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In the Czech Republic we have always been taught that there are 6 continents. We do not consider North America to be a continent. But I guess it depend on where you are from.
* Everything is smaller (houses/apartments, roads, food portions, buildings, stores, etc.)
* High unemployment rate (Esp. in Eastern and Southern Europe)
* High youth unemployment rate in Western and Northern Europe
* Very high taxes
* Basically everything is more expensive
* Confusing road system and signs
* Less demographic diversity (but too high Islamic immigration)
* Less freedom
* Lack of skyscrapers in most cities
* No real and true suburban area like in the U.S./Canada
* Close to the Middle East (generally bad region)
* Less climate and landscape diversity (No tropical or desert climate in mainland Europe, and most of Europe have much less sunshine than most of U.S. and even Canada)
* Too many national languages
* Way less shopping stores and shopping opportunity (No wonder why Europeans go crazy when shopping in America)
* Big houses (McMansions) are rare
* Having own individual car is relatively uncommon
* Central Air and Heat is rare and something luxury
* Everything is too old
Feel free to add
* True in some European countries such as the UK.
* True
* High youth unemployment in the US too, but not as bad as Europe.
* Depends on the country. High taxes in France, Belgium or Sweden, but in Switzerland they are low
* Sooo true, except health care.
* Never noticed that
* Totally agree
* Again, that depends on where in America and where in Europe. For instance much easier to rent in Norway than in New York.
* That isn't really a big problem. They like their shorter cities. But I wished they did more to keep house prices down.
* Completely wrong.
* And US is close to Mexico, and Cuba.
* There are plenty of variaty. Not too many deserts, but thats it.
* Normally a non issue among young people who learn English.
* Well, at least the clothes inside are better. I can't believe the terrible clothes they sell in America. It seems like it is designed for fat people who are only going to keep it for a few years as they get too big for it
* True, but why would you want a mansion anyway. I only want a decent size house. A mansion is too much work.
* Most families have a car. Else, the public transport system is much better so no need to have a car for every single family member.
* You don't need it in the north, and they are too poor in the south.
* I think a lot of people like it being old
And here is some positives
* Much better public transport system
* Apart from UK, much better looking women
* Better layed out cities
* More night activities
* No gay hating
* Less bureaucracy
* Everything is smaller (houses/apartments, roads, food portions, buildings, stores, etc.)
* High unemployment rate (Esp. in Eastern and Southern Europe)
* High youth unemployment rate in Western and Northern Europe
* Very high taxes
* Basically everything is more expensive
* Confusing road system and signs
* Less demographic diversity (but too high Islamic immigration)
* Less freedom
* Lack of skyscrapers in most cities
* No real and true suburban area like in the U.S./Canada
* Close to the Middle East (generally bad region)
* Less climate and landscape diversity (No tropical or desert climate in mainland Europe, and most of Europe have much less sunshine than most of U.S. and even Canada)
* Too many national languages
* Way less shopping stores and shopping opportunity (No wonder why Europeans go crazy when shopping in America)
* Big houses (McMansions) are rare
* Having own individual car is relatively uncommon
* Central Air and Heat is rare and something luxury
* Everything is too old
Feel free to add
I agree that there is less shopping, fewer McMansions, and fewer car ownerships in Europe. Apartments are smaller, too. I just don't agree that such is necessarily bad. In the U.S. we have been conditioned by advertisers to think the key to happiness is owning more and more things, and many of us tend to get upset if we can't immediately get the latest gadget.
In many respects we are less free than Europeans because we are shackled with expectations that we must own more to command respect. That attitude has made us terrific at cheating one another and soaking third world countries for their minerals.
Would to God we would have more of a minimalist attitude.
Quote:
Spending more than a year not buying anything had cured me of the delusion that I could create the life I wanted out of stuff. Shopping is pretty boring when you know that nothing you buy will make a real difference in your life.I actually had to mourn that loss and then find excitement in more worthy activities. It was on a shopping trip about five months after I had paid off my debt when I first thought that maybe I should write about that thing where I kept getting rid of everything I owned. It had been going on for years by then, and I had barely ever questioned it. For a long time, I quickly replaced what I gave away with new things, so it wasn’t until I stopped buying new stuff that large spaces began opening up in my apartment. My closet looked like a museum of empty hangers.
