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A few months ago, we did a piece on a viral thread that had Europeans revealing their biggest WTF moments while traveling in the US. But since planes fly both ways across the Atlantic, let's turn the tables, shall we?

Turns out, Reddit user Cyber-Gon submitted a question to r/AskReddit, asking: "Americans who visited Europe, what was your biggest WTF moment?" and their answers are just as entertaining as the Europeans'.

From divine German tap water to the number of bicycles in the Netherlands, here are some of the most-upvoted replies!

#1

Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Y'all get how many days of paid vacation?! And sick leave? And public healthcare?! And you don't live in a socialist hellhole like I've been told? America, you lied to me!

BarcodeNinja , Rene Schwietzke Report

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    #2

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Tripped on an escalator in England. Got stitches. Was laughed at when I offered to pay the bill. "What bill? This is the civilized world."

    godzillabobber , presidenciamx Report

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    Rick
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The person shouldn’t have laughed at you and instead gave you the appropriate form to complete in order to pay for the service you received from the NHS as a non-British citizen.

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    #3

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Toulouse, France, I went to a nice restaurant and ordered dinner. When it arrived, I was like, 'Where's the rest of it?' The waitress laughed, as she grew up there and in Canada. (I'm from Brooklyn, New York, where portions are huge.) She calmly told me to eat it and if I was still hungry to order another one. By the last bite, I was stuffed. That was my WTF moment: when I realized how rich and high quality the food was over there.

    Doc580 , beccafawley Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I am always overwelled by American portions, and I was born and raised here. American portions are ridiculous. Where else in the whole world would you have contests to see who can eat a 2kg (72oz) stake the fastest?

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    #4

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread It boggled my mind how old everything was and how it was still integrated into everyday life. Like in the UK, drinking in a pub that had been in the same spot since the 11th century or eating dinner at restaurant in an 18th-century cathedral. Or in Prague, staying in a hotel that had been operating since the 15th century

    ronluvstwizzlers , Gonçalo Trincão Cunha Report

    #5

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread My biggest WTF was coming back to the States. Seemed like such a downgrade.

    raditz495 , Aero Icarus Report

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    Mr. Derpy Dino
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    lol it kind of is... Ive always dreamed of going to Germany, but the cost of living there is a ton.

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    #6

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Not American, but Canadian.

    First time I went to Ireland, I go through customs and the agent says to me...

    "business or personal"

    "personal"

    "oh yeah, what's up?"

    "Visiting the Inlaws."

    "first time in Ireland?"

    "Yes sir"

    "feck*ng eh... Well, why ya standin around. go get pissed.

    golbezza , Willis Lam Report

    #7

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread We were driving through Spain, and to the side of one of the roads, we noticed these MASSIVE bird nests in the high power electrical towers. They were at least twice the size of eagles nests that I had seen. And there were so many of them!

    Then we saw these giant birds in them! We stopped by the side of the road and tried to take some pictures (didn’t have a great zoom lens, sadly). But no one else was stopping. It was so odd. We are accustomed to at least a few people stopping to watch the osprey, eagles, or other birds where I’m from.

    So a few days later, we are chatting with a German tourist, and we bring up the birds...

    I think she thought we were joking until we pulled out the pictures. Then she started laughing.

    Storks. Those are storks. Of course, don’t you know that? They are everywhere and such a nuisance. Don’t you have storks in America?

    Well...no?

    Then she looked confused. Well, if you don’t have storks, who brings the babies in kids stories?

    Storks.

    Um...how does that work?

    And that was when we realized that the story of the storks makes a whole lot more sense when storks are nesting on every chimney, tree, or tall place...

    notwearingwords , Bernt Rostad Report

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    Premislaus de Colo
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In Poland the storks are believed to be noble birds and are extremely regarded and respected. Some people would purposedly build starting of the nests for them just to have them in the neighbourhood.

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    #8

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread French butter made me stop and reflect on the beauty of being alive. I didn't think butter could be improved upon, but holy sh*t. So creamy."

    jjbutts , Justin Henry Report

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    #9

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread If something costs five euros, it's exactly that. Tax is included.

