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35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans

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For the worldly American, the summer Eurotrip is practically a rite of passage. While much connects the US and Europe, the two entities are different enough that American travelers often experience culture shock when they visit different European countries for the first time. One person on Reddit asked American travelers to share what struck them the most when they visited and got a ton of great responses.

The two continents’ histories, both separate and intertwined, make for an interesting opportunitY to compare and contrast how they’ve found different solutions to similar problems. While some of the comments shared were lighthearted and fun, others pointed to interesting differences in perspective.

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#1

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Restaurants paying employees a fair wage and not expecting the customer to make up for low wages.

deadevilmonkey , Brooke Cagle Report

Final score:

309points

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#2

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Universal healthcare

Feisty_Affect_7487 , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

299points

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#3

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Good bread.

thegreatgatsB70 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

267points

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Europe is a popular enough travel destination for Americans that there’s tons of info out there on the cultural differences. There are tons of travel sites out there that help American tourists understand some of the cultural and practical differences they can expect. Indeed, stats indicate that Europe was the top outbound US tourism destination by continent with 15.8 million visitors.

#4

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Walkable towns

Mustang46L , Lisa Fotios Report

Final score:

264points

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#5

Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance.

DaddyHojo Report

Final score:

244points

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#6

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Bars older than the US

ncopp , Victor Clime Report

Final score:

217points

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One major historical difference is that the USA was born out of a revolution. This gives it quite a distinct cultural legacy and makes it quite young on a historical scale. Some of the answers to this question highlight as much, pointing out that they can visit historical buildings or even working pubs that are older than the entire United States as a political entity.

#7

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans I think as a whole, it’s there attitude towards work.

The vibe I get when visiting most European countries is most people seem to work only to live. While in the states, it feels we live to work. The most common thing out of an American’s mouth when meeting someone new is what do you do? I did not find this to be the case in Europe, and I am super jealous.

hurtmore , Chahriar Hariri Report

Final score:

203points

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#8

Getting sick without going bankrupt

CancerBee69 Report

Final score:

200points

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#9

Infrastructure built around walking, bicycles, and busses. Not just exclusively built around personal vehicles.

Cassandra_Canmore Report

Final score:

179points

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Though the US is considered by many to be the home of capitalism, one difference in some countries is that travelers can expect is to pay for certain services that are often considered to be gratuities in the US. According to TEFL Worldwide, for example, Americans may be surprised that they will have to pay for water at restaurants unless they ask for tap water and they may also have to pay for public restrooms. Many countries will make shoppers pay for plastic bags, but this is part of an EU-wide effort to move away from disposable plastic and towards reusable bags.

#10

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans 900 year old universities

Lazy-Ad-770 , Molnár Tamás Photography™ Report

Final score:

177points

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#11

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Everyone is bilingual or multilingual.

Royal_Acanthisitta51 , Diva Plavalaguna Report

Final score:

173points

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#12

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans maternity leave

urallclapped , Toa Heftiba Report

Final score:

168points

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Another significant cause of some significant differences is the European political structure. The European Union enforces certain differences across the entire union, but at the same time, member states have far more independence than the states making up the US. Some cultural differences stretch across the entire EU and others can vary from country to country.

#13

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Tiny city streets.

SuperstitiousPigeon5 , Caleb Maxwell Report

Final score:

150points

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#14

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans The sirens that go BEEE booo BEEE booo BEEE booo BEEE booo

TrueReplayJay , camilo jimenez Report

Final score:

142points

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#15

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Drinking cappuccino on a cobblestone street outside of a cafe, which is hundreds of years old.

vetheros37 , Dustin Bowdige Report

Final score:

138points

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There are many differences in terms of money as well. Credit cards aren’t as popular in Europe as in the US, and most countries have moved away from paper checks entirely. Tipping for services is also usually considered to be optional, although very touristy spots that can spot American travelers may try to pressure them into tipping regardless.

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#16

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Sitting at a restaurant for hours talking. Half an hour of conversation with anybody and I am done. For the month.

svladcjelli2001 , ELEVATE Report

Final score:

132points

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#17

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Eurovision.

Neferknitti , alterna2 Report

Final score:

125points

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#18

Paid time off.

