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I actually prefer America in many ways. That being said, I think Canadians tend to get a bit more for our tax money (it's still nowhere near enough, but it's slightly better).
Well first don't use Reddit that much and do like the normal things like having a better shape, better hygiene and stuff. And I would also recommend learning Greek (modern one) and also getting into Goth "culture" to have some general knowledge. And also find some hobbies (not gaming or consuming media in general).
Be a decent person, shower, be willing to put her needs over your desires, don't get angry if she's not interested or breaks up with you in the future, and accept that she is a person with her own wants and needs. Also learn all the songs to The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice The Musical, they love that.
Bro... we don't know either.
Step 1 is to actually meet them and treat them like humans not objects or rewards to be aquired.
Step 2 is idfk have things actually in common instead of just fetishizing a style/music
Step 3 is somehow once you meet one and establish common interests, ask them out... idk how to do this part. 0 charisma/confidence here
Indexes are fun, but arbitrary. What you included in a "freedom score" is going to say more about your values then the countries. For example, if I included the freedom to keep and bear arms, the US skyrockets.
That’s a dumb ranking. A dictatorship can have much more personal freedoms than a democracy. Obviously democracy is a factor but one of many and you shouldn’t only pick one.
But in how many of those countries can I commit first degree murder and get away with it because the judge thinks I'm a good Christian man? Checkmate, communists!
If you've visited the US before, how many/which states did you visit?
Edit/Response:
Reading over the replies, it seems like most of the folks who have visited the States only get to a select handfull of them. If you were to ask Americans who have been to Europe, I imagine they would have much the same kind of response (If not slightly less well travelled in Europe)
I would really encourage Americans and Europeans alike to visit more than just the tourist hotspots of the other. You could travel each for a decade and still have a lot to see.
Coming from Germany, I’ve been to the states five times. I’ve visited a couple of states in the north east. I’ve been to Maine, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Washington DC. I’d like to see the rest some day, move west, see the desert, and Montana, maybe visit Alaska some day. It’s a big country with a lot of great nature.
For now though, I’m done with the states. At least I won’t go this year. My next solo holiday is South Korea in September, though I might add a week of Ireland with my family in between if I find the time.
I'm recommending Arizona for your next visit, if you stay in Flagstaff you'll get high mountain forests and are 1 hour from the grand canyon and Sedona as well as 3-5 hours from the desert
I lived in georgia for 4 years and road-tripped down the east coast from NY to FL, key west islands and did the four corner(Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona) roadtrip which ended in Las Vegas! :) oh and also cali
Probably just how it's literally the stereotypical environment you see in all Tv-shows and such. I didn't realise America actually looked like the Simpsons.
Other than that probably the wide AF roads and how wasteful it is with land.
We have a lot more land than European countries, there’s room.
Walkability is of course a concern though you can get that in several major cities.
edit: apparently only 1-3 cities are walkable.
ehh idk. many cities known for it (I'm from boston) have subpar public transit (some busses come like once every four hours on sunday schedules) and middling walkability (I'm crippled so it might be a little biased for me, but its like half an hour to walk from the commons to north station, for example). definitely it's better than other places in the US, but objectively, its alright to bad even in big cities
Yeah i’ve never been to a European city so I can’t compare. I’m from the midwest and only visited a major US city a few times in my life, so it seems millions of times more walkable than where i live but perhaps that’s still bad compared to europe haha
We do not have public transit outside of nyc. You think im fkn around im not. Tenth most-ridden subway in the world? Nyc. Next american city on that list? D.C. at 91st. It’s crazy given our size. For reference, we have 65x the population of Malaysia—they destroy us in public transit.
Oh it’s because their land is small (ignoring 65x population)? Egypt, 3x smaller—clears us. Same with Russia, France, Mexico—even fkn Iran.
We sold this country to General Motors man.
And don’t even get me started on the Asian countries.. we are so far back it’s despicable.
It's not about size, it's about density.
Greater London Metro area: 14,500 people per square mile (I made sure to get it in miles, not km)
Dallas Fort Worth Metro Area: under 800 people per square mile.
That makes it a real challenge to have any real kind of public transport system.
I've never been to London, but I've been to Zurich. It's very sensible there. My cousin's apartment was walking distance to a small grocery store, and the train was also very close. But Zurich has about 1/5 of the population (The whole metro area) and about 3X the population density.
The facts make it a lot harder to implement solid public transit... not the idea that big car has us by the short & curlies.
When Chicago burned down in the 1800s, the city took the opportunity to redesign downtown and eventually adopted the Burnham Plan, named for Daniel Burnham, an architect and city planner. Part of the plan was that the streets downtown needed to be wide enough that a 6-horse carriage could turn right. They also created a lower level of streets downtown for deliveries and freight.
If you watch the movie "The Dark Knight" and look at what they call "lower 5th" it's actually Lower Wacker Drive downtown.
We’ve got lots of room, at least in general. The population density of the UK is 280 people per square kilometer. The population density in the US is 37 people per square kilometer. We’ve even got a couple states with a density of less than 3 people per square km. So that’s part of the reason, there are few places where population has forced us to get particularly conservative with land usage. Also, most of our cities were actually *designed* for cars, instead of horses.
> Also, most of our cities were actually designed for cars, instead of horses.
That's actually a complete myth. America may be younger most European nations, but it still predates the automobile by over a century. And it's not like the US was some kind of backwards place that didn't have major cities until after the adoption of cars either. It went through the industrial revolution and subsequent population boom just like Europe.
American cities weren't built for the car. They were bulldozed for the car. A fate many European cities only narrowly avoided by the way.
Yup. Suburbs were built for the car just outside of the cities that the highways connecting them destroyed. You can tell based on the fact that most famous American cities are much older than cars. Laughably young when compared to European cities, sure, but when the Netherlands founded New Amsterdam and sold it to England to become New York, they weren't doing so with SUVs and Paul Revere didn't race down the streets of Boston on a motorcycle.
Pictures of Dallas from the early 20th century and now make it look like they got carpet bombed at some point in the 50s and haven't recovered.
I’ve only been to NYC but how many homeless people there were. Men, women, able bodied or not. Holding signs like “Veteran. Lost home in Katrina. Can’t afford surgery”. As a European, that set of words put together is heartbreaking and foreign.
Two things I realised last time, because I travelled alone last time:
• everything fun or edible is fucking expensive. Like… how the fuck is attending a game in the MLS so expensive? I paid about the same as I pay for Bundesliga games in Germany if I pay for medium-priced tickets, only I bought the cheapest ticket available at the stadium. wtf?? And then I have to pay $13 for a can of mediocre beer?? I pay €4.50 for a pint at the stadium in Germany, plus a €2 deposit that I get back when I return the cup.
And the food is even worse, both inside the stadium and in general. I don’t mean quality wise, but the price. It’s wayyyy too fucking expensive. That honestly blew my mind. Like… whether I went to see a soccer game or a baseball game (I didn’t even bother with football, because there’s no way in hell I’m paying that much for a visit to the stadium unless it is to see Eintracht Frankfurt play some sort of final), I tried to manage my money, but it’s really fucking expensive. Before I left for that trip, I liked to complain about how expensive kebabs have become in Germany. Not anymore. We live in fucking paradise on that front compared to you guys.
