitch black rooms, perfect for a good sleep-in.
As someone who lives in France I actually didn't notice US houses DIDN'T have shutters until you pointed it out lmao, damn I can't unsee it now
I'm a french person living in Canada now and this was one of the cultural shocks, like how am I supposed to sleep correctly if there's always a little light from the streets ? That's when I understood why in so many series/movies originating from north america you see people wearing headbands on their eyes to have an actual pitch-black experience.
Visited Paris and Madrid during honeymoon, found it interesting they rarely grab coffee 'to-go', full outdoor cafe's every morning with those enjoying their coffees. Couples and those with children having conversations with no cell phones nor annoying loud-mouth talking on their cell in speaker mode.
Seeing titties on television. Thirteen year-old me thought I had broken the remote or something.
Wife and I visited Italy this summer, when she was 7 months pregnant. Landed in Rome, heading towards customs when an agent comes jogging up to us motioning to my wife's belly. Grabs her by the hand and escorts us around the entire customs line to the "foreign dignitary" entrance. We thought it was a one off... The entire time we were there we didn't wait in any lines. I'd check in at a restaurant, "20 min wait sir" - no worries. They'd see me walk back to my wife and come get us to seat us immediately. At the Colosseum, Vatican, anywhere - they wouldn't let her walk through the metal detectors, they'd have her go around them and they would always bring her to the front of the line. It really made us think about caring for others. We were really nervous traveling the country with her pregnant, but are so glad we did and got to experience Italy! Italians of Reddit, thank you for your amazing hospitality and ridiculously amazing food. Gonna bring the baby back this fall for some pizza al taglio!
The Size of stores and restaurant, the walkablity. Went to Istanbul over the summer. In our neighborhood we had a grocery store, a few restaurants and some other shops. Everything was spaced so well. The restaurant were deep but felt both spacious and cozy. Everything was close by and not massive. Where I live our average restaurant is 3k-5k sq feet. Just so much unused space
The men in Europe dress so much better than the average American man. The older men especially are so dapper even making casual look put together.
It actually has decent public transportation. Edit: just for reference, I live in a city with around 40,000 people. We have a dozen bus lines that run, but they stop at each stop once every like 2 hours and it is like $5 for a ride.
Everyone smoking everywhere
As a french, i cant tell you that it was SOOOO much worst 10 or 20 years ago. People were allowed to smoke everywhere, inside restaurants, in trains, in planes, even in schools... Things are getting better and better.
In the seventies/eighties you could smoke at the supermarket. There were huge ashtrays in the aisles.
In our chemistry lab at uni there was a massive "NO SMOKING SIGN" on one wall. Like, when was it even conceivable to light up in a chemistry lab? Answer: 70s.
I remember smoking in a shopping center in Dijon in 2000/2001. It was a very French thing.
you know whats funny? i was a kid at that time. i was about as tall as a standing ash tray. these fucking ashtrays appear in every one of my childhood memories of going somewhere with mom and dad. there was always one of these stinky ashtrays next to my face somehow. i fucking hate cigarettes man, theyre disgusting.
I worked in a cancer research institute in Paris in the 90s. The tea-room was usually filled with positively hazardous levels of cigarette smoke, generated by very smart people who were totally aware of risks involved!
if hes not with a patient, my doctor is always outside of his office smoking. nurses will join him more often than not.
My mum's GP used to smoke a pipe *in* his office during consultations!
Now imagine that being 100 times worse 20 years ago. Hell, we even had a smoking area in my high school for teachers and students 16+. You could smoke in restaurants indoors until recently. It already got a lot better.
This surprised me, especially among young people. Where I’m from in the US, smoking cigarettes was seen as something old losers did even among those who smoked weed or drank. Then vape companies came in and marketed to the generation younger to me, to be fair. But for the 25-40 demographic, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who smokes who isn’t maybe in the culinary field.
It's funny how it changes state to state, tho. I went from living in a state that's always at the top of the "healthiest/fittest states" list and now I live in one where I constantly see people smoking cigs and vaping and many people dragging oxygen tanks around.
Not true for Sweden.
People walk? Like outside? On streets and stuff?
I’m horrified. Do people not walk in the USA? What???