I started to think consciously about what I was doing for the first time. Minimalism is misunderstood both by people who try to make it too simple and people who try to make it too complex. Minimalists are easy to criticize, because it’s the rare person who lives with so little that she can’t be accused of excess. I have seen people dismiss minimalism completely because the person writing about it uses too many words and is therefore a hypocrite. I have never been involved in anything more susceptible to hypocrisy than minimalism, and I study theology, so that’s saying something. I found my way to minimalism by accident, and I have continued on this path by walking very slowly. I always feel like I’m going in a direction, but I have never arrived, and now I don’t expect to.
You can look at the number of things I own and see my efforts toward minimalism, but the important part for me has to do with how I spend my time. It took me forever to get here, since you can keep yourself busy for years with the work of becoming a minimalist, which mostly involves constantly getting rid of things and figuring out how to live with less. But I am finally at a place where the distractions are so few that I have to figure out what I’m going to do with all of the empty space.
So Europe is light years ahead of us while not making an obvious attempt to do so. But just the idea of living in 250 square feet per person, or needing to wash clothes every third day, or taking public transportation or riding a bike and not owning a vehicle, or, for God's sake, no television, is enough for many Americans to start hyperventilating. Even many of the poorest families in the poorest state of Mississippi, who live on food stamps and other public dole, have a TV antenna on the roof of their hovel.
Europeans value things we have yet to discover--such as health care for all their citizens. Virtually all those nations have universal health care of some sort. Would we live with less so that all our citizens could have the same? I think not.
So Europe is light years ahead of us while not making an obvious attempt to do so. But just the idea of living in 250 square feet per person, or needing to wash clothes every third day, or taking public transportation or riding a bike and not owning a vehicle, or, for God's sake, no television, is enough for many Americans to start hyperventilating. Even many of the poorest families in the poorest state of Mississippi, who live on food stamps and other public dole, have a TV antenna on the roof of their hovel.
250 square feet per person - is okay, but many Europeans have to live on less.
needing to wash clothes every third day - You mean no washing machine? taking public transportation or riding a bike and not owning a vehicle - Even in Europe you need a car sometime, but maybe not a car for every single family member no television - How poor are you? A television cost 100 bucks.
Most people don't think it is a waste of time to have a movie night with your friends.
If I want to watch my favourite sitcom, movie etc., I go online and download it. In my free time I have better things to do than watching TV. But I know most people prefer watching TV to doing something else. That makes society fat and dumb..
As per FoxNews: "U.S. citizens are not allowed to travel to Cuba for mere tourism, though they can obtain licenses for academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange trips. The so-called people-to-people licenses were reinstated under the Obama administration and are designed to help promote civil society and independence from Cuban authorities."
Essentially, you need a license to travel to Cuba. An American may not book any independent travel to Cuba. That is why American tourists continue to fly via Mexico and do not have their passports stamped when entering or leaving Cuba.
Most people don't think it is a waste of time to have a movie night with your friends.
Where I live in Europe watching movies seems to be almost exclusively a family-at-home activity. When people (including young people) go out with their friends it is to places where they can talk to each other and interact, e.g. cafes, bars, walking through town, dancing.
I cannot honestly remember the last time I heard anyone say that they went out to films with friends, or even invited friends over to watch a film in their home.
Where I live in Europe watching movies seems to be almost exclusively a family-at-home activity. When people (including young people) go out with their friends it is to places where they can talk to each other and interact, e.g. cafes, bars, walking through town, dancing.
I cannot honestly remember the last time I heard anyone say that they went out to films with friends, or even invited friends over to watch a film in their home.
You are right. I have never invited my friends to watch TV. In fact I would never think of doing that. It sounds a little weird to me.
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Minimalist compared to the U.S.