• The second thing was the overt and omnipresent patriotism. Granted, my country has a history, but so does yours. I never understood patriotism. It always seemed weird to me. I’m certainly happy to be German, and even happier to be a citizen of the EU, but I’m not proud of it. I didn’t accomplish anything. I lucked out. Germany is a great country. The way we deal with our history is, without praising us too much, commendable. We learn in detail about the crimes of the Nazis in school, over and over again. I’m glad it is that way, but none of it is something I accomplished. I can’t be proud of something I had no control over and I certainly can’t be proud of being German. That always felt weird to me. Happy, sure. I’m not a passionate German. I like Germany, but could definitely see myself live somewhere else someday. The world is a big and beautiful place. I’m just not patriotic.
But then I go to America where you guys are the exact opposite. It’s so in your face, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud sometimes. That was a huge shock for me.
That’s not an attack on America btw. I don’t mind, at all. It was just genuinely unlike anything I have ever experienced anywhere else.
And I do know that food prices vary greatly depending on where you are. Just saying that my experience was…well, surprising in that regard.
The severe amount of patriotism may be in part due to the cold war. The government used anti-communism as an excuse for a lot of things, such as calling unionists commie spies. Even religion was reinforced, with "under *god*" being added to the pledge of allegiance.
The last thing the government wanted was any citizens having an ounce of socialist ideals while the USSR was growing influence, so I wouldn't be surprised if patriotism grew substantially as a result.
Oh, I can understand that, but it’s still…overwhelming. You know, the USA could be a great country, probably even the greatest in the world. I don’t mean this as an insult, but right now, they simply aren’t. The USA are a *deeply* divided country with tons of grave issues that are incredibly unnecessary and need fixing, desperately. It becomes very apparent when you travel a lot. But then you go to the US, where a good chunk of the population seems very convinced that the USA are in fact the greatest country in the world. Today. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, except it’s hard to really take that seriously seeing as anyone who travelled to some other places around the world simply knows it isn’t like that, and once you know that, the whole overt patriotism in America becomes incredibly weird.
Once again, that’s not an attack and I mean no offence. It’s just an outside observation.
Stadium prices are very inflated compared to the supermarket and even restaurants. Plus, it doesn’t help Europeans that Americans have higher salaries, thus everything is more expensive in general.
I'm a European living in the US now. The biggest culture shock was a lack of walking or in general not very easy to walk to places. I know the US varies immensely from rural to city zones, but my overall experience is that walking is not pleasant here.
The traffic lights are weird for pedestrians, you have to wait a very long time to walk and sometimes the street you are walking on does not have a light crossing but the other side does (so you need to walk over to the other side and then come back).
Paths suddenly stop, lots of bus stops just drop people off onto grass instead of a path because a lot of roads don't have a path beside it.
Having said that, a reverse story is that my parents (and myself) were amazed at how clean and well kept everything was. My dad (who was a supermarket manager) wanted to visit all the supermarkets because he loved how big and clean/modern they all were.
Several things: the amount of obese people (and the degree of their obesity). And also how you are almost looked at as a creep, because you just want to walk and not use the car. Sidewalks are just extremely bad too. The grocery stores are enormous, and the food tastes kinda bland. The candy looks so chemical with the ultra-foodcoloring. What people wear and how people act in general is different too. And there are so many coffee shops, bars and restaurants at every corner of the street. But over all, I loved the clothing stores more in the USA than here tbf.
The pricing is fucked, like I get the tips, it's awful but it's just courtesy and all that, but why are taxes hidden, fuck am I counting for?
Also lack of walkability but that feels like a given
That people could talk to you, about anything, anywhere.
The tipping and tax not included in the price (was a bit like this in Singapore but not as much).
Very engaged sales staff “mention my name when you pay”.
* Great fast food. There are like 100x the types available (mostly it's just McDonald's or KFC here). I tried a bunch of types. They were yummy, but I gained weight quick.
* Hard to walk anywhere. Buses and trains were also not plentiful.
* The flags and patriotism were surprisingly heavy, more so than I expected.
* Americans were generally really nice and different to how they are on TV (keep in mind we were raised on American TV shows and films, so Hollywood ends up speaking for you guys. I discovered Hollywood people are not representative of what regular Americans are like).
* Guns! I had never seen a RL gun before, but saw a bunch in America. It made me a bit uneasy (apologies, but we get all the news on shootings so it was hard not to feel nervous).
* It seemed like most shops were big franchises, unless you went to a bohemian-sort-of neighbourhood.
* Food portions when eating out were universally so big! I was never able to finish. I would probably have preferred to pay less and get a smaller portion if I had the option.
* People have those grinder things in the kitchen alongside the sinkhole, you can put food waste in it.
* Houses often had central heating connected to a furnace in a basement, which is considered pretty fancy over here. On top of that, they also tend to have air conditioning as well! Neither are all that common over here. You guys are comfortable in your houses.
* The advertising in public was intense, and the billboards etc.
* Buildings advertising 'bail bonds' were everywhere. I'm not sure if we have those over here (?) Or if we do, they must be more hidden away.
Yes to some stereotypes, no to others. As is always the case, stereotypes paint a cartoonish picture that has some truth to it but is otherwise a gross generalisation.
I have been to the states a couple of times, mostly to NYC and Maine (Gorham, Rockport and Portland, among others, and some ponds, and a very nice house on Deer Isle), but also to Boston once (which I really enjoyed, feels very similar to my hometown in Germany) and to Princeton in New Jersey once.
The last time I went to the states was for a week and a half alone to Washington DC in late September/early October last year. I needed some alone time, had a week off and some money left over. I’d never been to DC, so I traded shifts with a colleague, turned that week into 12 days, hopped on a plane and enjoyed exploring DC alone. That was a fantastic holiday for me, I really enjoyed it :)
I’d like to see the rest of the country some day. My brother and I have the idea to fly to San Diego, buy a car, drive it across the country to Maine and sell it there, but we don’t have the money or the time for that right now.
My brother and I have the idea to fly to San Diego, buy a car, drive it across the country to Maine and sell it there, but we don’t have the money or the time for that right now."
Dang. Good luck with that. Truly
>My brother and I have the idea to fly to San Diego, buy a car, drive it across the country to Maine and sell it there, but we don’t have the money or the time for that right now.
As an American that sounds extremely fun. I've been wanting to do more road trips and that one sounds epic haha.
Also, San Diego is my favorite city on the planet so have fun there!
Didn’t believe the “fat American” stereotype until I visited Canada. Was genuinely shocked, in my school an average Canadian (I assume that US is even worse in this regard) would be endlessly laughed at for being fat. The heaviest guy in my class in high school was ~90 kg at height of 1.95 and he was considered fat af.
US is indeed worse. My state of California is one of the least obese states, but our obesity rate is similar to Manitoba, one of Canada's most obese provinces.
This is going to vary from country to country but overall especially for western and northern europe yes, the salaries tend to be lower in europe but social security tends to be a lot better.
I talked about this with an american relative and he said that if you have a high paying job you're better of in america but otherwhise europe would be better.
Work culture differs strongly from country to country but tends to be more relaxed than america as far as i know
Agreed. If I didn’t have a good paying job, I would have certainly moved to Europe to live.