    Aaron1570 , Jeremy Noble Report

    #10

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Europe, wait staff are paid a living wage so they do not need tips. The eating experience is much more laid-back and slower in Europe, relative to America. It also seems like [European] wait staff is never trying to force you out of the restaurant once you are done eating.

    canesfan8193 , Shutterbug75 Report

    #11

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Went to Dover England and saw a mother f*cking castle. The newest section was built like 300-400 years before my country was founded. Turned a corner and the next part was 200 years older than that. Ten minutes later walk up to a Roman light house built 2000 years ago. Daaaammmnnn

    Edit: The best part was we arrived the night before we went to the castle. I didnt see it on the ride to the hotel. (We get inside and our room is the largest room we had seen at any of our hotels apparently the hotel was built by an American company so the rooms were built like they would be In the US.) I open the curtains to see what is out my window, usually a parking lot, another random building or something boring. Not today Yank, not today. CASTLE.

    nobodytrickedme , Wikimedia Commons Report

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    Sue Simmons
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Love this. Lived in USA 21 years and laughed at how old Americans think is old.

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    #12

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread I lived in Spain for 9 months at one point and was trying to get to the supermarket in the middle of a weekday and the entire city center was blocked off. I had to park and walk a ways and discovered that they were having a giant block party. Kegs and all. Around noon. Celebrating the towns new garbage trucks.

    I love Spain.

    Inspectorcatget , Salim Virji Report

    #13

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Funny enough, my biggest WTF moment came from an American. We were at a restaurant in Cinque Terre, Italy called Trattoria Dal Billy. About halfway through our meal, I overheard a guy with a Tennessee/Arkansas accent say, verbatim, in a frustrated tone "you need to speak more American!" to his waiter. This isn't Rome. This isn't Venice. It's a small town called Manarola. The odds of finding someone fluent in your language are drastically lowered; however, this guy was pompous enough to not only continue to berate his waiter, but then tell the manager who came around that he needs to hire someone who can speak American...in a foreign country...of which he obviously speaks ZERO of their language. Seriously, WTF!

    westicular , ongchinonn Report

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    #14

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread I was doing a study abroad program in the UK but also had to take monthly blood tests for a medication I had been put on before I flew over. I was fully prepared for a laundry list of paperwork and fees to deal with the tests as well as getting these results to my doctor back in the states.

    After the first blood test I went up to the receptionist and asked what I owed. She looked at me with a bit of confusion and said, "Oh, no, you're fine you can just go." My doctor doctor also got my blood results in less time than they did when I got them in the states. Screw our broken healthcare system.

    Glass_Jaw , valelopardo Report

    #15

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Went to Denmark on a whim with some friends. The biggest surprise was when I realized that I had met a ton of strangers over the course of a week and I had no idea what they did for a living. Never once did we talk about work or school.

    Ninjasensay , Free-Photos Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Amazing insight I'm going to screen cap this and repost to instagram. Americans are so brainwashed they don't know how hard they're being screwed.

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    #16

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Every night in Spain, around 3 a.m. this MASSIVE fleet of street scrubbers, vacuum-mobiles, and water hoses appeared and cleaned the entire city for about an hour. It was like ~100 people every night just cleaning the city. The following morning, all of Salamanca was spotless. That sh*t was magical.

    reddit , Garry Knight Report

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    respulero
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Better they do it. Salamanca is full of students partying all nites

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    #17

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread My biggest WTF moment was when I visited England and people respected me a lot more when I told them I was canadian and not american (I'm actually canadian)

    General-Snorlax , waferboard Report

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    Serial pacifist
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now that America is untrumped you might get some of that luv for being American too

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    #18

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread When I️ visited the hospital and had X-rays done, spoke with two doctors, and was triaged by a nurse, all with no health insurance, and my total bill was 24 euros. Then I️ had to pay 10 additional euros for some painkillers, again with no insurance or anything.

    literocola431 , AlarconAudiovisual Report

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    Serial pacifist
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I believe it is called basic human rights. Something about the right to live and have health taken care of.

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    #19

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In my early twenties, on my first trip to Europe, I took an Italian ocean liner, New York to Genoa. My WTF moment was going out on the deck on morning six for the foggy passage through the Straits of Gibraltar. Europe emerging through the mist on my left and North Africa on my right, coupled with the awareness of how many voyagers throughout history had sailed through that passage (including my Italian grandparents traveling in the other direction), gave me chills.

