Differences between Europe and the USA

[Mustachekitteh]

Being in a relationship with a guy who lives in Europe, it's very interesting seeing all the differences between how each lives, their cities, cars, homes, and culture. Just in case some of you might not know any of the differences, they can be quite surprising. So this is my take on all that I've learned about it.

• Time, date, and measurments- Unlike in the USA which Americans use the 12hr clock, Europeans normally tell time using the 24hr clock. With dates Americans have it set so it's Month-day-year. Europeans do it by day-month-year. I'm sure most people already know this that Americans use the Imperial units. Europeans use Metric Units.


• Distance and how old things are- To Americans anything that is like 62.1371miles (100km) isn't a long distance at all. Since that won't get you far in the USA. Europeans find that a pretty good distance since they are able to get further in Europe. If a house in the USA is like 100 years old to us that is pretty old already. In Europe a 100 year old house isn't really that old at all.


• Castles- Of course this has to be on here. :D Everyone knows Europe is COVERED in castles. In the USA sadly we do not have any epic looking castles. :'(


• Free refills at fast food places- I honestly was surprised about this. Americans are able to get free refills at most fast food places. Yet in Europe they don't get any free refills at all.


• Serving size obscured- It's crazy how much 1 serving size of anything in the USA is extremely obscured. Since most things in the USA is huge and over sized. So when it comes to food the serving seizes are MUCH bigger than in Europe. So most Americans find that a normal serving size is extremely small because that's just how we have always seen it.


• Transportation-Americans are extremely dependent on cars it's sad.Since the USA is a huge country trying to get any where without a car is almost impossible unless you live a city.So europeans have more ways of getting around Europe without having to rely on cars.Plus europeans are more able to walk where ever they need to go.Trying to walk any where in the USA that isn't a city is impossible.


• Food- Europeans all have A LOT of traditional dishes. They also eat more balanced and varied meals. They don't really go to any fast food place compared to Americans.


• Advertising and commercials- In the USA you are CONSTANTLY seeing some kind of billboard with advertising on it. Even on highways/interestates they are just EVERYWHERE! In Europe they don't seem to really do that and are safe from all of that. In the USA it's like you see way more commercials than you're actually getting to watch the TV show. So commercials in the USA last like 3-4 minutes long. Plus during any sports game you're being bombarded by commercials as well. So when I watched a European football (soccer) game I was amazed how you didn't see any commercials till half time.


• Cars- In the USA you are constantly seeing HUGE trucks and it's rare to see any tiny cars like smart cars. In Europe they normally don't see pick up trucks all over the place or any huge vehicles.


• School breaks- In European schools they don't really have that many long breaks in the school year. In the USA you have like about 4 different long breaks. Summer vacation, fall break, winter break, and spring break. Then holiday breaks which are still more than Europeans get.


• Size of places- Homes, towns, and cities in Europe are normally very small compared to the ones in the USA. European roads aren't as wide compared to the ones in the USA.


• Religion- In the USA people are much more into religion and constantly talking about it. In Europe they don't really spread it around or make such a big deal compared to the USA.

That's all of the differences I can think of atm. I hope y'all enjoyed my take and if y'all know any other kinds of differences please list them. :)

[TheDevilInside]

The most absurd thing I find about the US are your measurement and dating systems. Who the hell mentions a DATE by the month first? Where, pray tell me, is the fucking LOGIC in that? Also, why don't the US roll with the rest of the fucking world and just fucking use the fucking metric system already? Or at least teach the metric system in your schools too so that when we're talking to an American, we don't have to convert everything to feet, miles, gallons, cups. Cups? What kind of measurement is that? What kind of cup should I use? teacup? espresso cup? coffee cup? my bra cup?

[Mustachekitteh]

I think it's because the government or who ever is to lazy to change it. Plus they do teach it in schools just nobody remembers it since we use the imperial system. So most don't feel the need to remember it.

[AleDeEurope]

Ahaha yeah, US measurements suck to be honest. I've been more than a year and a half and I still don't understand them very well. I have a unit converter in my phone xD

[HikerDude]

SI units are taught in schools, but we don't use them because they're not any more useful than anything else. Yes, conversions are simpler, but we don't convert with pen and paper anymore. Computers mitigate the issues with conversion. We tried to switch to SI in the '70s, and then thought, why change what isn't broken. We're the gold standard, not Europe , so why change our system to match that of the also-rans.

[TheDevilInside]

"we're the gold standard". Also typical arrogant American way of thinking.

[Skadouchebag]

I don't get the date thing either.