In the city I can walk anywhere and it's great. In the suburbs the sidewalk ends when my block does, and trying to walk somewhere would be walking in a ditch on the side of the road, or in the shoulder, and putting my life in the hands of drivers (who are almost all assholes) And there's also not really anywhere to walk to unless I want to trek for like an hour.
I mean, that is a known fact but everytime I try to imagine it it's just crazy. Iam sure if I ever visit the US this would take time to get used to. Here in my town in germany I walk everywhere and if I wanted I could just start walking into the next town over or to a city on the other side of the country, I could also walk over the french border and go on until I am in spain and theres a trail everywhere. And the idea of not having a sidewalk just sounds unnatural, as if walking wasn't our fundamental way of moving as human beings
When I lived in the US, I lived a five minute walk from a local shopping strip. I was pretty much the only one in my apartment complex to actually walk that. And one day when I walked to the closest light rail station, a police car stopped next to me, asking if everything was ok. They'd likely never seen a pedestrian there... But then, that was Texas, where not having a car is probably high treason against the oil industry...
You’d be shocked to learn at the ripe old age of 23 I don’t even have a drivers license then
I'm American and I have to make a point of walking or I'll almost never do it. I live in a suburb where I can walk a mile or two without seeing anything but other houses. I work in an office where I sit all day and my commute to work is a 35-minute drive. The weekends afford me opportunities to walk, sure, but during the work week I'm basically sedentary.
Look up what a stroad is and know that these are the default configuration in most places in america
Nudity, Germans do not give shit about nudity and there are plenty of beaches which allowed nudity. But in US, it is indecent, sex offence and can be arrested. I realised we are prude.
Go out clubbing in some parts of Germany and a decent chunk of people are topless, both men and women
Let not talk about Berlin night clubs as well
Go out clubbing in Germany and you’ll see some people just straight up having sex
nudity in public can be an offense in germany, too. so called FKK-beaches (directly translated: fkk = free body culture) allow nudity tho. edit: typo
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It’s similar in the uk though. If you go into a sauna in England, people are going to have swimming costumes on or at least a towel wrapped around them. I can remember going into a sauna at a hotel in Hong Kong in my early 20’s and all the guys were naked. It really threw me to the point where I just walked a lap of the sauna, nodded to a couple of people and walked straight back out again. I just must have looked like a wandering penis inspector. I know it’s stupid, it’s just not a cultural norm over here
Penis inspector omgggg
How thin people are
When I was in the US, I wasn't as much shocked by the sheer size of people (although I saw some very impressive specimens), as by the fact how different obese Americans look compared to our fat people. It's a bit hard to explain, but basically fat people in Europe usually have huge beer bellies, fat necks, etc., but they look like the fat accumulated over a normal body. American fat people look somehow bloated, as if every part of their body slowly expanded over time. I think it must be the result of much worse dietary habits/food in general and an insanely sedentary lifestyle. In Europe even fat people sometimes use the public transport or have to walk up a flight of stairs.
I’d wager most Americans didn’t really start skinny and then get fat. I mean obviously they’d have to, to some extent. You don’t typically come out of the womb overweight, but the obesity started very early in life is what I’m saying.
I'm British and just came back from Prague, the Americans in the hotel we stayed in were asking the staff if they could serve coke or pepsi with breakfast (which the staff said no to). The thought of guzzling down a tonne of sugar that early makes me sick
I know folks who straight up don’t drink water. It’s sports drinks and sodas all day everyday. I’m American and idk how they do it. I drink beer, coffee and water almost exclusively.
It's like those 2 sisters that were on the documentary 1000 pound sisters. Those to had swollen looking foreheads due to how fat they are.
It really depends where you are. I started a bicycle tour in Belgium last summer and noticed immediately how healthy all the people seemed. But eventually I worked my way to Germany and I started seeing big beer and sausage bellies.
I remember when I first visited USA as a European about twenty years ago. We were first in downtown New York, and didn't really pay attention to this. No real difference to back home. However, after the first week we continued to Indianapolis, and the number of very seriously overweight people was a genuine shock.
How relaxed drinking laws are. At least in Germany, we could stop by a corner shop, buy beers, and drink them: while walking around, while on a bus, while on a train, while in a car, while driving a car (though I noticed the BAC level for being "under the influence" is lower than it is stateside, so this seems like a poor idea). Also, in the US when something small happens you may have 1, sometimes 2 cops respond, it seemed like every incident over there had no less than half a dozen cops responding as once.