    Roundaboutsix , timeyres Report

    #20

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Not paying for a gynecological exam. I developed an ovarian cyst while in England that was causing some pain. I made an appointment at a health clinic and was examined. Afterwards, I expected to pay because A) that's always the first thing that happens in US healthcare and B) I was a foreigner who had never paid into the UK National Health Service. They just laughed and said, "We don't take money for services and we'd have no idea what to charge you".

    Mind blown. God save the NHS.

    SnapesGrayUnderpants , orzalaga Report

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    Nat Hedley
    Community Member
    3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You're our guest. We don't bankrupt you just because you got ill while you visited.

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    #21

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Amsterdam, the number of bicycles outside the central station. How the F do people find their bikes once they park them?! Also, the Dutch are easily the most graceful cyclists. The way you guys can weave through dumb folks standing in the bike paths is outstanding.

    gezelligs , frank saptel Report

    #22

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Spain, the siesta is real. I just thought that it was an archaic thing that some people did. Nope. Everything shuts down for an hour or two. Even in super-touristy places, 99% of shops and businesses shut down.

    the_planes_walker , Scottb211 Report

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    Pittsburgh rare
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This has to do more with extended working hours rather than actual siesta. Shops are open from 9-10 am to 8-9pm, so in order to not make more than 8 hours a day they have an unnecessarily long lunch break, but workers in big cities rarely get to have lunch at home, let alone take a nap.

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    #23

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Blatant nudity everywhere. Porn mags just sitting at the front of newsstands in the middle of the city. A giant graffiti penis and nobody cared. Made me realize how prudish we are in the US

    reddit , Stan Wiechers Report

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    Oerff On Tour
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Americans have the right to bare arms. Europeans have the right to bare their entire body

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    #24

    This was a few years ago before "chip" credit/bank cards were like "a thing" in the States. But when I stopped in Amsterdam, and hoped over to Latvia, I discovered that in both countries, my DEBIT card that needed to be swiped to buy anything, was like a weird old relic. Every cashier everywhere gave me a confused look when I handed them my card and they saw it didn't have a chip. They would, after I politely mentioned it had to be swiped, question whether or not that was even possible with their register. They always looked shocked to discover that the little slat along the side of their credit card thing was to be used to slide a card through. And when it actually worked, they always looked even MORE shocked. That's the first time I learned "Oh damn. Maybe America is behind in a lot of ways." Because everyone looked at my card as if it were carved out of stone and would pay them in some Flinstones-style currency that they were convinced they couldn't actually accept. By Day 2 of the trip, even I was like... "You f*cking American assh*le with your ancient technology."

    ameadows252 Report

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    Rick
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A guy from an American company shouted at me a few years ago when he wanted to fax something over to our office and I told him we didn’t have one. He angrily asked why we didn’t have a fax machine. I replied “because we’ve moved on from the 1990s”.

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    #25

    How easy and unencumbered by useless bullsh*t most things are.

    Getting on a 5:30 train from Burssels to Berlin? Show up at 5:20. And get laughed at by the Germans who will finish their beer at exactly 5:28 because they know the walk from the bar to the platform is 1 minute and 57 seconds.

    In the states that would require showing up at 3:15 because of at least 4 security checkpoints and 8 lines of people who can't figure out how an escalator works.

    FruitbatNT Report

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    Hayley Rodgers
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not to mention in many places in the US you don't know if it will be late or early or whatever. From what I understand, things run more on time in a lot, if not most, of Europe

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    #26

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread How to party like a German: pre-party on Friday at 11 p.m., get into club at 2 a.m., leave club on Sunday at 6 a.m. Germans are nuts, in a good way.

    Ooooweeee , Matthias Ripp Report

    #27

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread The quality of the fast food surprised me. Everything from the street vendors to chains like McDonald's was better quality then anything I'd gotten at home.

    Creepas5 , Mike Mozart Report

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    #28

    Late to the thread but here goes... Went to Sweden on a vacation package. Stayed at a wonderful historic hotel for part of the trip that had a restaurant inside of it. Part of our package called for a free dinner at the hotel and we had asked that it be the night we arrived.

    We arrived and got settled in our room and then went to check out the restaurant. As soon as we walked in, there was no one there, only a hostess. She immediately said they were expecting us and we could sit anywhere. There was no one else in this gorgeous, ornate restaurant. A waiter came out and said they had prepared a special meal for us. We asked why it was so empty and he said the restaurant was closed one day a week and today was that day.