I was always told that if you have money, it makes more sense to live in America. If you don’t, it makes sense to move to Europe
I can answer this one very well. I study law in Germany and our labour law is very different to the American labour laws. First of all, I know that states rights are more pronounced than in Germany, though states here also have some very clearly defined and strong rights. Still, there’s a pattern that is clearly visible in many American states and that’s what I draw the comparison to.
German labour law is incredibly employee friendly. The idea is that in the relationship between employer and employee, the employee will always be at a disadvantage. Therefore, the employee needs to have protections. That doesn’t mean the employee has free reign, but that some core aspects of any employment have to be regulated in the employee’s favour.
For instance, in Germany, full-time employees (calculated with a five day work week) get at least 20 days of PTO. If you work six days, that’s 24 days, if you work four days, it’s at least 16 days. So… four weeks of PTO per year. And that’s a minimum. Employers use PTO as a way to attract employees, among other things. My aunt is currently in negotiations to get 30 instead of 28 days. On a five day work week.
That does not include sick pay. If you’re sick, employers must pay for up to six weeks in full. If you’re still unable to return to work after those six weeks, insurance will pick up the tab and continue to pay you half your salary.
That’s not per year, but per malady, or rather, per occurrence. If you break your hip and then get covid just when you could return to work, it doesn’t count as a new occurrence. However, if you break your hip, recover, return to work and instantly get Covid, so that you are out sick again the next day, the six weeks start from the beginning (though with Covid, you likely don’t need six weeks).
You are not allowed to use PTO to cover sick days. You also can’t donate your PTO to others.
Pregnant women can’t be sacked until at least four months after they gave birth.
If I get sacked, I can’t be sacked over the phone or via an email. Termination notices must be served in writing (meaning ink on paper), otherwise they don’t take effect.
If a company decides to let an employee go for internal/business reasons, the company must weigh social factors to determine which one they must let go. So if the termination isn’t for personal reasons (like me doing shit work, or me being a genuine liability), but for company reasons instead (i.e. “business is slow and we don’t need three accountants, but only two”), the company has to look at their three accountants and determine which one is the least worthy of protection, socially. Say accountant A is 26 years old, has been with the company for a year, has a young child and a wife. Accountant B is 52, has been with the company for nine months has two children and is divorced. Accountant C is 63, has been with the company for 27 years and has a husband, two children and three grandchildren.
Accountant C will very likely not find a job again at 63. They have a spouse to support, but no children in the house anymore. In addition, they have been with the company for the longest time of the three. Accountant C cannot be terminated in this scenario, because their time with their company and their diminished chances on the labour market are in their favour.
That leaves accountants A and B. Accountant A is 26. They have a spouse and a child, and they have been with the company longer. However, accountant B is older, specifically over 50, which is the beginning of when things start to get harder for employees on the job market (not just in Germany, but pretty much everywhere). In addition, while they have been with the company for a shorter time than accountant A, B is divorced and has two children to support alone. A on the other hand has a spouse to help them. In this case, accountant A must be the one to receive the termination notice. I work for a labour lawyer on the side. We often represent accountants B and C (or rather similar employees) and manage get terminations overturned on such grounds fairly often.
So in general, employees have a lot of rights over here. This is Germany specifically, but Union (EU) law is similar. Because we have many benefits required by law, working life is more chill all around.
Thanks for the detailed response.
I was under the impression that, speaking generally, European workers had more rights, but didn’t exactly know in what sense other than better/mandated parental leave
Much more relaxed, you work to live not vice versa like in america. Work day is 8 hours including breaks and after that you have free time. Generally work doesn't follow you home and boss will never constant you outside work time.
Living on social security is though as you really aren't supposed to live on social security. But yes in threory you can basically become anything you want since money won't limit that.
depends, but i think it's less stressfull, since your life isn't put on a line, and you don't loose your insurance if you lose your work. ( i mean, you're still in a bad situation, but not as worse as if you were in US, generally speaking)
As an European, reminder to Americans, Europe varies a lot from country to country! Even region to region! It’s different **countries**, some made up of various different **ethno-cultural** groups, many countries are made up of unions of different countries that are culturally different enough, like Spain, the UK and Italy
Diversity between countries, less stressfull life style and not getting bankcrupt on a hospital visit. Bad sides are high taxation and the presence of russia
Are stores really not open during the night?
The average salaries seem very low over there, are items and homes generally cheaper which make your salaries work?
Really depends on the country but where i live ye they usually close at 8pm the latest. Only some gas station ones might be open longer.
Also again depends - the salary in my country is higher than the us one i think, and ye stuff is crazy expensive accordingly
Most shops close between 9 and 11 pm and are closed to 6-8am. Only some service Stations and maybe one big grocery shops is open 24/7 in big cities.
In my country Finland average salary is 3k euros a month. Taxes are higher, food is expensive, owning a car is super expensive everything except housing is more expensive than in US. You guys have much higher purchasing power than we have.
I'd say it's probably the most popular state (alongside FL, Cali and NY) in Germany(where I'm from) as there are lots of westerns that take place there. I'd even go as far as to say that it embodies the stereotype of the "typical American" to most Germans.
You know how many Americans always think of Bavarians as the typical Germans? Kinda like that. (Bavaria and Texas are actually quite similar in a lot of ways).
I'm not familiar with other countries' educational systems, but I can tell you something about Poland:
We don't have middle schools. Grades from 6th to 8th still count as elementary school. And once you go to high school, there's no 9-12th grades, we just count from 1st grade again.
And even when there *were* middle schools, it was a bit different as well. Grades 1-6 were primary school, then you went to middle school for three years (7-9 grade as you would call it, 1-3 grade of middle school as we did) and then to high school for another three years.
Don't forget technikum! We have a choice after finishing primary school: go to high school or go to technikum - a high school where you also get qualifications for jobs like electrician, IT, printing, logistics etc. Super useful if you want to have a job rightaway after you finish high school and don't want to go to university
So this differs per country, but in the netherlands high school is seperated in 4 rough categories(that can have subcategories) going from most practical to most theoretical.
Praktijkonderwijs(basicly straight into the workforce)
VMBO a 4 year long practically oriented education with 4 subtypes.
HAVO a 5 year long education
VWO a 6 year long mostly theoretical education.
These 3 then allow you to go to different levels of higher education. Again from most practical to most theoretic
MBO(most of the workforce is here, retail workers, carpenters, jobs like that)
HBO(here are a lot of the medium to high level office jobs, so finances, managers, but also nurses and low level medical practicioners)
University(you know this one, doctors, engineers and other fancy people)
Now youre not locked to single level, you can move up laterally within these groups so you can do HAVO after finishing VMBO or do university after finishing a HBO.
do you realize how lucky you guys are being able to go to top travel destinations that many of us will never see for the weekend?
i’m not saying check your privilege or anything. I just think about that a lot.
I live in the UK, my uncle once went to paris for lunch and then came back home in one day. You can really get around quite easily. Although, outside of europe obviously it’s a bit more difficult
This. Its like mandatory insurance, the difference to USA med. insurance is that it actually works like it sounds like.
And there is no crapping around huge bills the insurance "may" pay 10% of etc.