And probably part of the reason that we haven't fully switched to the metric system yet (we do in fact teach it in our schools. we actually use it more than you probably think) is that A) it was based on fractions that people use frequently (1/2, 13, 1/4, etc.) and B) it works amazingly well with recipes.

[TheDevilInside]

Asia and Europe use the metric measurements instead of "cups", and they have the best foods man has ever invented.

[Mustachekitteh]

I think the reason we won't switch is because people are just to damn lazy to learn it and make the switch.

[Hidden_P]

Ahahahahaha cup sizes... Completely agree, used to baffle me when i was a kid

[Dakota_The_Rota]

We absolutely DO learn the Metric system, what are you talking about?

[Dingsbums]

I also have the feeling that people from the USA talk way more about feminism but maybe I'm wrong. I just never heard someone discuss about it in Germany and this forum is full of it.

[JulyAndrews]

Because we live in a far more emancipated society. At least in The Netherlands. I know the Scandinavians are also very emancipated to.

[ManaX]

I am so bored of all the feminism talk on this website. Yeah the USA has got it bad.

[warumnicht]

This has puzzled me I think it's the same with the racism and police issues it's not the same situation in the US and Europe I feel at times as though groups here are hijacking things in the US and trying to say that it's happened in eu societies etc. I'm all for equality, whatever nonsense etc but they are just stupid at times and picking a fight that doesn't exist for the sake of it

[MaskedSanity]

I'm just curious which part of Europe you went to, because some of your comparisons are incorrect.

Since I lived in Lithuania majority of my life and +3 years in the UK, I can shed some light on certain European things.

Free drink refills are a very standard thing in many chains in the UK, so saying "not at all" is wrong. However, you'll find very few restaurants in Lithuania that would offer those.

Advertising and commercials. When I read your description, I could instantly picture various towns in both countries littered with them. Adverts are bloody everywhere: billboards, buses, houses, bus stops, windows, shop windows and even on packaging of unrelated products has some kind of ad.

School breaks. Again, not sure which part of Europe you went to, but I've had ALL of those breaks when I was going to school and UK kids get the same time off aka "half term" + summer break. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, our summer holidays are longer than UK or USA, because we got the WHOLE summer off, not just 1,5 - 2 months. 1st June - 1st September, 1st September being officially the first day of school/college/university.

Size of places. This really depends on where you go. The roads in the UK are ridiculously small. When I first came over, it was a culture shock for me to realize most roads were so tiny compared to Lithuania. Lithuanian roads are fairly wide, can easily fit in 2 vehicles on either side, if it's a smaller neighbourhood, and you can get 3-4 lanes on roads leading up to the city centre. Country roads usually have at least 2 lanes, unless you go somewhere very rural. Again, UK roads in comparison are puny.
Same goes for houses - UK houses are rather small and sometimes retardedly built i. e. super narrow hallways with awkwardly placed doors and stairs. Most people in Lithuania live in blocks of flats, so naturally there's more space to build wider roads. Most UK residents live in houses. If it's a flat, it's usually a house split into two halves. Some industrial cities have blocks, but not that many. London has more of those.

Just wanted to clear that up. :)

[GirlScoutsRevenge]

Agree with all points made by @MaskedSanity so won't bother posting them and repeating. School holidays are definitely the same and the roads are indeed puny, haha! But also the measurements thing, in the UK we still use imperial as well as metric but the Americans decided to use their own "imperial" so an American pint is larger than a proper pint. I also heard that the Americans used to use the old imperial yard. The yards offical length was set using a stick brought over with the British. After independence was gained the stick was lost in a house fire and with it the official length of a yard, so they just guessed it and made it up. I haven't looked this story up for accuracy yet though but I find it a funny idea :)

[Mustachekitteh]

The UK seems really different from any other European country. Which the the USA came from the UK so I would think the UK and USA would be kind of a like on some aspects of what I said. But the UK seems to have much more differences from the rest of the European countries. So i'm not talking about any specific country in Europe because that would be EXTREMELY long to wright that out and take years to live and visit every single country to get all the facts. So the list is based on common ground that you would find all over Europe and not just in 1 single country.

Also the country I did use the most with examples was with Portugal. Since

[Hidden_P]

"If it's a flat it's usually a house split in 2 halves"
That would be a semi detached house or a maisonette. Most flats are in blocks like everywhere else. The fun thing we have now is the bedroom tax - basically if you have a council house and you have a spare room, that room will be given to someone else. So with this, some people have started renting out spare rooms in their houses for extra money. Our houses are tiny though.