    We were shocked, we apologized profusely and told them that we had booked through another company and would have just scheduled it for another day. He said it was no problem and we had some free extras such as wine and dessert. The main course ended up being a huge piece of meat, which we jokingly said must have been because we were big fat Americans. No one rushed us, we had a great time, and after we left they closed the restaurant for the night.

    It was a total WTF moment because if you booked something like this in America, they'd either force you to reschedule or just have the restaurant closed with no explanation.

    davidjoshualightman Report

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    #29

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Spain, everyone appears to be very thin yet I swear eats a loaf of bread a day.

    WilominoFilobuster , Nikchick Report

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    lenka
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Bread is not the enemy. Especially if it is made from flour without the added thickeners, stabilisers and preservatives. In most European countries, bread, and other food, is real.

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    #30

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread That their standard of living was just as high as ours, but everything was smaller. Smaller apartments, smaller cars, smaller grocery stores, and fewer jars of peanut butter in the smaller grocery stores.

    LadyCeer , Kenneth Lu Report

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    JennyLaRue
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I've never known standards of living to be measured in quantities of peanut butter 🤔

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    #32

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Lisbon, feeling proud of myself for eating late like a local at 9 p.m....only to walk into an empty restaurant. By the time I’d finished eating at 10 p.m., the place was full.

    western_style_hj , Free-Photos Report

    #33

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Italy, when buying a soccer ticket, they needed to know which team I was rooting for to determine where I could sit. Then, during the game, people were setting things on fire.

    groovychick , Maggio7 Report

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    Serial pacifist
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Aaaah, the tradition of stadium bonfires. Amazing how destructive people get and how quickly they get back in the prehistoric "wolfpack" mode when in an uncontrolled crowd.

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    #34

    Had a positive what the f*ck moment in Greece in the eastern Peloponnese where I saw a guy walk down to the end of a pier and throw an actual f*cking trident into the Aegean and pull out a wriggling octopus. Dude walked up the beach and handed it over the deck railing to a chef.

    reddit Report

    #35

    I lived in Germany for 8 years from 1992-2000 (Ages 4-12). I didn't realize it until I moved back to the states but there were recycling bins on EVERY street corner. It wasn't just a green bin then a trash can, it was a giant blue bin. One section for green glass, one for brown glass, one for clear glass, one for plastic, and one for paper.

    Oh and going to a German school, students took public transit. There wasn't such a thing as a school bus.

    bick803 Report

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    Carole Reid
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I saw kids with their school packs riding public transit to school in Germany and didn't think of no school bus until I read your post.

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    #36

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Most stores are not open on Sundays. Not even grocery stores.

    copper_tulip , Kristina D.C. Hoeppner Report

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    JennyLaRue
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This one would depend on the country, in the UK shops are open on Sundays, although for a more limited time. (UK still being in Europe, if not the EU)

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    #37

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Germany, they had the cleanest, safest, and best-tasting tap water, but nobody drank it and they called it toilet water.

    efshoemaker , Paulo O Report

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    Jeannette Treusch
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I am German and I can tell you: only beer and wine fanatics call it toilet water. In fact, Germans drink gallons of tap water.

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    #38

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread When I visited Prague, water cost two crowns and beer cost one.

    AmA_Mr_BS , Petr Dadák Report

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    Ivo H
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Just to make it clearer - approximately 22 crowns is one dollar. And the prices are exaggerated of course :) Beer is ~30 crowns (~$1.4) and water... it depends. But I seen it for as much as 60 crowns (~$2) per litre in some restaurants. It's because there is (or maybe was) law, that at least one non-alcoholic beverage has to be cheaper than beer, so most of the restaurants put tap water for such ridiculous price on menu, just to comply.

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    #39

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread British food. I went there expecting chip shops and roast dinner, but instead was amazed by every variety of tikka sauce that could possibly exist.

    Tess_ORourke , visualpun.ch Report

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    Sum Guy
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What did you think they british were doing when colonising the world... stealing our foods

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    #40

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread I was 16 years old, ordering a beer at McDonald's.

    NeetStreet_2 , Mike Mozart Report

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    Exquisite Spam
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Our school trip to Paris had wine and beer available at every meal. We were instructed in no uncertain terms we weren't to have it even though our meal tickets would cover it. Absolutely none of it smuggled up to the rooms noooo..

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    #41

    Basically how I drank everyday over there while studying abroad and actually lost weight between the walking everywhere and eating somewhat healthy food besides the processed stuff we have here.