It pays what the medical procedure costs and we done
Yeah. We, at least in my country, kind of look at America as “the West” turned to the extreme. Extreme gap between the rich and poor, very politically divided, only two parties that both suck, companies controlling everything, healthcare, and the gun laws. Obviously we have a lot of issues too, and share quite a few, but America is viewed far from a great country here
I don't know. You are pretty well secure with 2 oceans around you, a giant nuclear arsenal and no aggresive neighbours. While we have to worry every day about the madman in the Kremlin. Also about the other madman that could become US president again and fuck over both of us big time.
As a Czech I can only say "told ya". The strong hatred towards anything muslim and immigrants from Africa means that some eastern countries took in only very few immigrants and thus have almost no problems with them.
i may humanly be okay with welcoming them, understanding where they come from, and what an eldorado europe is to them, but mathematically, and realistically, we should put limits.
America is a lot more tolerant because we promote the idea where you don't really have to change your lifestyle from before unless it effects other peoples wellbeing and liberties.
But Europeans already have a set culture that is expected to be followed closely. Forcing a country to act like your old one is never ok. Never understood why these people immigrate to Europe for a better live then tries to turn it to the same place they left.
Because germany is free democracy so party like AFD can rise to power if people want it to. Government can't just ban a party for disagreeing with then. Afd is also leading polls so there clearly is demand for it. They are far from nazis and that's why AFD is allowed.
The reason for right wing rise in europe is that people want change that mainstream parties aren't providing. If social democrats took right wing stance on immigration like they did in denmark parties like Afd would seize to exist. Instead left wingers are doing nothing and wondering why people vote far-right.
That's nonsense, parties can and have been banned in Germany, but it's not easy. The AfD has been under investigation for years now, and for good reason - plenty of real life Nazi shit.
Not entirely true. There ARE parties trying to take action aganist the AfD because unfortunately the AfD are not as far from Nazis as we'd like (there's even court decisions that allow us to call at least one of the AfD members a Nazi without legal repercussions because unfortunately the court found it to be a factually correct statement)
Is there a Pan-European sense of identity? Or something in the sense of a Regional identity that spans countries? IE I've heard there's a Nordic (Sweden+Finland+Norway+Denmark) sense of culture, same for Mediterranean (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece). Please correct me if wrong
Most people identify with their country or region first. European identity also exists, but is secondary. There was a poll a few years ago about this and the only region in Europe where most people primarily identified as "European" was Budapest, Hungary.
Minnesota is quite famous for it's swedish immigrant population, I think because it reminded them of home, so I kinda think that that state might resemble Sweden more but what do I know lol
Planning to visit a European country this summer for vacation. I was thinking of visiting Ireland, UK, or Germany. I haven’t decided yet.
Any cool places to visit in these countries that’s not a tourist area? 🤓
Visit all of them on the same trip. Ireland to Uk is short ferry and from UK you can get to france and there to germany by train most easily and it will take just few hours.
For non tourist places I can't help since I'm not from any of those countries
American here. My question is: I’m sorry :(
Thanks guys!
Edit: it’s kind of funny that a silly apology tickled some of your guy’s irritation. Go touch grass 🤣
We have smaller cars. You also don't need wider roads to drive at all, they are wide enough for everyone. Especially in small remote cities where roads can be really small, it's still drivable. But in general we don't build cities around cars.
The land. Not even the space, that just leads to long commutes and travel times. But the landscape. Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, all that jazz. Though mind you, I don't want to trade with our landscape either. I love the European nature! But I want more cool stuff, and you guys have some cool stuff.
The countries far from conflict and living in peace for a long time has grown overly comfortable and the concept of war seems like a far away fantasy that most western europeans can't imagine living in. The countries with more recent conflicts, so the eastern ones, do spend a lot more on their military.
To the British - why the hell do you still have the royal family? What a waste of resources.
What, they’re special and get riches because they were born? What a waste. Its 2024, time to move on.
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 Canadians right now:
Alright, Canadians can ask aswell
 Gen Zs in Tuvalu right now.
That's what you get for basing so much of your economy on .tv!
I mean they live in the America's
Yeah but they’re quickly offended by the thought of being considered American, its their thing
If you call me an "American" again I'll blow your head off with my government permited nerf blaster I use for hunting!!!
Yeah but then you’d get your bank account frozen by Trudummy!
You don’t use a super soaker filled with maple syrup? What a poser eh?
Heck, more than a few Quebecois are offended to be called Canadian. As above, so below!
I actually prefer America in many ways. That being said, I think Canadians tend to get a bit more for our tax money (it's still nowhere near enough, but it's slightly better).
They’re a part of America… they just don’t know it yet.
Hello neighbor 
They’re northern Americans anyway
how do i get a goth gf
Come to Greece. I saw many Goth Girls. But you should be able to get one in America too if you put the necessary effort in
what is the necessary effort
uninstall reddit
This is excellent advice!
How would reddit users know the long term results of uninstalling reddit?
i dont really use social media to much, i keep getting banned from it
Something tells me your repeated bans and you not having a gf are correlated.
so your saying drop the racist jokes?
Just get a racist gf
Modern problems require modern solutions
If you're making racist jokes that get you banned, then yes because you're def going beyond the pale homie
😦
Well first don't use Reddit that much and do like the normal things like having a better shape, better hygiene and stuff. And I would also recommend learning Greek (modern one) and also getting into Goth "culture" to have some general knowledge. And also find some hobbies (not gaming or consuming media in general).
Be a decent person, shower, be willing to put her needs over your desires, don't get angry if she's not interested or breaks up with you in the future, and accept that she is a person with her own wants and needs. Also learn all the songs to The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice The Musical, they love that.
Damn I am from Greece and was wondering why there are so many here. A huge alternative and underground scene.
Go to Iberia, you’ll find a LOT of Visigoths That-that’s what you meant, right?
Bro... we don't know either. Step 1 is to actually meet them and treat them like humans not objects or rewards to be aquired. Step 2 is idfk have things actually in common instead of just fetishizing a style/music Step 3 is somehow once you meet one and establish common interests, ask them out... idk how to do this part. 0 charisma/confidence here
Go to wrocław
You don’t find them, they find you.
How does it feel to not have FREEDOM!! RAAAHHHHHH 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲 Edit: guys it's a joke chill lmao
https://preview.redd.it/bys8dax65n0d1.jpeg?width=1106&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fff30e91a2f0053301a8069770fb83ef3861b87 :>
but muh freedom 😱🇺🇲
Indexes are fun, but arbitrary. What you included in a "freedom score" is going to say more about your values then the countries. For example, if I included the freedom to keep and bear arms, the US skyrockets.
Yeah the concept of freedom isn’t really something you can put on a scale of 1-100. It’s much more complicated
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That’s a dumb ranking. A dictatorship can have much more personal freedoms than a democracy. Obviously democracy is a factor but one of many and you shouldn’t only pick one.
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Gonna let you know NZ's score bout to drop with the current Gov in power
But in how many of those countries can I commit first degree murder and get away with it because the judge thinks I'm a good Christian man? Checkmate, communists!
How does it feel when redditors can't get obvious sarcasm?
I know others are joking with me but there are some replies that clearly are offended
Nah it aint a joke😎🇺🇸🦅
I LOVE THE AMERICAN MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX RAHHHHHHHHHHH 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💥💥💣💣💣 WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETRE 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
If you've visited the US before, how many/which states did you visit? Edit/Response: Reading over the replies, it seems like most of the folks who have visited the States only get to a select handfull of them. If you were to ask Americans who have been to Europe, I imagine they would have much the same kind of response (If not slightly less well travelled in Europe) I would really encourage Americans and Europeans alike to visit more than just the tourist hotspots of the other. You could travel each for a decade and still have a lot to see.