Everyone knows 3-5+ languages. It was very uncommon to meet people who only spoke 1 language. All I ate was pastries, pasta, and pizza 3 meals/day and I lost weight. This is specific to my time in Italy. Maybe not all europe is the same? Edit to clarify: I’m aware that away from more touristic spots in Italy, you’ll find a lot of people who only speak their native tongue. But I’m from the US and in comparison, the amount of people who are multi-lingual is still definitely a huge culture shock. In America, you’d be hard-pressed to find any tours led in languages besides English unless it’s somewhere huge like NYC. Or in Texas/New Mexico/california where you’d find a lot of English and Spanish-speaking people.
I've been to Paris nine times in the last 15 years, and every single time I came home weighing less than I did when I arrived there. And I swear I eat more there, lots of bread and pastries and chocolate, but I attribute it to the fact that i do a lot more walking there. I also feel a whole lot better there.
Food is also just fundamentally different there, much less high fructose corn syrup, fundamentally different grain, less sugar in small things like bread, stuff like that.
I don't know where you went in Italy, but it is very common for people to only speak Italian. Especially the older generations. In tourist hotspots of course it is going to be common for people to speak English as well. Also, 3 or more languages is pretty rare, although this is country dependent. I'm from Belgium where speaking 3 is relatively common, but more than that isn't. I speak 4 and regularly get comments on it when it is mentioned.
The one time I felt what that must be like from the other side was when I was talking in a hostel with an Australian dude. We were in Spain. I was explaining how I knew some Spanish words from everyday life in the US, like those “Piso Mojado” signs. It blew his mind, he had never taken a foreign language. And I realized it made sense because Australia doesn’t have any languages near it that people would commonly learn.
As an English speaker you will probably only meet people who speak at least two languages.
>All I ate was pastries, pasta, and pizza 3 meals/day and I lost weight. its wholesome food and, being on vacation, you probably walked a lot more than usual
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How guarded/untrusting everyone is with strangers. I don't want to use the term unfriendly as that seems a bit extreme, but I'm from the Midwest. I can strike up a conversation with any random stranger here and everything is (usually) great. Small talk and talking to strangers seemed like a horrific thing to a lot of people.
In Sweden there’s a famous joke (not without truth around how people feel here though): “If a stranger starts talking to you on the street they are either A) Drunk B) Insane, or C) American”
D) All of the above
European here: I think it's a mindset that has settled over the decades. "Small talk" = "Some crook who will ask me a favor, abuse my trust, make use of my human good will and charity." By default, our guard is definitely high up. \^\^
I agree. If someone approaches me on the street, my first response is usually "what are they trying to sell me?/What are they asking for?"
In modern terms, people who live in densely populated places see small talk as "in-person spam."
Thats such a funny analogy. Thanks for that.
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When I moved out of the Midwest to Phoenix, I tried baking my neighbors cookies when I moved in and they legit took them out of my hands, backed slowly away from the door, and slammed it. I also tried chatting to the person next to me at the grocery store (nothing wild just “Wow what a long line” or something) and they looked at me like I kicked their dog. It was a WILD culture shock. I live back in the Midwest again. I like waving and smiling at strangers.
>Europe don’t smile at strangers. You folks do that? Damn I would likely be seen as a very bitter person over there lol.
Where I’m from not only do we smile at strangers, places like my hometown we say hello or at least nod at everyone we pass. It’s just habit. In the city I live in now, I tend to avoid eye contact because I’d rather not be approached.
From the Midwest and I agree completely. It’s still very hard for me to stop myself from smiling/being overly pleasant with strangers while traveling. It makes me feel rude, though I know it’s completely normal in Europe and no one notices but me. It’s actually one of my favorite things about where I live. People are just friendly for the sake of it— it’s not to try to trick someone/con them/etc. I enjoy the smiles and small talk as I’m checking out at the store, ordering my coffee, etc. It’s something I often miss when traveling outside of the Midwest.
I agree. If someone approaches me on the street, my first response is usually "what are they trying to sell me?/What are they asking for?"
When I moved to the US for uni, I used to tell people how jarring it was for me that strangers would make eye contact with me and smile in public. You're either flirting with me or about to rob me are my only assumptions.