[MaskedSanity]

@Hidden_P

There are very few blocks where I live. I've seen quite a few blocks in Southampton and London, so I imagine the bigger the city, the more chance of blocks, lol.

I'm lucky, I live in a cute bungalow away from other houses, so no annoying neighbours, haha. When the election was all huffing and puffing, everyone was promising to abolish the bedroom tax. Wonder how soon they plan on doing that, pffft.

[Hidden_P]

Ah. I live in a rural town. The small city nearest thinks it's amazing and bigs itself up. Increasingly I see more blocks - the nearest large city is Birmingham. Thing is if you own the house you are fine. If you don't own it, I can understand the thought process - get a homeless man off the street into a room. However they aren't thinking of the families involved so...

[Butterfly1002]

I know you're getting a lot of slack right now about what you said about Europeans and Americans, and I really don't mean to add on to that, BUT dating someone who is of a different culture from you can teach you way more than the general facts you would get from any guide book on a country or continent. I think if you wrote an article on the struggles of an international relationship, that would be far more interesting and not lead you open to quite so much criticism. I know my first international relationship was absolutely mind-boggling. I swear I had no idea what was going on the entire time and all those signs you look for as a girl where completely off. I literally felt like I was going nuts! On top of that once you figure out that buying a bajillion goldfish from you means that the kiwi boy likes you (you need to watch flight of the concords if you don't catch that reference), you have a lifetime of other major battles ahead of you that no one realizes until there in it. How do you divide your time between countries? Where to raise your children? How to raise your children? Immigration issues? Long distance issues? Fidelity issues? Everything seems so much more stressful when its international because if you loose them, you may never see them again... While it's nice that you noticed Europe and America aren't the same, I think your actual insight would be far more appealing :)

[Mustachekitteh]

I don't mind about the criticism I really like it actually. Another good way to learn more about Europeans and how they live compared to here. :)

I'm not sure if I would be to qualified to right about my LDR with my boyfriend who lives in Portugal. Only because I haven't had a chance to go there or even more there yet. But reading about what happens if you become an illegal immigrant sounds extremely scary.

[Butterfly1002]

First of all, you are never unqualified to write about your own personal experience! In fact I would say that you are probably more qualified to write about LDR than a comparison of a place you have never been to than your home.

Secondly becoming an illegal immigrant is scary and I wouldn't suggest it, BUT since the EU is so close to countries that aren't part of the EU (i. e. Morocco or the U. K.) you can fairly easily border hop to avoid becoming an illegal immigrant. That being said, I would consider legal immigration first.

Thirdly, how did you meet your boyfriend? Did he live near you at any point? Because if he did you are probably even more aware of his struggles than he was :)

[Mustachekitteh]

That's true

After your able to become at least a citizen of Portugal. You have to pay a fee for how ever long your an illegal immigrant.

No he has never been in the USA. We met on an online game, lol. Which I'm sure most people would say,"that's not a relationship, how do you know he's real?" and other things like that lol

[Butterfly1002]

I mean he's more than likely real its just a question of how genuine is he but that is a question anyone could ask of any relationship...

[Mustachekitteh]

I see him through video chat on Skype. Which people could try to fact that but that would take way to much money and time. So most people couldn't go through that much trouble.

I've been in a LDR once before and met the person in person. Then having to leave after 2 weeks. I will say leaving was the most heartbreaking experience I've ever felt.

[Butterfly1002]

Actually the formation and maintenance of a healthy online LDR may be an interesting article especially in this day and age, it is more common than you think, but people don't really talk about it...

[Butterfly1002]

Leaving is ALWAYS the hardest!

[Mustachekitteh]

Me and my boyfriend have been in a LDR for over 3yrs now. But LDR are easier to do now these days thanks to stuff like Skype. :)

[Butterfly1002]

I know spain will grant visas to americans wanting to teach in spain, I would take a look and see if portugal does the same... but if they don't, go to spain and live on the border :)

[Butterfly1002]

dude thats far more interesting! You should right about your experience with a 3 year long LDR because I gotta be honest 3 months LDR's are a bear and a nightmare!

[meatballs21]

"Plus europeans are more able to walk where ever they need to go. Trying to walk any where in the USA that isn't a city is impossible."

You don't really go just wandering across open countryside anywhere as a means of travel. I think what you mean is that European cities are denser and so walking to your destination is much more viable than in most American cities because the distance is shorter.