Transvaal_Kampioen Report

Final score:

123points

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#19

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Gothic Architecture

SpaceGhostBurp , Kateryna Naidenko Report

Final score:

120points

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#20

Castles

Money-Bear7166 Report

Final score:

119points

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#21

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Electric kettle

majesticalexis , ready made Report

Final score:

116points

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#22

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Functional transit, carrying a beer outside at night, and post dinner coffee is super common

StabbyPants , Yannis Papanastasopoulos Report

Final score:

97points

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#23

Going for a stroll in somewhere like Northumberland you can pass buildings castles and hill forts covering over three thousand years.

ledgerdemaine Report

Final score:

96points

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#24

Roundabouts.

lordmarksman Report

Final score:

96points

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#25

Thinking 100 miles is a long distance. I talked a brit once who said they hadn't seen their parents in two years because its a far trip... it was 2 hours away....

hellotrrespie Report

Final score:

90points

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#26

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Pay to use a restroom.

birdsarntreal1 , Sung Jin Cho Report

Final score:

89points

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#27

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Men wearing speedos at the beach or in a pool. The ones you do see in the US are usually Europeans on vacation

Ro7ard , Kindel Media Report

Final score:

86points

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#28

No ac by choice

greenwobbles Report

Final score:

84points

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#29

€10 flights to nearby countries. The US could never.

pastajewelry Report

Final score:

78points

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#30

Complaining about Americans.

Final score:

74points

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#31

35 Of The Most European Things, According To Americans Flying into Florida and thinking you can drive to Los Angeles, NYC, and Chicago easily.

lazyhazyeye , Andre Tan Report

Final score:

60points

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#32

Titles - Lord Humpty Dump or Countess Beaverhousen who are just related, distantly, to some ancestor who did some favor for a king somewhere.

Final score:

56points

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#33

Vespas

CaptStegs Report

Final score:

44points

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#34

The Euro

Final score:

36points

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#35

Calling arkansas arKANSAS

Similar-Sector-5801 Report

Final score:

33points

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Dovilas Bukauskas

Ranging the woodlands is what I love most, here and there stopping to write and to post.

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Dominyka

I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda, crafting captivating visual content to enhance every reader's experience. Sometimes my mornings are spent diving into juicy dramas, while afternoons are all about adding extra laughs to the world by editing the funniest memes around. My favorite part of the job? Choosing the perfect images to illustrate articles. It's like imagining a story as a movie in my mind and selecting the key shots to tell the story visually.

I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda, crafting captivating visual content to enhance every reader's experience. Sometimes my mornings are spent diving into juicy dramas, while afternoons are all about adding extra laughs to the world by editing the funniest memes around. My favorite part of the job? Choosing the perfect images to illustrate articles. It's like imagining a story as a movie in my mind and selecting the key shots to tell the story visually.

What do you think ?

sofacushionfort 1 year ago

Hard to give the generalized answer, since there’s a lot of differences between the various European nations, as well as every European I’ve met having been more distinct individuals than stock characters. But I do think they take the prospect of war more seriously as I wish we Americans would.

16points

KinTop14 1 year ago

Well, there currently IS a war in Europe.

16points

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Karl der Große 1 year ago

I must have missed it - nobody mentioned smoking? The American colonies gave the world tobacco, but it's been a long time since I've seen anybody walking around with a cigarette. I saw some cigar smokers a couple of weeks ago, but it was at a big festival. How many Europeans can go weeks without seeing a smoker?

5points

Mingo Contraventum 1 year ago

I just have to look in the mirror and there he is.

0points

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DBear 1 year ago

Fighting wars over religious beliefs. Ethnic cleansing. Colonialism. Referring to all Americans as "Yankees". Getting mad at us for calling it "Soccer" when that was what it was originally called when it was invented and we already have a sport called "football".

4points

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sofacushionfort 1 year ago

Hard to give the generalized answer, since there’s a lot of differences between the various European nations, as well as every European I’ve met having been more distinct individuals than stock characters. But I do think they take the prospect of war more seriously as I wish we Americans would.

16points

KinTop14 1 year ago

Well, there currently IS a war in Europe.

16points

Load More Replies...

Karl der Große 1 year ago

I must have missed it - nobody mentioned smoking? The American colonies gave the world tobacco, but it's been a long time since I've seen anybody walking around with a cigarette. I saw some cigar smokers a couple of weeks ago, but it was at a big festival. How many Europeans can go weeks without seeing a smoker?

5points

Mingo Contraventum 1 year ago

I just have to look in the mirror and there he is.

0points

Load More Replies...

DBear 1 year ago

Fighting wars over religious beliefs. Ethnic cleansing. Colonialism. Referring to all Americans as "Yankees". Getting mad at us for calling it "Soccer" when that was what it was originally called when it was invented and we already have a sport called "football".

4points

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