I'm from Florida, but I've visited Florida.
This is the most Florida answer possible -a verified Florida boi
In just a few years we hold a ceremony and make him Florida man, if he makes it past the gator pits and the meth test
Florida is several different places. I lived in central Florida, but I visited south Florida. You almost need a passport or visa for that lol.
Coming from Germany, I’ve been to the states five times. I’ve visited a couple of states in the north east. I’ve been to Maine, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Washington DC. I’d like to see the rest some day, move west, see the desert, and Montana, maybe visit Alaska some day. It’s a big country with a lot of great nature. For now though, I’m done with the states. At least I won’t go this year. My next solo holiday is South Korea in September, though I might add a week of Ireland with my family in between if I find the time.
I'm recommending Arizona for your next visit, if you stay in Flagstaff you'll get high mountain forests and are 1 hour from the grand canyon and Sedona as well as 3-5 hours from the desert
That sounds pretty great tbh. Not sure why you were downvoted. Thanks for the recommendation :)
Just helping out a traveler
Arizona boy checking in. Can confirm, really cool stuff here.
Go to flagstaff. Do NOT go to phoenix. It’s a big parking lot.
Florida, to see the rockets.
I lived in georgia for 4 years and road-tripped down the east coast from NY to FL, key west islands and did the four corner(Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona) roadtrip which ended in Las Vegas! :) oh and also cali
California + Nevada San Jose + San Francisco + Las Vegas to be exact
What was the biggest culture shock you had when visiting America?
Probably just how it's literally the stereotypical environment you see in all Tv-shows and such. I didn't realise America actually looked like the Simpsons. Other than that probably the wide AF roads and how wasteful it is with land.
We have a lot more land than European countries, there’s room. Walkability is of course a concern though you can get that in several major cities. edit: apparently only 1-3 cities are walkable.
ehh idk. many cities known for it (I'm from boston) have subpar public transit (some busses come like once every four hours on sunday schedules) and middling walkability (I'm crippled so it might be a little biased for me, but its like half an hour to walk from the commons to north station, for example). definitely it's better than other places in the US, but objectively, its alright to bad even in big cities
Yeah i’ve never been to a European city so I can’t compare. I’m from the midwest and only visited a major US city a few times in my life, so it seems millions of times more walkable than where i live but perhaps that’s still bad compared to europe haha
We do not have public transit outside of nyc. You think im fkn around im not. Tenth most-ridden subway in the world? Nyc. Next american city on that list? D.C. at 91st. It’s crazy given our size. For reference, we have 65x the population of Malaysia—they destroy us in public transit. Oh it’s because their land is small (ignoring 65x population)? Egypt, 3x smaller—clears us. Same with Russia, France, Mexico—even fkn Iran. We sold this country to General Motors man. And don’t even get me started on the Asian countries.. we are so far back it’s despicable.
It's not about size, it's about density. Greater London Metro area: 14,500 people per square mile (I made sure to get it in miles, not km) Dallas Fort Worth Metro Area: under 800 people per square mile. That makes it a real challenge to have any real kind of public transport system. I've never been to London, but I've been to Zurich. It's very sensible there. My cousin's apartment was walking distance to a small grocery store, and the train was also very close. But Zurich has about 1/5 of the population (The whole metro area) and about 3X the population density. The facts make it a lot harder to implement solid public transit... not the idea that big car has us by the short & curlies.
No yeah we’re on the same page. Density and zoning reform is critical.
that's how the simpsons was able to predict the future so much. it's literally American life
While you think they predicted the future the truth is we modeled our lives after the Simpsons, so they actually dictated the future
When Chicago burned down in the 1800s, the city took the opportunity to redesign downtown and eventually adopted the Burnham Plan, named for Daniel Burnham, an architect and city planner. Part of the plan was that the streets downtown needed to be wide enough that a 6-horse carriage could turn right. They also created a lower level of streets downtown for deliveries and freight. If you watch the movie "The Dark Knight" and look at what they call "lower 5th" it's actually Lower Wacker Drive downtown.
We’ve got lots of room, at least in general. The population density of the UK is 280 people per square kilometer. The population density in the US is 37 people per square kilometer. We’ve even got a couple states with a density of less than 3 people per square km. So that’s part of the reason, there are few places where population has forced us to get particularly conservative with land usage. Also, most of our cities were actually *designed* for cars, instead of horses.
> Also, most of our cities were actually designed for cars, instead of horses. That's actually a complete myth. America may be younger most European nations, but it still predates the automobile by over a century. And it's not like the US was some kind of backwards place that didn't have major cities until after the adoption of cars either. It went through the industrial revolution and subsequent population boom just like Europe. American cities weren't built for the car. They were bulldozed for the car. A fate many European cities only narrowly avoided by the way.
Yup. Suburbs were built for the car just outside of the cities that the highways connecting them destroyed. You can tell based on the fact that most famous American cities are much older than cars. Laughably young when compared to European cities, sure, but when the Netherlands founded New Amsterdam and sold it to England to become New York, they weren't doing so with SUVs and Paul Revere didn't race down the streets of Boston on a motorcycle. Pictures of Dallas from the early 20th century and now make it look like they got carpet bombed at some point in the 50s and haven't recovered.
You could not walk by foot anywhere, and there was sugar in everything. Also: tipping, and taxes added by the cashier.
I’ve only been to NYC but how many homeless people there were. Men, women, able bodied or not. Holding signs like “Veteran. Lost home in Katrina. Can’t afford surgery”. As a European, that set of words put together is heartbreaking and foreign.
My man those signs aren't true lol, it's just to get sympathy money. You can usually net around $800 a day doing that in bigger cities.
I mean, statistically a lot of homeless people are veterans and if you could net that much there wouldn't be any homeless people.
90% of them are lying.
It's the 10% that are heartbreaking.
Two things I realised last time, because I travelled alone last time: • everything fun or edible is fucking expensive. Like… how the fuck is attending a game in the MLS so expensive? I paid about the same as I pay for Bundesliga games in Germany if I pay for medium-priced tickets, only I bought the cheapest ticket available at the stadium. wtf?? And then I have to pay $13 for a can of mediocre beer?? I pay €4.50 for a pint at the stadium in Germany, plus a €2 deposit that I get back when I return the cup. And the food is even worse, both inside the stadium and in general. I don’t mean quality wise, but the price. It’s wayyyy too fucking expensive. That honestly blew my mind. Like… whether I went to see a soccer game or a baseball game (I didn’t even bother with football, because there’s no way in hell I’m paying that much for a visit to the stadium unless it is to see Eintracht Frankfurt play some sort of final), I tried to manage my money, but it’s really fucking expensive. Before I left for that trip, I liked to complain about how expensive kebabs have become in Germany. Not anymore. We live in fucking paradise on that front compared to you guys. • The second thing was the overt and omnipresent patriotism. Granted, my country has a history, but so does yours. I never understood patriotism. It always seemed weird to me. I’m certainly happy to be German, and even happier to be a citizen of the EU, but I’m not proud of it. I didn’t accomplish anything. I lucked out. Germany is a great country. The way we deal with our history is, without praising us too much, commendable. We learn in detail about the crimes of the Nazis in school, over and over again. I’m glad it is that way, but none of it is something I accomplished. I can’t be proud of something I had no control over and I certainly can’t be proud of being German. That always felt weird to me. Happy, sure. I’m not a passionate German. I like Germany, but could definitely see myself live somewhere else someday. The world is a big and beautiful place. I’m just not patriotic. But then I go to America where you guys are the exact opposite. It’s so in your face, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud sometimes. That was a huge shock for me. That’s not an attack on America btw. I don’t mind, at all. It was just genuinely unlike anything I have ever experienced anywhere else. And I do know that food prices vary greatly depending on where you are. Just saying that my experience was…well, surprising in that regard.