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    #42

    Traveling to London - genuinely struck by how hard it is to understand people speaking English.

    It's not really the accents, but rather the phrases used to describe something that differ from how we hear it at home. For instance - I bought a croissant at a Costa near the train station and the cashier asked me "Take Away?". I had to ask him to repeat it 2 or 3 times before my friends clarified "he's asking if you want to take it out". Situations like this make you feel like a moron.

    4lton Report

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    Yvonne Dauwalder Balsiger
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In Switzerland, the expression "public viewing" means it is a live open air screening of a major sporting event (pretty much always soccer) and it has absolutely nothing to do with corpses. Also we say "handy" and mean mobile phone and people will say "pay Paul" and mean Pay Pal.

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    #43

    I am from the NY/NJ area, and have seen first hand how out of control sporting events can get. Guys, mostly, getting drunk, vandalizing property, throwing cans and bottles, fighting, etc.

    So when a group of friends went to Germany for Oktoberfest some years ago, we also wanted to see a football (soccer) game. So we got tickets to see Bayern Munich vs. some other German team in what, I think, was a meaningful game (we went more for the experience vs. being huge fans).

    Game is great. I think the score was 5-1, so lots of action. The energy in the stadium was undeniable. Fans singing, jumping around, yelling for the entire game. Game ends. Munich wins. Begin the march to the subway station.

    Virtually an entire stadium, it seemed, exited to go to this one nearest subway stop. There are 4, maybe 5 cops standing at the entrance steps. Uh oh. This is going to be a huge problem. THOUSANDS of people, lots of them intoxicated, heading toward these 5 cops at this one exit. It's going to be a disaster. Some guys start pissing on a fence within their view. WHAT ARE THEY DOING?! And then, as we watched nervously, the crowd reached the cops and .... just ... stopped.

    Everyone stopped. No one fought. The guys pissing finished up their business, zipped up and joined the queue. Cops let enough people by to fill the first train, then the rest stopped, and so on and so forth until our group went.

    It was incredible. That scene couldn't happen in America. Maybe this was an anomaly. But picturing an event at MSG, there's an army of State troopers to keep order, in addition to local cops, undercover cops, event security, etc. and brawls and things still erupt with regularity. This was amazing to us. We still talk about it years later..

    DoctorMyEyes_ Report

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    Péter Rózsahegyi
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Because they are in respect and you don't have to be afraid of the cops. You can make an eye contact w/o getting shot ;-)

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    #44

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Italy, there is virtually no threshold for how much distance should be left between a speeding car and any obstacles (including pedestrians) it is zooming past. A bus driver will rush down a narrow cobblestone street with about a centimeter to spare between the sides of the bus and any parked cars, walls, ancient monuments, or playing children.

    PullTheOtherOne , Oleg Brovko Report

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    Péter Rózsahegyi
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    1cm is about the size of 50M oxygen molecules. More than enough. By the way Italians are crazy on the roads (too). I'm trained in the Hungarian traffic but still frightened in Torino and Napoli.

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    #45

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread "This is the best bratwurst I've ever had.

    And this is an airport!"

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    #46

    Not really a WTF moment but seeing women in Rome navigating ancient stone roads and walkways wearing stiletto heels with no broken ankles impressed me quite a bit.

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    #47

    Went to France, spoke French, people were super nice to me.

    Mom went to France, didn't speak French, not so much.

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    #48

    In Germany they have to give something like 60 days notice if they are planning to fire/planning to quite a job. For some reason that seemed so crazy but I realized being fired with no notice whatever is pretty f*cked and we should have a similar system honestly:/ and how great their recycling system was. And also I didn't realize the water closet was the bathroom until after my trip. I felt stupid, really stupid.

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    Hiruya Sasariiel
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Under certain circumstances you can get out of a contract earlier. And its not always 60 days. It might depend on your contract or the time you work there. But yes, you need to do some real bad things to get fired on the spot

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    #49

    I went to Italy and France about 10 years ago. One thing that really stood out was I never saw ANY obese people. Quite a stark contrast from America.

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    Rick
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I am shocked and horrified at the number of obese people in America. Obviously some people can’t help it, but the ratio of the amount of people that are obese or very overweight compared to those that are not is awful.