Advertising and commercials, you didn't notice that the soccer pitch is surrounded with animated billboards? That the on-screen scoreboard was sponsored? That their UNIFORMS are sponsored? Billboards on the roadside aren't as common outside of cities, true, but they're still there and just as intrusive when they are.

Cars, have you actually left the cities and seen how many big trucks are on European highways? They don't enter the cities due to the narrow streets, so they are likely to use a smaller truck to bring the cargo from an out of town depot to the destination. The Sprinter van is probably the European equivalent to the ubiquitous pick up in North America.

Europeans get a LOT more vacation days than Americans.

[Mustachekitteh]

Yeah I noticed my choice of words weren't good on some. Sadly gag doesn't have it so that can be fixed. :'(

When I mean billboards and advertising I mean more when it comes to seeing billboards on the interstate (highway) and advertising when it comes to online stuff and tv shows.

Big trucks I'm meaning like pick ups. Like if I go to town I would see more than 20 pick up trucks each visit. Europe would use 16 wheels to have stuff moved around in the country. Though the difference in style is different. Still huge like ours.

Again I messed up my wording. :(

[Hannah591]

My country, Wales, UK has the most castles in Europe . :) There's about 3-4 castles about 20 minutes away from where I live.

We do get free refills in some restaurants.

I remember working in a hotel and some Americans came to visit and he pointed to the bowl with cereal, which you're meant to scoop your cereal from for your own bowl, and the little boy pointed to it saying, "is that for one person?". Their food proportions are like 4x bigger than ours. They seemed disappointed with our "tiny" bowls.

McDonalds are everywhere in my country and people go weekly or at 2am when they're drunk (is that just me?), so fast food is a big thing here, we just know to pace ourselves.

We have out fair share of adverts in popular areas and the TV adverts last 2 minutes but they may come on every 15 minutes for a programme. You guys have less intervals but longer TV adverts so you're watching TV adverts for approximately the same amount of time. Some adverts/programmes have encouraged people to go to make a cup of tea while they wait, haha. #BritishCulture

A lot of people have big cars to show their wealth. The roads are narrow, some lanes only fit one car, so it's nice to see wide roads but they're rare. The lanes we have only fit one and a quarter of a car.

Religion is definitely not as popular here than it is in the US. I believe it's more acceptable to be an Atheist in some parts compared to the US.

Good take idea though. :)

[CrazyAK]

I heard they breed big monkeys over there 'cough cough Bale cough cough'

[Watermelonoma]

im preparing some funds to buy my own castle house right smack in the middle of wales. i just need to fine tune my westminister accent so ill fit in well, along with hiring a few footmen. You guys are similar to us though. We do get free refills at some restaurants and we have smaller portion sizes compared to americans. McDonalds is everywhere, but unless you live in alaska, that'll be true no matter where you are, hah! I think our adverts are shorter than american's too. Though we actually get quite a few American adverts playing over in Canada too so i dunno. Like... that awkward moment when you're watching an advert for life insurance, and at the end of it you figure out that only americans are eligible -_- And lastly, we do have a lot less religious fervour over here, but i think europeans have us beat.

Anyways hannah, nice assessment of a good take. That's my final assessment of your assessment of the take. feel free to assess my assessment of your assessment of the take

[Hidden_P]

In wales? No they don't. If you are looking for a stereotype the common one for the welsh is they have sex with sheep. The places where much much breeding happens is areas like Birmingham. And it's not the English , it's the immigrants - have as many children born in the uk (and uk citizens) and they can't be removed.

No offence OO.

[Hannah591]

@watermelonoma A "Westminster accent" would be an English accent which would NOT fit well here. You need a Welsh, farmer accent. ;) There are those annoying adverts like you described, that are pretty much useless for British people. That last sentence made me laugh. I approve your assessment of my assessment of this myTake. :')

@Hidden_P I don't know what your'e getting at but what I wrote about the castles is true. I wasn't looking for a stereotype either?

[Hidden_P]

I didn't say anything about castles... I was referring to @CrazyAK's comment. I wasn't insulting you, I was telling him if he's going to be insulting at least get it correct. I was being flippant, not serious.

[Watermelonoma]

ill have to out-welsh you then. i should be able to within a week of practise. thanks for the tip my future footman :)

[AleDeEurope]

As someone that comes from Europe now living in the US, I completely agree with this.
I remember the first time I went to a restaurant in the US, the amount of food was sooooo big, my father and I were shocked to see such a big portion for so little money.