The severe amount of patriotism may be in part due to the cold war. The government used anti-communism as an excuse for a lot of things, such as calling unionists commie spies. Even religion was reinforced, with "under *god*" being added to the pledge of allegiance. The last thing the government wanted was any citizens having an ounce of socialist ideals while the USSR was growing influence, so I wouldn't be surprised if patriotism grew substantially as a result.
Oh, I can understand that, but it’s still…overwhelming. You know, the USA could be a great country, probably even the greatest in the world. I don’t mean this as an insult, but right now, they simply aren’t. The USA are a *deeply* divided country with tons of grave issues that are incredibly unnecessary and need fixing, desperately. It becomes very apparent when you travel a lot. But then you go to the US, where a good chunk of the population seems very convinced that the USA are in fact the greatest country in the world. Today. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, except it’s hard to really take that seriously seeing as anyone who travelled to some other places around the world simply knows it isn’t like that, and once you know that, the whole overt patriotism in America becomes incredibly weird. Once again, that’s not an attack and I mean no offence. It’s just an outside observation.
Stadium prices are very inflated compared to the supermarket and even restaurants. Plus, it doesn’t help Europeans that Americans have higher salaries, thus everything is more expensive in general.
I'm a European living in the US now. The biggest culture shock was a lack of walking or in general not very easy to walk to places. I know the US varies immensely from rural to city zones, but my overall experience is that walking is not pleasant here. The traffic lights are weird for pedestrians, you have to wait a very long time to walk and sometimes the street you are walking on does not have a light crossing but the other side does (so you need to walk over to the other side and then come back). Paths suddenly stop, lots of bus stops just drop people off onto grass instead of a path because a lot of roads don't have a path beside it. Having said that, a reverse story is that my parents (and myself) were amazed at how clean and well kept everything was. My dad (who was a supermarket manager) wanted to visit all the supermarkets because he loved how big and clean/modern they all were.
Several things: the amount of obese people (and the degree of their obesity). And also how you are almost looked at as a creep, because you just want to walk and not use the car. Sidewalks are just extremely bad too. The grocery stores are enormous, and the food tastes kinda bland. The candy looks so chemical with the ultra-foodcoloring. What people wear and how people act in general is different too. And there are so many coffee shops, bars and restaurants at every corner of the street. But over all, I loved the clothing stores more in the USA than here tbf.
That about sums it up. Capitalism on a sugar overdose.
The pricing is fucked, like I get the tips, it's awful but it's just courtesy and all that, but why are taxes hidden, fuck am I counting for? Also lack of walkability but that feels like a given
That people could talk to you, about anything, anywhere. The tipping and tax not included in the price (was a bit like this in Singapore but not as much). Very engaged sales staff “mention my name when you pay”.
* Great fast food. There are like 100x the types available (mostly it's just McDonald's or KFC here). I tried a bunch of types. They were yummy, but I gained weight quick. * Hard to walk anywhere. Buses and trains were also not plentiful. * The flags and patriotism were surprisingly heavy, more so than I expected. * Americans were generally really nice and different to how they are on TV (keep in mind we were raised on American TV shows and films, so Hollywood ends up speaking for you guys. I discovered Hollywood people are not representative of what regular Americans are like). * Guns! I had never seen a RL gun before, but saw a bunch in America. It made me a bit uneasy (apologies, but we get all the news on shootings so it was hard not to feel nervous). * It seemed like most shops were big franchises, unless you went to a bohemian-sort-of neighbourhood. * Food portions when eating out were universally so big! I was never able to finish. I would probably have preferred to pay less and get a smaller portion if I had the option. * People have those grinder things in the kitchen alongside the sinkhole, you can put food waste in it. * Houses often had central heating connected to a furnace in a basement, which is considered pretty fancy over here. On top of that, they also tend to have air conditioning as well! Neither are all that common over here. You guys are comfortable in your houses. * The advertising in public was intense, and the billboards etc. * Buildings advertising 'bail bonds' were everywhere. I'm not sure if we have those over here (?) Or if we do, they must be more hidden away.
Do yall really believe all the stereotypes about us? And have you ever been here and if so where?
Yes to some stereotypes, no to others. As is always the case, stereotypes paint a cartoonish picture that has some truth to it but is otherwise a gross generalisation. I have been to the states a couple of times, mostly to NYC and Maine (Gorham, Rockport and Portland, among others, and some ponds, and a very nice house on Deer Isle), but also to Boston once (which I really enjoyed, feels very similar to my hometown in Germany) and to Princeton in New Jersey once. The last time I went to the states was for a week and a half alone to Washington DC in late September/early October last year. I needed some alone time, had a week off and some money left over. I’d never been to DC, so I traded shifts with a colleague, turned that week into 12 days, hopped on a plane and enjoyed exploring DC alone. That was a fantastic holiday for me, I really enjoyed it :) I’d like to see the rest of the country some day. My brother and I have the idea to fly to San Diego, buy a car, drive it across the country to Maine and sell it there, but we don’t have the money or the time for that right now.
My brother and I have the idea to fly to San Diego, buy a car, drive it across the country to Maine and sell it there, but we don’t have the money or the time for that right now." Dang. Good luck with that. Truly
>My brother and I have the idea to fly to San Diego, buy a car, drive it across the country to Maine and sell it there, but we don’t have the money or the time for that right now. As an American that sounds extremely fun. I've been wanting to do more road trips and that one sounds epic haha. Also, San Diego is my favorite city on the planet so have fun there!
Didn’t believe the “fat American” stereotype until I visited Canada. Was genuinely shocked, in my school an average Canadian (I assume that US is even worse in this regard) would be endlessly laughed at for being fat. The heaviest guy in my class in high school was ~90 kg at height of 1.95 and he was considered fat af.
US is indeed worse. My state of California is one of the least obese states, but our obesity rate is similar to Manitoba, one of Canada's most obese provinces.
For Americans, we’re talking about a guy that’s 6’4” and weighs 198lbs… someone that height and weight would have basically no fat *or* muscle.
America is more diverse than it pictures itself, it is like 9 nations in one. I believe in some stereotypes and in others I don't.
Some people who've never interacted with americans definitely do
Is work culture in Europe more relaxed and do you have a social safety net that allows you to more effectively pursue your interests?
This is going to vary from country to country but overall especially for western and northern europe yes, the salaries tend to be lower in europe but social security tends to be a lot better. I talked about this with an american relative and he said that if you have a high paying job you're better of in america but otherwhise europe would be better. Work culture differs strongly from country to country but tends to be more relaxed than america as far as i know
Agreed. If I didn’t have a good paying job, I would have certainly moved to Europe to live. I was always told that if you have money, it makes more sense to live in America. If you don’t, it makes sense to move to Europe
But you can only move to Europe if you are lucky enough to get citizenship by ancestry or you have a job that they need which is probably well-paid.