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    #50

    My American friends who visited The Netherlands: Completely surprised by our bicycle 'things':

    a) so many bicycles -everywhere-

    b) everybody riding without a helmet

    c) so many different bicycles

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    #51

    One time in Rome, it started pouring. As I sought shelter, I saw an older man selling one single umbrella. Strange as it was, I needed that umbrella, so I haggled with him and settled on 3 Euro (he had the upper hand in that transaction).

    I wander over to a coffee shop to dry out for a little bit. When I go to leave, the umbrella is no longer in the bucket by the door. Upset at myself for being so trusting, I head into the rain again. Guess who I see? The same old man selling the same umbrella. I try to confront him about stealing back my umbrella, but he claims not to remember our interaction at all. It's pouring and I have a number of miles to walk, so I go through the same charade with him again to re-procure the umbrella.

    At least this time he took 2 Euro...

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    #52

    I was in Spain as an exchange student, I had bronchitis after the flight, my host family took me to the ER which gave me a pill that eliminated the illness entirely under 2 days. I slept, woke up 100% better. It was banned in the USA, I wish I could recall its name.

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    Vorknkx
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's amazing how a helpful pill can be banned in the US, but owning a whole collection of assault rifles is somehow "normal"... priorities, I guess.

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    #53

    We went to Rome, Florence, and Paris after my first year in college as a French major. I think I was just amazed the whole time like, “wow, this building is hundreds of years older than the country I live in.” The architecture of everything was stunning. My favorites were the duomo in Florence and Notre Dame de Paris.

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    I I
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    lol no it's older than the country you formed after stealing a country that was already there

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    #54

    2000 year old Roman columns sitting half sunken in a dudes yard, and he was just mowing around it like it was an old stump.

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    Wilf
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Same in the UK. My house is approaching 500 years old, and basically all I do is moan about things creaking, breaking, or being expensive to fix because its protected by law. It's only when people visit I am suddenly reminded of what a privilege it is to live somewhere with so much history.

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    #55

    Years ago my wife and I were in Amsterdam. We were strolling around the opera house at night and unexpectedly came across an outdoor art exhibit. It was photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The pictures were absolutely amazing and we spent what felt like hours looking at them. Suddenly out of nowhere a group of scantily dressed men on roller blades, decorated with lights and blaring disco music, came roller-blading by in a train and sped off into the night. It was mind blowing at the time. Definitely WTF, but in a good way.

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    #56

    I was in Spain and I saw a group of American tourists wearing sombreros.

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    #57

    I've lived in Asia for 10 years, so my opinion on things is a little different than your average 'murican, but I am an American who visited the EU a few years ago. I live in Japan actually and the biggest thing I noticed, in Italy is, DAMN, people here actually use their bumpers for bumping. Cars are ALL dinged and dented up. Compared to Japan and the US, it's crazy.

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    #58

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread Paying to use a public restroom. I get why, though. But it's just a horrible feeling if you really had to go and you don't have any change.

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    #59

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Germany, nudity on broadcast TV was very surprising. It wasn't even a 'necessary for the story' situation, just a margarine commercial with a naked woman swimming in a lake and stepping out of the water to eat some bread. During prime time. I know American TV is kind of prudish that way, but it was pretty shocking.

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    #60

    I didn’t know Parisians were actually going to be rude.

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    #61

    How nice everyone in France was to me, was told by everybody to expect the worst. Ended up meeting the nicest of people and honestly have only nice things to say about the people in Avignon, Tours, and Paris. Best was Tours by far. Ran into some snowboarders and bonded over that for a bit, bought rounds for each other, talked about Chicago (apparently one of the few cities they happen to have visited and I live in) given free drinks at a bar for drinking giardiniera laced rum (spiciest shot ever!) that they kept on a little pedestal. Hell, even the police and I had a great chat about MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu randomly on a local bus. Nothing but praise for the French, honestly that is my dream to go back one day. Sorry if that's not a typically WTF moment but I kept thinking every day "this is it, i'm going to run into the jerks today. Never happened though.

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    LakeMonster
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    France can be brilliant, especially if you make an effort to speak the language.

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    #62

    Rented a car and drove around Ireland for a week. One late evening another driver started flashing his lights at me and waving. I realized I had my brights on for awhile while I was behind him and was expecting to get b*tched out for it. I stopped to apologize but instead of getting b*tched out for it the other driver was incredibly polite, and just wanted to make sure I knew to turn them off.

