35 Things You Appreciate About America After Living in Europe (rating, guns, spend)

[theunbrainwashed]

This is my personal experience from living in the UK and spending a nice time with my family in Germany:

1. Wrong. There are convenience stores, they just don't call them that.
2. I don't drink anything with the word diet in it, so I never noticed diet drinks or not.
3. This is true. You have to ask for ice in every place, otherwise you are served a drink with no ice in it.
4. Not sure about iced coffee. I'm a tea drinker and most coffee I drink is at home anyway
5. There's Netflix in the UK now, not sure about the other countries.
6. Contrary to popular belief, you can own and drive a car anywhere in Europe. If you own a diesel car, the fuel is not prohibitively expensive.
7. Never had frozen yogurt, don't want to either. But, I ate at this nice restaurant in a little town in Germany that had a killer yogurt based dessert with lots of fruits packed in and a touch of liquor
8. The adapter thing was annoying, having to buy a plug to fit into the British plug to Europlug. My stuff were all USB electronics and my laptop, so I bought a British AC cord (which I still have) and bought the Euro adapter for it.
9. Obviously this person has never been to a British high street before, where even clothes are cheaper than at outlets here. £4 for a good pair of jeans? Check.
10. Easy, cook your own food or buy some snacks during the day.
11. What is this, 1990?
12. Yes the bathrooms aren't free, but at least they are clean for the most part. This person is actually wrong. There are a lot more public bathrooms in Europe than in the US. A hell of a lot more.
13. I never noticed but I'm sure there is peanut butter over there, at least in the UK anyway.
14. Meh
15. I'm Hispanic, I'm used to no personal space lol
16. Meh
17. Changing everywhere now. More and more places are smoke-free
18. Depends which country and city you are in. Easiest place to find sushi would be London and Paris.
19. American football sucks
20. American snacks are crap
21. Again, is this 1990?
22. Never gone to the beach or pool in either place, so can't comment
23. At least in the UK water is free (you have to ask for tap water, otherwise they'll bring you bottled) everywhere I went
24. Only 2 holidays? Most people in Europe get 4+ weeks of vacation a year, plus holidays. So, with all that vacation you can ask off for 4th of July and Thanksgiving
25. My fiancee is like this, too. Mayo with French fries. But, there is ketchup, too. It's called ask for it.
26. This one I have to laugh at. Obviously this person stayed in a dorm, hotel, or hostel. Every house has a washer and dryer, sometimes combined into one unit, and more and more people have dishwashers in their home.
27. Never had a problem
28. This is true.
29. You don't need air conditioning in most European countries, since it never gets hot enough there for too long to warrant it.
30. This is very true and probably the only legitimate complaint on this whole list, that and #32
31. They never order pizza in Europe? Really?
32. This I really detest with a passion. UK and Germany are the exact same.
33. They close at 8 or 9, not exactly early.
34. Meh
35. Whiner.

Pretty much everything on that list is either untrue, outdated, or just plain whinging. Smacks me of either limited or no exposure to Europe. I've had the luxury of staying with my relatives and future in-laws so I had a much more thorough experience of daily life in Europe than the author did. Your mileage will vary. The water fountain and bug screen thing are the only legitimate complaints on the list. The rest is, suck it up and adjust, you're not in Kansas anymore.

[GCharlotte]

Originally Posted by weltschmerz

Do American bills have Braille on them?

Nope. There is nothing physically different about them unless there's a security strip but I've never felt that.

[weltschmerz]

Originally Posted by Canyon Cat

The only things I found on the list that made me grateful for being a 'Merikun are sushi and football and I highly doubt that either of those are hard to find in modern European cities.

Well, you will find football in Europe, but it looks suspiciously like soccer.

[Seabass Inna Bun]

They give me a little cookie with my coffee in most European countries. No American ever gave me a cookie with my coffee.

[weltschmerz]

Originally Posted by GCharlotte

Nope. There is nothing physically different about them unless there's a security strip but I've never felt that.

How do blind people know which bills they're handling? Why, they don't even come in rainbow colours for those who aren't completely blind yet!

[GCharlotte]

Originally Posted by Seabass Inna Bun

They give me a little cookie with my coffee in most European countries. No American ever gave me a cookie with my coffee.

We're trying to cut back on our entitlement culture.

[GCharlotte]

Originally Posted by weltschmerz

How do blind people know which bills they're handling? Why, they don't even come in rainbow colours for those who aren't completely blind yet!

There are methods but those methods require a sited person to fold or divide or similar methods.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by mb1547

If you have neighborhood shops that you can easily walk to, you don't need a car for every day use. If you need to go further afield, you can take public transportation. There's no need to drive very often if what you need is available locally. I live in a rural area, and we have to drive 10 miles to school, and 15 before you hit a grocery store. It's not all it's cracked up to be. We love living in the country so we do it, but the little self contained neighborhoods in most European cities are very convenient places to live.

It is. Still, even then, it's not hard to own and use a Europe anywhere in Europe, except places like London. Even then in London, people still own a car. Americans have this mindset that cars are somehow extremely expensive to own, they are not. Even poor people own cars in the EU, and people take roadtrips as well. My family in Germany all live in rural areas and each one owns their own car. If I ever move to the EU, you can bet I'm getting my own car, even if it's a little tiny one like a Ford Ka or Peugeot 107. My one cousin owns a diesel Audi A1 and gets about 50mpg and hauls ass on the Autobahn.

[Seabass Inna Bun]

Originally Posted by GCharlotte

We're trying to cut back on our entitlement culture.

Philistines.

[melaniej65]

Originally Posted by weltschmerz

How do blind people know which bills they're handling? Why, they don't even come in rainbow colours for those who aren't completely blind yet!

There is a talking currency reader, but if I am out and about on my own I just use dollar bills for purchases under $20 and use the currency reader for other purchases.