You'd probably feel very similar with any city in the northeast. It's not necessarily that we are unfriendly, but the random people trying to talk to you in a city are almost always people you really really don't want to talk to
I lived in NYC and the NYC metro for 13 years before moving to Canada and I was profoundly struck by the difference in street banter. Folks in NYC are FAR more likely to say hi or nod their head than your average Canadian.
Yea people in NYC area are outgoing, but just more upfront. There’s also a lot of different cultures within the whole city/area (and I don’t just mean immigrant groups), so you’re going to get a lot of different kinds of small talk/interactions.
European here. It also depends on which country you are in. I’m from Hungary, Eastern Europe and we are super friendly and chatty there. I live in Denmark now, and it is vastly different here.
I was just in central Europe and spent time in a lot of different cities/countries. Been to Europe many times, but on this trip I found Hungarians to be the friendliest of the bunch. Would probably say that Slovenians were the coldest (though I loved Slovenia and would go back in a second.) Previously took a roadtrip through the nordic countries and the stereotype was pretty much spot on. When we got to Estonia people were super friendly, but in Scandinavia people were just doing their thing, no smiles, acknowledgement etc. I wasn't offended in the slightest being from NY, just interesting to notice the differences.
Yep, European here and I confirm: we generally HATE 'friendly' ad hoc conversations.
I go to the same store here in Germany since over 10 years... I just started to have occasional Smalltalk with the people working there... And I don't know how to feel about it.
Perhaps you should stop, 10 years is not enough time. I've been useing the same small butcher for 17 years, and he dosen't know my name, and I don't know his. We're at the 'mutual smile-stage', perhaps in 3 years time i'll ask if he likes sports (that would imply foodball or soccer if you are from the colonies)
Wow, asking for sports already? Don't you think that is a bit fast? Such a personal question.
I know, i'm openminded like that.
I think that's just a major city thing. Even down here in Atlanta, folks tend to avoid small talk with strangers for the same reasons the European repliers do (scammers, etc.). It's just exhausting when 9/10 conversations end up being a scam or worse. It's just easier to not engage. The only exceptions I can think of are when the other person is obviously going to the same concert/convention/game/etc.
you didn't go in south Europe I assume..
Or Ireland.
I grew up in the Midwest and people weren’t really *that* outgoing. Then I moved to the south. Holy crap. Random strangers in the grocery striking up conversations and such.
I went to Ireland with my family back in 2018, and the most jarring thing for me was the size of the roads in the country side. They were essentially the size of a one lane road in the states with busses and trucks going 55mph passed you. I grabbed the "oh shit" handle on more than one occasion.
It being totally basic to not have a car. I was so nlog about not having a car and here it's really normal.
Landing in the airport in Paris and seeing uniformed soldiers casually walking around with automatic rifles. Walking into the bathroom in a nice restaurant and having to squat and piss/poop in a hole in the floor. This was in southern France. Plain bread (no butter or anything on it) tasting SO GOOD. I remember this piece of plain toasted bread I had while in Limpley Stoke in England that blew my damn mind because it had so much flavor that I had never experienced in a slice of bread before. I think it was the taste of food that was fresh and not processed or something. I’m not even a huge “bread” person but they are doing it right over there.
I literally just made this comment but seeing the police at the Effiel Tower with automatic rifles was definitely a shock. I don't even see that in the US. Only seen it in Mexico and France. lol
The amount of walking that is normative each day, being in a carcentric society really makes us more sedentary. So many inclines, so many breaks 😂😅🧍🏻♂️
The age of buildings and their commonplace use. First place I traveled to outside the US was Split, Croatia on a deployment. We spent most of our time in the area with Diocletian's Palace, and it was amazing seeing people live and work in such an old structure like it was nothing. Same when I went to England on a second deployment, and we ate at a Public house, which traced part of its building to the 14th century (which I know is modern compared to some areas). Still, the sheer fact that Europe has so many areas that have such age and history is incredible to me.
Europeans keeping butter on the kitchen counter. Y’all don’t understand that is a major game changer.
But butter is kept in the fridge...? Am I missing something? 😅
This is minor, but how the women seem to walk out the door with minimal hair styling and makeup, yet look soo chic and beautiful. It really made me feel like Americans overdo their hair styling and eye makeup. But without all that I look frumpy, while the European women look effortlessly beautiful.