Also another difference is that in the US tipping is like a tradition, while in Europe people barely tip more than a few cents, if they tip at all.
The service in the US is much better, you get treated with more respect and education, trying to make the experience better. Perhaps it's because that way they earn a higher tip, but it's appreciated. In Europe the service isn't usually that great, it's common to find a shitty service, even in expensive restaurants.

Talking about TV commercials, it's true that in the US you have a lot of commercials, but it's just 3 minutes, in Spain our commercials are like 10-15 minutes long, and it happens after every 30-40 minutes.

Well, great Take. by the way, what do you prefer, the US or Europe? I go with the US, no doubt :P

[Mustachekitteh]

I go with Europe mostly because they are able to walk to more places. Plus if they are bored in their own country they can just drive like 1-2hrs or so and go to a completely different country. So the idea of country hopping sounds epic. ^^

[AleDeEurope]

Yeah, that's a problem I've seen in the US, well, not a problem, it's just how things are. But I live in Chicago, so to me a car is unnecessary, I can go anywhere with public transportation. But if I were in Los Angeles for example that'll be more complicated.
What you said about country hopping is a positive thing about Europe , and you won't even need a passport if you're citizen of Europe . But I lived in an island, so I could never go country hopping xD

But when it comes to people, the society, what do you prefer?

[tynamite]

Who sits through 10-15 minute commercials?

[AleDeEurope]

@tynamite I sure don't xD I change channels and watch something else in the meantime.

[VictoriousSausage]

There are lots of differences between europeans and americans, Typically by stereotype and attitude, americans are more open and confident than europeans, money doesn't matter as much in some parts of Europe than it does in america (if you ever go to Britain or any country in scandinavia you'll find that people there don't value money as much, but saying that you also have to look at the area in the country, i'm gonna focus on Britain here as i am British and its the easiest area to focus on for me. Even though there is financial problems in this country, you'll find that areas like Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, London, and just about anywhere else in the south doesn't value Money as much as a lot of the north might, this is mainly because of how the areas are built up and what areas have the highest tourism (mainly the south again) but as a whole the nation doesn't care so much because we have fallbacks, benefits, things we can rely on if something goes wrong, and, although they might disappear in the next five years (thank you cameron) you can see how lots of the european countries are much less capitalist and "you gotta get money or you'll die" than america is, and that's influenced opinions and attitudes in Europe and how we've developed, which is a major difference if you ask me (and you should know, you just read this far (thanks!)), but yeah, there are lots of differences between the Europeans and Americans, but the amount is getting smaller.

[front2back]

(1.) Americans, particularly math and science literate ones, use metric quite often. I don't know what the f**k someone is talking to me about when they mention a cubic inch but I can easily visualize a liter.
(2.) Distances change meaning with location. On the East Coast where there are many cities and such, even just 50 miles can give you access to A LOT. Even just 25. In middle America and on the West Coast, this isn't the case.
(3.) What's sad about us relying on cars? Cars are awesome! The US is one of the most car focused cultures in the world. Even if we had good access to public transportation and our jobs weren't far away, we'd still much rather have a car. Yes, there are huge vehicles everywhere. I consider the Mazda MX-5 to be one of the smallest cars I've ever seen. Irony is big American guys like me (1.9m, 100 kg) prefer small and fast cars to big trucks while the opposite is true. There's so many trucks around me in my small car it scares me when I drive. However, yes, a car is an absolute necessity and you can't just get a small one. No 1.0L Euro hot hatch will do. You need something that can at least hit 115 km/h for a sustained period of time since we drive on a lot of long, straight highways known as "Interstates" I travel a 35 km commute to my job every morning on an Interstate. My high school was 10km away. The only time I bike is around my college campus.
(4.) Oh yes, American cities are huge and their metropolitan areas are even bigger. My high school alone had 2000 kids attending it while a girl from Belgian had less people in her whole village. I live in a town with 30k people. The metro of my city holds over a million people. Americans live in big, bustling environments.

[warumnicht]

Those little Euro hot hatches don't particularly struggle maintaining 115kmph ish. It's what they're designed to do. Most are 1.6l actually ;)

We have less cars slightly but we've still got loads. I think the think Europeans look on in bewilderment Is the kind of veichles driven and that it seems so wasteful in honesty. Part of the public transport now is green environment stuff and it actually works out cheaper for some. We still like cars fast ones as well. I'll take a motorbike any day however :P

[26ukdude]

You are compaing Europe to the USA but there are so many differences in Europe since it consists of 30 or so countries. Eastern Europe is a world away from places like the UK and Scandinavia.