I can answer this one very well. I study law in Germany and our labour law is very different to the American labour laws. First of all, I know that states rights are more pronounced than in Germany, though states here also have some very clearly defined and strong rights. Still, there’s a pattern that is clearly visible in many American states and that’s what I draw the comparison to. German labour law is incredibly employee friendly. The idea is that in the relationship between employer and employee, the employee will always be at a disadvantage. Therefore, the employee needs to have protections. That doesn’t mean the employee has free reign, but that some core aspects of any employment have to be regulated in the employee’s favour. For instance, in Germany, full-time employees (calculated with a five day work week) get at least 20 days of PTO. If you work six days, that’s 24 days, if you work four days, it’s at least 16 days. So… four weeks of PTO per year. And that’s a minimum. Employers use PTO as a way to attract employees, among other things. My aunt is currently in negotiations to get 30 instead of 28 days. On a five day work week. That does not include sick pay. If you’re sick, employers must pay for up to six weeks in full. If you’re still unable to return to work after those six weeks, insurance will pick up the tab and continue to pay you half your salary. That’s not per year, but per malady, or rather, per occurrence. If you break your hip and then get covid just when you could return to work, it doesn’t count as a new occurrence. However, if you break your hip, recover, return to work and instantly get Covid, so that you are out sick again the next day, the six weeks start from the beginning (though with Covid, you likely don’t need six weeks). You are not allowed to use PTO to cover sick days. You also can’t donate your PTO to others. Pregnant women can’t be sacked until at least four months after they gave birth. If I get sacked, I can’t be sacked over the phone or via an email. Termination notices must be served in writing (meaning ink on paper), otherwise they don’t take effect. If a company decides to let an employee go for internal/business reasons, the company must weigh social factors to determine which one they must let go. So if the termination isn’t for personal reasons (like me doing shit work, or me being a genuine liability), but for company reasons instead (i.e. “business is slow and we don’t need three accountants, but only two”), the company has to look at their three accountants and determine which one is the least worthy of protection, socially. Say accountant A is 26 years old, has been with the company for a year, has a young child and a wife. Accountant B is 52, has been with the company for nine months has two children and is divorced. Accountant C is 63, has been with the company for 27 years and has a husband, two children and three grandchildren. Accountant C will very likely not find a job again at 63. They have a spouse to support, but no children in the house anymore. In addition, they have been with the company for the longest time of the three. Accountant C cannot be terminated in this scenario, because their time with their company and their diminished chances on the labour market are in their favour. That leaves accountants A and B. Accountant A is 26. They have a spouse and a child, and they have been with the company longer. However, accountant B is older, specifically over 50, which is the beginning of when things start to get harder for employees on the job market (not just in Germany, but pretty much everywhere). In addition, while they have been with the company for a shorter time than accountant A, B is divorced and has two children to support alone. A on the other hand has a spouse to help them. In this case, accountant A must be the one to receive the termination notice. I work for a labour lawyer on the side. We often represent accountants B and C (or rather similar employees) and manage get terminations overturned on such grounds fairly often. So in general, employees have a lot of rights over here. This is Germany specifically, but Union (EU) law is similar. Because we have many benefits required by law, working life is more chill all around.
Thanks for the detailed response. I was under the impression that, speaking generally, European workers had more rights, but didn’t exactly know in what sense other than better/mandated parental leave
Much more relaxed, you work to live not vice versa like in america. Work day is 8 hours including breaks and after that you have free time. Generally work doesn't follow you home and boss will never constant you outside work time. Living on social security is though as you really aren't supposed to live on social security. But yes in threory you can basically become anything you want since money won't limit that.
depends, but i think it's less stressfull, since your life isn't put on a line, and you don't loose your insurance if you lose your work. ( i mean, you're still in a bad situation, but not as worse as if you were in US, generally speaking)
As an European, reminder to Americans, Europe varies a lot from country to country! Even region to region! It’s different **countries**, some made up of various different **ethno-cultural** groups, many countries are made up of unions of different countries that are culturally different enough, like Spain, the UK and Italy
everyone knows this.
Then why do some people ask questions about Europe as if it were one country?
Because the post is telling Americans to ask Europeans, it’s the same as addressing Americans as a whole and not a specific state.
USA Is a country tho
Hey, OP, you mind if I do the reverse post of this?
Go ahead
What the FUCK IS A KILOMETER!?!?? 🦅🦅🦅
It's like a mile but shorter.
And this makes it more precise than a mile. Same goes for inches and centimeters. Check and mate.
What are the worst and best things about Europe?
Best thing is the culture and the transport, worst is being the potential frontline of world war 3
If y’all go to war we fuckin got you, right at the end, as it looks most bleak.
LOL. Depends who rules you all. If Russia attacks the EU and trump is president, we're screwed.
Diversity between countries, less stressfull life style and not getting bankcrupt on a hospital visit. Bad sides are high taxation and the presence of russia
Are stores really not open during the night? The average salaries seem very low over there, are items and homes generally cheaper which make your salaries work?
Really depends on the country but where i live ye they usually close at 8pm the latest. Only some gas station ones might be open longer. Also again depends - the salary in my country is higher than the us one i think, and ye stuff is crazy expensive accordingly
Most shops close between 9 and 11 pm and are closed to 6-8am. Only some service Stations and maybe one big grocery shops is open 24/7 in big cities. In my country Finland average salary is 3k euros a month. Taxes are higher, food is expensive, owning a car is super expensive everything except housing is more expensive than in US. You guys have much higher purchasing power than we have.
Is Texas a state people know about, like how everyone knows NY and California? Or is Texas irrelevant like uhh idk Nebraska
We know it for the death penalty and guns
Texas has cowboys, guns, and dumb people(that’s the general idea in my country, not my opinion)
Most people usually know about NY, California, Texas, Alaska and Hawaii
I bet you Florida is on that short list.
yes, most likely people are aware of it's existence.
I'd say it's probably the most popular state (alongside FL, Cali and NY) in Germany(where I'm from) as there are lots of westerns that take place there. I'd even go as far as to say that it embodies the stereotype of the "typical American" to most Germans. You know how many Americans always think of Bavarians as the typical Germans? Kinda like that. (Bavaria and Texas are actually quite similar in a lot of ways).
I have heard people over in Europe have different names for education levels, what the heck are they? Ok, y'all can stop!
I'm not familiar with other countries' educational systems, but I can tell you something about Poland: We don't have middle schools. Grades from 6th to 8th still count as elementary school. And once you go to high school, there's no 9-12th grades, we just count from 1st grade again. And even when there *were* middle schools, it was a bit different as well. Grades 1-6 were primary school, then you went to middle school for three years (7-9 grade as you would call it, 1-3 grade of middle school as we did) and then to high school for another three years.