    In the states you expect road rage for any minor infraction.

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    Ian Koch
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    quite a few of these have some form of a quote that goes "in the *U.S* doing *blank* would result in *something that doesn't happen in Europe*"

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    #63

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread In Paris, every meal takes three hours. I loved the culture and I'm all about eating a relaxing meal; but sometimes it was just like "WTF??" when we were on a schedule and had to meet up with a tour group or had reservations for something.

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    chi-wei shen
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Eating is much more than just filling your stomach. However, if you're in a hurry you usually can go to a fast-food restaurant or a street vendor.

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    #64

    I was a military brat living in Belgium when I saw a commercial on AFN (Armed Forces Network) that gave new arrivals to Europe a quick run-down of things. The one thing I learned and that has stuck with me is

    NO RIGHT TURN ON RED

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    #65

    Gypsy children on the train in Rome. They tried to forcibly take my pizza out of my hands. When I refused I was called a stupid American. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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    #66

    For me it was a lack of insects in England. Not that they don't exist but I'm from Michigan with lots of swampy land around me. When I showed up at my dorm and saw there was no screen on my window I was just thinking about all of the bugs that are gonna get in my room. I got one fly the entire month stay there.

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    #67

    Went to Spain, they weren’t speaking Spanish. I learned that Catalan existed (this was years ago).

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    Fred Van Der Zee
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Most Catalans speak Spanish though but more as a second language. When you are a foreigner they usually fall back to Spanish (or castellano as they call it in Catalan). Catalan is more related to French and Italian.

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    #68

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread I’ve never gotten stranger looks than when I would ask for a drink with some ice. One person had to confirm she understood my request.

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    Telmo Belo
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It depends on the drink. Cola, Fanta or sprite, is fine. Order ice on wine or milk and you'll be frowned upon, to say the least.

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    #69

    At a lake retreat in Germany, kids playing in/around the lake naked.

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    Andrew Gibb
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    not just kids- pretty much everyone. Visit a sauna if you want to really push your self-inflicted boundaries ;-)

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    #70

    The Vatican: You can't wear shorts. Luckily there are street vendors that'll sell you a pair of paper pants that cost about the same as a brand new pair of real pants.

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    Wilf
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Women can't expose their arms either. This is common in a lot of Catholic cathedrals in Europe.

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    #71

    Americans Reveal Their 40 Most WTF Moments While Visiting Europe In This Viral Thread I was in Greece and I didn't realize there were still places in the most developed parts of the world where you place your used toilet paper in the trash bin and not flush down the toilet.

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    Ivo H
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If I'm not mistaken, it's because of plumbing, which is too thin to put lots of toilet paper trough, so you would constantly risking clogging if you threw it there.

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    #72

    The sheer amount of alcohol that some people drink. Went out with some women in Portsmouth, England and each ordered a couple bottles of wine to themselves. At first I was impressed, but then they got pretty sloppy as the night goes on.

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    #73

    I was in Scotland this summer and in Edinburgh I asked someone for directions, they told me "Just go past the tron" in a very thick accent. I though she was saying "train" except while walking to the train I saw earlier I noticed a bar called The Tron.

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    Catherine Monelle
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Probably didn't mean the bar, but the Tron Kirk, a huge old church at the junction of the Royal Mile and the bridges. It's a major landmark in Edinburgh and would have been given as part of a direction without thinking. Sorry for the confusion.

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    #74

    The urinal type things in Amsterdam were interesting.

    Also the way English people say urinal.

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    Chris
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We don't often say urinal. Toilet, bog etc, but only urinal if you're describing the thing you actually piss in to.

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    #75

    The country of Hungary. I became fascinated with their history because they seemed so unlike any other European country. While the country is pretty modern and Budapest is very modern, they seem......ancient. It's hard to explain. The language seems ancient as well....You know how when you go to a new country, and there are basically the same 10 faces repeated over and over? I've never seen the standard Hungarian look before. That was the one place I'd say the people looked "exotic." More so than people from places further east.

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    chi-wei shen
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Hungarians originally came from the area around the Ural mountains and mixed with local residents. As a result, some exotic traits remained.

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    #76

    I was in italy and wanted to grab a bite and a beer for some lunch. I left the flat and I was flabbergasted to find the entire town was empty. Everything was closed, not even the neighborhood dogs were around!