And the portion sizes and lack of healthy food (when I went to florida mc. donalds breakfast was actually healthier than the one in the hotel) it was a really hard job to find anything actually healthy, thats why you guys are the fattest people on earth.

[Mustachekitteh]

I've never been to Europe . So my take is from what I've learned from others who do live in Europe . It's interesting seeing the difference in living. So I just did an over all common ground type thing. It would be harder to explain every specific details about how people in each country in Europe lives.

[26ukdude]

well I live in England and can tell you that Europe is a very very diverse place. Not least because most countries have their own languages. There are even several in the UK. (Welsh, English , Gaelic (scottish), Cornish, Irish Gaelic and Manx)

[rAiNbOwTeRdZ]

Europe has banned over 3,000 dangerous chemicals. US has only banned 8. Dear Lord, help me!

[Skadouchebag]

Hey, that could mean that European health people are more paranoid just as easily as it could mean that American one's are lazy. Or it could be a little of both.

[rAiNbOwTeRdZ]

Hm, you never know. I'm a bit health paranoid and American.

[Mustachekitteh]

They are trying to kill us off because American companies don't want to put in the extra money to take out any harmful chemicals. :(

[warumnicht]

The biggest problem with American food is the amount of sugar you have in it. My Dad goes over their for work quite a bit. He hates it he says the foods awful and comes back saying it never fails to shock him how much more sugar is in your diets.

[rAiNbOwTeRdZ]

I know right!

[Mustachekitteh]

@rAiNbOwTeRdZ Something else greatly disturbing I found out. The food in the USA a good bit of it is banned in other countries due to unhealthy ingredient in them. Plus other countries make their foods healthier than ours even with the same products. We make them extremely unhealthy. I swear it our own country is trying to kill us.

foodbabe.com/.../

[rAiNbOwTeRdZ]

Yeah. I forced my parents to stop bringing us to fast food places because in school (this was 4/5 years ago) we got a nutrient class. I've never had Gatorade since.

[JulyAndrews]

From The Netherlands here and most of what you wrote is accurate. But we also eat fast food here, maybe not to the extent of the usa. We love our fries (chips for the British) though! With a lot of condiments, but mayonnaise is the classic choice.

Ow and we do have castles but not many.

And religion is indeed not much of a thing among the Dutch. We have our practicing Christians, Jehova's witnesses, Muslims, Jews, etc. But they are in the minority.

I think with the Scandinavian countries, Germany and Belgium we are the least religious (agnostic/atheistic) in Europe .

[vekin]

Also Dutch and i agree with you.

[musicbrain5]

Great take! I've noticed a lot of those differences as well, although I live in Canada so I'm used to metric measurements. That was nothing new when I went over to Europe . I definitely notice the portion size thing, even between the US and Canada - for example McDonald's in the US serves bigger portions and bigger drink sizes than McDonald's here. And in Europe it's completely different - some McDonald's over there serve beer and wine! I liked pretty much everything I ate over there - the dishes were tastier overall.

My husband is also European so he points these things out to me all the time.

[HikerDude]

So basically your thesis is that Europe is better than America in every respect. Hmmm... then why has the flow of immigration been predominantly westward across the Atlantic for the past 500 years? Europe is as least as fucked as America, and perhaps moreso, considering that all the world wars and most of the religious wars of antiquity began there. Xanadu it ain't.

[Mustachekitteh]

They both have their good and bad points. Just I like more of the points Europe has that America doesn't. Like how they add their tax to the price of something so your not having to guess what the total of it will be unlike here. Plus the healthcare system here is horrible and most of the best ones are European countries. Plus I like the fact they have more chances to walk around instead of driving in a car to get to where they need to be.

[HikerDude]

The horror stories about European healthcare are rampant. My uncle is a surgeon at medical center here, and he's operated on hundreds of Europeans who were left for dead because their healthcare system is inept or unwilling to treat many patients with serious ailments. Yes, Europe has socialized healthcare systems, which are good for family medicine, but they lag behind in the specialties and surgical arts.

by the way, Euros seem to hate cars, which is ridiculous to the sensibilities of Americans. We love our cars (and vehicles of all kinds) because we cherish the freedom and flexibility they provide. The US is essentially a continent, and we have states that are larger than France and Germany combined. No way to span those distances and all points in between with rail lines, and no reason to when you have cars.

[warumnicht]

No you're right the healthcare system needs work but the pharmaceutical industry Is so expensive now you need to make a choice between things with state care. Providing care for absolutely everything imaginable would be unaffordable or runs the risk of helping to cause the problems we have in the UK if a government gets in that abuses the budget to win votes then it causes problems and inefficienes etc etc. It needs work in the UK but its not as bad as it's made out to be by le media.