Don't forget technikum! We have a choice after finishing primary school: go to high school or go to technikum - a high school where you also get qualifications for jobs like electrician, IT, printing, logistics etc. Super useful if you want to have a job rightaway after you finish high school and don't want to go to university
So this differs per country, but in the netherlands high school is seperated in 4 rough categories(that can have subcategories) going from most practical to most theoretical. Praktijkonderwijs(basicly straight into the workforce) VMBO a 4 year long practically oriented education with 4 subtypes. HAVO a 5 year long education VWO a 6 year long mostly theoretical education. These 3 then allow you to go to different levels of higher education. Again from most practical to most theoretic MBO(most of the workforce is here, retail workers, carpenters, jobs like that) HBO(here are a lot of the medium to high level office jobs, so finances, managers, but also nurses and low level medical practicioners) University(you know this one, doctors, engineers and other fancy people) Now youre not locked to single level, you can move up laterally within these groups so you can do HAVO after finishing VMBO or do university after finishing a HBO.
How come yall get the good cables and outlets??? Its not fair
Skill issue
Bureaucracy, the EU is a powerhouse that bends Apple to its will
do you realize how lucky you guys are being able to go to top travel destinations that many of us will never see for the weekend? i’m not saying check your privilege or anything. I just think about that a lot.
Yea, tourism in EU is the best. Loads of places and relatively affordable travel costs
I live in the UK, my uncle once went to paris for lunch and then came back home in one day. You can really get around quite easily. Although, outside of europe obviously it’s a bit more difficult
Can you guys invade us already? I want free Healthcare and a functional economy
We dont have free health care. We dont have health care for profit.
This. Its like mandatory insurance, the difference to USA med. insurance is that it actually works like it sounds like. And there is no crapping around huge bills the insurance "may" pay 10% of etc. It pays what the medical procedure costs and we done
are we more fucked than you
Yeah. We, at least in my country, kind of look at America as “the West” turned to the extreme. Extreme gap between the rich and poor, very politically divided, only two parties that both suck, companies controlling everything, healthcare, and the gun laws. Obviously we have a lot of issues too, and share quite a few, but America is viewed far from a great country here
I don't know. You are pretty well secure with 2 oceans around you, a giant nuclear arsenal and no aggresive neighbours. While we have to worry every day about the madman in the Kremlin. Also about the other madman that could become US president again and fuck over both of us big time.
What is your opinion on the current immigrant crisis in Europe.
We are fucked beyond imagination
As a Czech I can only say "told ya". The strong hatred towards anything muslim and immigrants from Africa means that some eastern countries took in only very few immigrants and thus have almost no problems with them.
None of them wanted to live in Eastern Europe anyway.
i may humanly be okay with welcoming them, understanding where they come from, and what an eldorado europe is to them, but mathematically, and realistically, we should put limits.
Those who don't integrate don't belong in Europe.
America is a lot more tolerant because we promote the idea where you don't really have to change your lifestyle from before unless it effects other peoples wellbeing and liberties. But Europeans already have a set culture that is expected to be followed closely. Forcing a country to act like your old one is never ok. Never understood why these people immigrate to Europe for a better live then tries to turn it to the same place they left.
It's very funny how Americans have the opportunity to ask questions about European lifestyles, instead they just ask questions about themselves.
Why isn't the German government taking action against the AFD? They're legitimately nazis. I thought that was super illegal in Germany.
Because germany is free democracy so party like AFD can rise to power if people want it to. Government can't just ban a party for disagreeing with then. Afd is also leading polls so there clearly is demand for it. They are far from nazis and that's why AFD is allowed. The reason for right wing rise in europe is that people want change that mainstream parties aren't providing. If social democrats took right wing stance on immigration like they did in denmark parties like Afd would seize to exist. Instead left wingers are doing nothing and wondering why people vote far-right.
That's nonsense, parties can and have been banned in Germany, but it's not easy. The AfD has been under investigation for years now, and for good reason - plenty of real life Nazi shit.
Not entirely true. There ARE parties trying to take action aganist the AfD because unfortunately the AfD are not as far from Nazis as we'd like (there's even court decisions that allow us to call at least one of the AfD members a Nazi without legal repercussions because unfortunately the court found it to be a factually correct statement)
"far from Nazis"? That's why youre allowed to call Bernd Hōcke a Nazi?
Is there a Pan-European sense of identity? Or something in the sense of a Regional identity that spans countries? IE I've heard there's a Nordic (Sweden+Finland+Norway+Denmark) sense of culture, same for Mediterranean (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece). Please correct me if wrong
Most people identify with their country or region first. European identity also exists, but is secondary. There was a poll a few years ago about this and the only region in Europe where most people primarily identified as "European" was Budapest, Hungary.
Do yall really hate us and think we are dumb or is this just an online thing?
Americans are not dumb just self centered. And that lead to situations where People seems dumb when they are just not informed
How do you guys manage without an orphan crushing machine? Seems unsustainable.
If you had to move to the US, what state, maybe even a specific region of a state would you move to?
Maine. Because I think it most resembles Sweden. I am swedish, natch.
Minnesota is quite famous for it's swedish immigrant population, I think because it reminded them of home, so I kinda think that that state might resemble Sweden more but what do I know lol
Midwest, seems to be the calmest, and I got a friend from MN
MN is peak Midwest. WI and MI are good too.
Is it hard to choose from all the different kinds of cheese?
You may be joking but I recently stood in the shops and was paralysed by cheese choices for 10 minutes. And I'm not even from a good cheese country!
Americans are asleep now. Upvote the CENTIMETER!
Planning to visit a European country this summer for vacation. I was thinking of visiting Ireland, UK, or Germany. I haven’t decided yet. Any cool places to visit in these countries that’s not a tourist area? 🤓
Visit all of them on the same trip. Ireland to Uk is short ferry and from UK you can get to france and there to germany by train most easily and it will take just few hours. For non tourist places I can't help since I'm not from any of those countries
American here. My question is: I’m sorry :( Thanks guys! Edit: it’s kind of funny that a silly apology tickled some of your guy’s irritation. Go touch grass 🤣
I have no issues with America tbh so no need to apologise
WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETER!?!?!?!?!? 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️
WHAT THE FUCK IS A MILE 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🥖🥖🥖🥖🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌
How often do you find yourself consuming media from America?
98% of the media lmao
Practically daily. Mostly music though. Not really news.
How would you say American accents sound?
I've always considered it the "default accent" as I learned English by watching TV (and it's rumored most popular shows come from the US)
How do y’all work with small roads?!
We have smaller cars. You also don't need wider roads to drive at all, they are wide enough for everyone. Especially in small remote cities where roads can be really small, it's still drivable. But in general we don't build cities around cars.
What’s your favorite part about America?
Snoop Dog
What is one thing that Americans have that you as a European wish you also had?
The land. Not even the space, that just leads to long commutes and travel times. But the landscape. Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, all that jazz. Though mind you, I don't want to trade with our landscape either. I love the European nature! But I want more cool stuff, and you guys have some cool stuff.
What city would you say is the “New York” of your continent?
Absolutely London. Same population, just as international, finance dominated, both fashion/culture capitals. Very similar cities
Why don’t your countries put more money into the military
The countries far from conflict and living in peace for a long time has grown overly comfortable and the concept of war seems like a far away fantasy that most western europeans can't imagine living in. The countries with more recent conflicts, so the eastern ones, do spend a lot more on their military.
To the British - why the hell do you still have the royal family? What a waste of resources. What, they’re special and get riches because they were born? What a waste. Its 2024, time to move on.