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    #77

    In Venice wanting a coffee. The local café had a menu by the entrance with two prices for take out and seat in. Seat in is more expensive as you pay for the service charges. We were in the mood to continue with roaming around with a coffee, so asked for a coffee to go.

    The owner said,

    "If you aren't going to drink the coffee in my café, no coffee for you. Ciao."

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    giovanna
    Community Member
    3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Actually you might have gotten it wrong: we usually have one price (higher) if you want to be served at the table, which means you sit down and the waiter comes to you. And a lower price if you have your coffee standing at the bar. I'm from Venice area, and we really don't have "coffees to go"

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    #78

    In Venice I saw someone's dog poop in front of two 900 year old churches and then they didn't even bother to pick it up.

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    Francesca Annoni
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This isn't right even Italy.. in my city it would be fined and should be also in Venice..

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    #79

    In the UK, light switches are often outside the entrance to the bathroom. So you are constantly walking in and then walking back out once you remember that the switch isn’t actually inside the room.

    It also makes it easy for people to turn the light off on you. This seems like a nightmare for anyone with children.

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    Steve Barnett
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Big on not mixing water with electricity (sorry, not being patronising). Hence, any form of electricity, is kept at a safe distance from any contact with water. I’ve a wet room and a bathroom (water closet). The wet room has the light switch on the outside, but the shower is operational from the inside via a switch attached to the ceiling. The WC has it's light switch on the inside, but it too hangs from the ceiling. Untitled-6...f27826.jpg Untitled-6078014f27826.jpg

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    #80

    Germany: Went on a road trip to Hamburg with my friend and her parents in their tiny little car. Dad drove us to the Red Light district and insisted that we go check it out. Left his wife and 25 y/o daughter in the backseat to ogle hookers through the glass.

    WTF, Hans?

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    #81

    The 14 year old Itialian boys trying to get with the 24 year old chicks I was with was pretty funny.

    Also, the fact that they don't chill shots of Jaeger was fairly unsettling.

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    #82

    Public Urination is not uncommon

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    chi-wei shen
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm an Austrian and I never ever have seen anyone urinating in public even though some drunk people might do this. It's for sure not common.

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    #83

    I was in Norway in early October. I got off a flight and was chatting up a local when they asked "Do you know about Las Vegas"

    me: "Yes, of course, I suspect everyone from America does"

    them: "It's terrible"

    me: "yeah, but there is very American about the excess and indigence. Want to ruin your life? Come to Las Vegas!"

    them: "oh ... have you heard about Las Vegas today?"

    me"... wait, what happened in Las Vegas?"

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    Yvonne Dauwalder Balsiger
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I feel this! We (tourists from Switzerland) were driving around nature in Key West on 9/11 and totally missed everything. Then we rolled into a town in the evening, went to a restaurant and asked the waiter cheerfully if he had a good day so far. Poor dude almost murdered us until we could convince him that we honestly didn't know what happened.

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    #84

    Beer tap in the uni cafeteria.

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    #85

    People walking around drunk and nobody doing anything. Like we're just going to leave this person black out drunk on the side of the walkway?

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    #86

    All the Stop signs say "STOP"

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    Moosy Girl
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It’s because pysäyttää wouldn’t fit on the sign. :p

    J. F.
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And we germans can live with it saying STOP with only one P at the end ^^

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    Laura Mende (Human)
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If the STOP-sign is talking to you, something is really wrong with you... 😂😂😂

    N S
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Technically, a stop sign has to be a hexagon shape (worldwide I believe) so that you can recognise it from the back too. Spelling out "STOP" on the front side is not an absolute requirement, the shape is.

    Dynein
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No... Europe has standardized traffic signs, but those only apply to Europe. Other places have different conventions; the US mostly uses writing over shapes and colors. The standardized signs make perfect sense for Europe because it has so many countries and languages tucked together and driving across borders is far from uncommon (imagine if all signs were in the country's language!). But in other places, there's less need to standardize across borders and so they don't.

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    Owen Salmon2028
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    this is a prob joke since all the signs back at usa also say the same

    Roe Rainrunner
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's just, because "Stop" is a word used in many languages... As simple as that.

    Brier Random
    Community Member
    3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This means that the stop signs use the English word “STOP” rather than the (French, Spanish, Italian) word that means stop in that country’s language.

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    #87

    At pubs in England, younger/youngish guys drinking bottles of Budweiser.

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