Europeans do like cars. Public transport is a much more efficient way of doing things and there's enough. It's cheaper for some most really and there are enough buses that they can go where they want when they're not commuting but there's still loads of cars, we like traveling. Me personally, I'll take my motorbike.
Sorry, I believe the British empire built rail networks across India. (Not quite as big yes but getting on that scale), is pre 21st British empire better than modern America for that ;)

[Mustachekitteh]

I never said Europeans hate cars. Just y'all don't have much of a need for cars since you can walk most places and also have so many transportation options. Plus I've heard y'alls gas prices are extremely OP.

With the health care I do base that off of the fact that on the ranks of countries with the best healthcare.thepatientfactor.com/.../

[KeeperofMee]

"then why has the flow of immigration been predominantly westward across the Atlantic for the past 500 years" Probably because we discovered America about 500 years ago. Considering most people already lived in Europe , Asia and Africa it's pretty obvious the people there would move to America and not from America to the other continents. Also, nowadays most people in the Americas speak either English , Spanish or French all which are common languages to be taught in schools around the world. This of course makes it easier to move to those countries as they know the language, compared to like moving to China.

[QuestionMan]

You forgot that in Europe unlike in Canada and the US, the tax is included in the price and not added at the cash register.
Personally I've always been baffled by the fact that the real price is not advertised and I've been living in Canada for 12 years.

[Mustachekitteh]

Yeah that part is really annoying since you end up having to guess how much the price might be. Normally I just round it all up 1 extra $. Though when it comes to buying a computer or anything like that. Just rounding it like that doesn't help and have no clue. :(

[QuestionMan]

by the way when is fall break in the US?
In Canada we have Christmas break (or winter break it's 2 weeks), spring break (1 week in March) and summer break (end of June till Labour day which is in September)

[Mustachekitteh]

I think fall break is in October but then we have like another week off in November because of Thanksgiving.

[QuestionMan]

Oh wow you get a week off.
We have Thanksgiving in October but we only get that one day off.
We usually have at least one long weekend per month though.
Even in February we have a holiday called Family Day which we take off.

[Dtegesd123]

its marketing scheme. If you included the tax you would get a higher more random number, so instead of 4.99 or 4.79, you might end up with number like 5.23, 5.14. Not comforting to the eye.

Same goes for the 4.99 bs. it'll make us think oh its not too expensive its 4 bucks instead of 5.

[QuestionMan]

@Dtegesd123 I know it's a marketing scheme meant to make you think that the object costs less but I see it as deceptive and morally deplorable.

[Hidden_P]

I like this. You missed out we drive manuals and some of us are on the other side of the car.
Our currency difference to you as well. I think currently $1 USA is equal to £0.64 in GBP (where I'm from). Things are generally a lot more expensive in Europe than america.
Guns - most places don't allow guns.

[Mustachekitteh]

Does the British use. for in money as well? I've seen most other European countries us the comma. Which scares me when I see something that says 70,000. I'm thinking like it's actually that much but that's because they use the comma.

[Hidden_P]

We use GBP (great British pounds). Comma is just because every 3 digits we separate the number to make it quicker to read. So 1,000 - 1 common = 1 thousand. Then the next jump, 1,000,000 1 million. A full stop indicates pence and you can only have a max of 99p (because then it's a pound and it goes over the decimal point). So £10,034.67 is 10 thousand and 34 pounds and 67 pence.
... Does that make sense? :S

[Dakota_The_Rota]

There is no difference with the comma thing, I don't know what they take owner meant by that.

[0112358]

In some parts of Europe the comma is used instead of a point as a decimal separator. Not the UK though.
@Dakora_The_Rota.

[Hidden_P]

Ahh @0112358 I did not know that. But in the take owner's example I think she was referring to the UK use of the comma? I might be wrong?

[Mustachekitteh]

@Hidden_P I do know the UK uses periods. I just mean when ever my boyfriend showed this online store or this store a German friend show. It had the comma and I was about to freak until I remember those places uses the comma. Maybe the comma might be a thing for any countries using the Euros as currency?

[Hidden_P]

To be honest, I didn't know the US didn't take owner! Is your boyfriend from the UK then? I feel I'm missing a huge bit of information why the comma flummoxed so much?

[Mustachekitteh]

@Hidden_P Oh no my boyfriend is from Portugal.