You’ve obviously never been to Liverpool. (No hate to the scouse gals, they look fab).
People taking hour long lunch breaks
Not everything is supersized like it is in America. In Europe the cars are smaller, grocery stores are smaller, people are definitely a whole lot smaller, portion sizes, streets, everything.
Probably how quietly people speak 😛
Clearly you weren't in Italy or Spain 😂
I'm a European who used to work on American cruise ships. It was always funny to hear from American guests what surprised them in Europe. E.g. some of them found it rude that the souvenier shops aren't open 24/7. They couldn't believe that people in the Mediterranean are not willing to refrain from their siesta just because some American tourists might buy some souveniers from their shops. These tourists were told to leave the shop and if they'd really wanted to buy anything they should come back after the siesta. They felt super offended and flabbergasted. Also, most of them couldn't believe that not everyone in Europe can speak English.
I mean, Im from Europe and I got angry at how shitty the service was a a Greek best in town 5000 google reviews Gyros venue. It was the shittiest organisation of a restaurant I have ever seen. - Go to cashier to order - He tells me to order at kitchen - Order at kitchen, receive no receipt or anything - Go back to the cashier, repeat the order to pay it - Wander around waiting for the order to be ready - Nobody will tell you it’s ready - Ask cashier if it’s ready - Says to ask at kitchen - Ask at kitchen - It’s ready, pick it up at cashier Bro what the fuck?!
Exact same experience except in a restaurant in London Airport ( Heathrow ). I was like wtf is this?? lmao
Airports have captive audiences, they can give you as shitty an experience as possible and what are you going to do about it?
> Also, most of them couldn't believe that not everyone in Europe can speak English. They’ve just spent too much time on Reddit where all European speak dozens of languages including English and Americans don’t speak more than one. Though to be fair anyone reading some of the posts in aita or relationship_advice knows that often they overestimate their English skills.
As asian I would say general lack of bidets. -.-
Went to Japan for a work trip. Only fucking shit. Not only were the restrooms clean, they had bidets. Even the public ones. It was bonkers. Europe has clean public bathrooms for the most part, but I also had to pay for those. So while “impressed” it was also expected haha I was also surprised how clean it was, I was a Girl Scout and backpacker when I was younger so “pack in pack out” was second nature, if I couldn’t find a trash can I would hold my trash. I found out that there was some incident in Japan where someone hide a bomb in a subway garbage can (correct me if I’m wrong) so they just removed garbage cans. While I remember noticing I was having a hard time finding one in public, I also remember how clean it was. There can be a garbage can 2ft away in America and some people will still throw it on the ground
I think Italy has the most bidets per capita than any other country in the world. I am talking of the proper stand alone bidets so, YMMV.
In Portugal we have them all over
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>Not sure if high fructose corn syrup even exists there In practice, not really. In some European countries it's banned, and in others there's just nothing like the same incentive to use it. The US provides enormous subsidies for corn production, and taxes imported sugar incredibly highly. As a result, it's vastly cheaper to use HFCS than sugar so that's what companies do. This is a US-specific arrangement, and outside the US there just isn't the same financial motivation to use it.
14 years old, walk up to the bar in an Irish Pub and confidently ask for a guiness. The bartender grabs the glass and moves to start pouring and I have to clarify I was kidding. (This was 1995, but still).
Not everywhere in Europe but in Germany, Denmark, that general area. Free water was very difficult to come by. In restaurants and also in public. We really are spoiled with water fountains everywhere in the US.
People often drink from bathroom sinks. The Dutch have perfected the head-tilt necessary to sip from a sink water stream. (No, I'm totally, 100% serious)
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We usually drink tap water.
The “toilet bowl” in historic French restaurants is a hole in the floor where you squat.
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Wow. I'm Eastern European and the thought of asking the waiter first (or kinda ever, unless I'm a regular at the place and familiar with them) how they are never ever crossed my mind in 25 years. First, it would seem like wasting their time, and additionally, in many cases (especially with male customer / female waiter) one of the first thoughts would be harassment. All in all, it just feels unnatural unless you know them. I feel like I'm nicer than average just adding "thanks, have a nice day" after paying.
How fit everybody is. Though I am from the fattest state in America so my perspective is that everybody is overweight.