[Hidden_P]

Ah not far. I'm afraid I come from a poor family, I've been to Rome with my family (12 years ago) and rural France last year because my boyfriends parents live there. Fair enough babe xx

[vekin]

don't go often to starbucks but if i go i am always surprised how big a coffee cup is...

I think there is too much commrrcials and billboards here but luckily we can watch soccer without commercials except during the break

We have here every season a break from school but maybe they are indeed shorter

I have a car but i am. glad to have more options to get where i want to go to

We have fastfood to many American ones kfc, new york pizza and many more but don't if we go there less

difference you have forgotten is guns and other politic system we have more then just two parties

[KAZ-2Y5]

I was watching the doctors and they were talking about how shorter ingredients lists in Europe are compared to america probably because they banned a lot of chemicals and dyes. That's probably why they are healthier

[warumnicht]

That's true a lot of things are banned but the lack of sugar and corn syrup is the biggest thing. I live in the UK and it's spilling over here but I've friends in Germany and when I visited everyone seemed slimmer, healthier...

Taller... Smarter... Better looking... *goes stary eyed*

[Dtegesd123]

the whole world uses the Metric system. Why do you Americans use the imperial system. All this converting from cm to feet and inches really pisses me off.

[Jager66]

I agree! Here in Canada we are supposed to be on the metric system but it's more like a big cluster fuck of both randomly for anything.

[Dtegesd123]

yep, lol and I love how Americans come to Canada and be like, your road signs don't make sense, why aren't they in miles. Answer: screw your American imperialism bs

[TheDevilInside]

I always answer in metric. Let THEM convert and do all the work. It's not your responsibility to teach them what their countries has failed to do

[Mustachekitteh]

After a point. Working on converting things to metric does help you to memorize it and learn more about it.

[feliciaaa]

Interesting take :) I think one of the main reasons that we aren't as dependent on our cars is because, at least in Sweden, it's crazy expensive to get your driver's license. In the us it's considered more of a right to get your drivers license, if I'm not mistaken?
Here in Sweden it costs about 15000 sek which is about 1800 usd. Therefore the system with our public transportation is quite good, especially in the bigger cities.

[Aud_Queen]

Oh my god... You can get your license in the US, with all the fees added up for roughly $415 ($50 for permit and I payed $365 for driver's education courses.). And I thought that was expensive O. o

[Aztecwarrior480]

"Free Refills at Fast Food places" You got that one wrong. That depends more on the fast food places and the owners rather than what country the fast foods are in. As for the rest, you're correct.

I don't know what part of the United States you are from but here in AZ, only a very small percent of fast food places charge you extra for refills.

[Skadouchebag]

In all the states I've lived in, it depended on the drink, not the restaurant.

[DarkHumorRUs]

This is more like "What I Assume Is Different between Europe and the USA"

1) I don't see what's "sad" about driving cars. They're fun.
2) We (America) have food from all over the world, because we're a melting pot.
3) We have more space than Europe , that's why everything seems big
4) Why are you comparing a country to a continent?

[Mustachekitteh]

Because I've never had a friend who was Canadian so I have no clue how they do things in Canada.

[Mustachekitteh]

Driving for 17hrs just to get to another state isn't that much fun as well.

[Mustachekitteh]

or wait my 12hrs XD god I could kill myself if it was 17 lol

[DarkHumorRUs]

We have planes, ya know. We also have trains and subways and buses, and people in big cities use public transportation a lot.
Why are you talking about Canada?

[Mustachekitteh]

Dude I live in the USA I've never seen a subway, bus station, or train station. Those are only found in major cities like NY. The major cities do not make up a lot of the USA. So if you don't live near one at all your car is the only way to get around and that sucks if it breaks down because your screwed.

I'm not talking about Canada. You asked "Why are you comparing a country to a continent?" That's because Saying North America would include Canada and since I've never never talked to anyone who lives there I have no clue if they do the same thing as us. So I left them out.

[DarkHumorRUs]

Whatever man, I live in a smallish town and there are buses and light rails near me...

And I was saying that you can't compare Europe as a whole to the U. S., because Europe contains many countries.

[Mustachekitteh]

I've never seen a subway, train station, or bus station in all the states I've been to. Maybe it's a northern thing I don't know.

I'm not comparing every single country in Europe to the USA. Just common things you would most likely see if you went around touring Europe compared to if you walk around in the USA. Writing a list of all the different things from each different country in Europe would take many years of visiting and the list would be extremely long.

[Mustachekitteh]

Kind of pointless to tell me what I can or can not do when I already know.