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Flax_vert ,

I love Europe. It’s my favourite country. I’m currently learning European so I can speak to Europeans more and enjoy European culture and European food. I love the policies enacted by the European government and I think Europe has a good head of state. I hope to be a European citizen someday and get a European passport. Then I’ll start to learn African and see if the African government will give me a visa to visit Africa

norimee ,

You know that all these things are vastly different in different countries.

Switzerland is very different to Slovenia and Iceland is not comparable with Italy. Every one has their own healthcare system, police, internet providers.

And while the US is also big and diverse, you still can’t compare one federated country with a Union of independent countries.

Thavron ,
@Thavron@lemmy.ca avatar

Once again, Europe is not a single country so all these things vary wildly from country to country.

OhmsLawn ,

I’m from California, been on various trips around Spain, and France, with under a week spent in both Italy and Switzerland.

I love everywhere I’ve been. I’d be happy to live somewhere in western Europe.

I don’t know if European healthcare is better, but it’s far more civilized in its availability. I haven’t seen much difference between EU and USA for equivalent-quality grocery prices, with the exception of Zurich. I’ve found Europe to be generally safe. There seems to be more “sneaky” crime, whereas the States has more confrontational crime.

Freeway etiquette is far better in France and Spain than California. Trains, of course, are better too.

One major difference is labor laws. The EU has far more protection, but far less mobility. I remember telling a German friend that I had gotten a new job operating a fairly large power system, after working in a tangentially related field, without any additional study or licenses, and his response was “Only in America!” I hadn’t even considered that this move would be far more difficult in other countries.

Blaze ,

One major difference is labor laws. The EU has far more protection, but far less mobility. I remember telling a German friend that I had gotten a new job operating a fairly large power system, after working in a tangentially related field, without any additional study or licenses, and his response was “Only in America!” I hadn’t even considered that this move would be far more difficult in other countries.

Also very German to rely a lot of degrees and certifications. Other countries like the UK (European still even after Brexit) would care more about experience than degrees.

OhmsLawn ,

Certainly. Germany is an extreme example.

kersploosh ,
@kersploosh@sh.itjust.works avatar

Your last paragraph is a good one. I fell in love with Sweden when I was there. Then I talked to some teenagers and they said they really wanted to live in America. It caught me off guard. I didn’t understand why they would want to leave a place that seemed so safe, secure, and comfortable. They said they wanted more flexibility and opportunity. Sure, they could get a stable living-wage job and keep it for their whole career, but in America they thought they would have more chances to try new things and reinvent themselves.

Whether our perceptions of each other’s countries are correct or not, for all of us the grass certainly looked greener on the other side of the fence.

Kaboom ,

Worse, often felt dangerous. One of my friends got pickpocketed, police did nothing. Made the entire trip hard to enjoy when you knew that someone was looking for an opening to steal your phone or wallet.

If it wasn’t for that, I’d probably had liked it, but I just felt like a target.

In the end, big waste of money. 1/10 would not do again.

Apepollo11 ,

Where did you go?

Kaboom ,

Where else but Rome? I thought it was going to be really cool to check out the history, and it was cool, but the pickpockets and the police encouraging the pickpockets and acting like we deserved to be pickpockets ruined it. Plus it cost a lot of money just to get a wallet and passport stolen

Thavron ,
@Thavron@lemmy.ca avatar

Where else but Rome?

I’m sorry but you cannot be serious. Europe is a huge and varied continent and we’re just supposed to assume Rome is top of the list?

Blaze , (edited )

I was expecting Paris or London first

Kaboom ,

No, that’s not what I meant. Tone is lost through text, sorry

aseriesoftubes ,

Europeans seem to be happier, healthier, and to have a generally better standard of living than Americans. Small towns in Europe have much more personality than US suburbs, which largely consist of strip mall after strip mall. Food in Europe is focused on quality, whereas in the US the focus is on quantity.

xmunk ,

Better - I don’t give a shit about richer/poorer because the quality of life is clearly higher and that’s the only reason to care about wealth.

Food prices are extremely reasonable and often below American prices.

European cities are also safer not because there isn’t crime but because the design creates a lot more continuous safe spaces where there are plenty of witnesses and other folks.

Lastly, European Healthcare is much better in terms of cost and quality but if you need something that you can’t get done or done in a timely fashion it’s harder to afford health care tourism.

lud ,

Afaik if you actually need something you will get it fairly quickly.

That’s why the healthcare system can be slow. We use triage heavily.

yyyesss ,

Poorer? No. Richer? Also no. Cheaper? Some things, like housing and wine. Other things, same or more expensive (such as electronics) Healthcare was at least as good but easier to get into.

I was constantly surprised just how normal/at home I felt. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

NutinButNet ,

Went to Iceland a few years ago and the biggest thing I noticed was how clean everything was. In the US, at least where I am, trash is literally part of the street. Little black “gum” streaks, random paper flying about…

I don’t remember ever seeing any litter of any kind anywhere we went on the island.

I do remember seeing a random piece of raw meat on a meadow but that was it and I’m not sure I’d call that litter.

mean_bean279 ,

If you’re from the west coast of the US that seems to be a more West Coast thing. I recently went to Chicago and was amazed at how clean it was. The Lyft driver told me it was the cleanest city in the country (and possibly the world since he grew up outside of the states) but I wasn’t prepared for it. I walked everywhere in the city and there just wasn’t a single piece of trash anywhere. We actively looked too.

Dark_Arc , (edited )
@Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg avatar

I didn’t feel particularly safer in Europe… About the same… Watch your wallet, don’t go down dark alleys alone, etc.

Some things definitely felt more grandiose, but on average things felt like they could be in an American city if not for their vintage.

Public transportation was definitely the biggest difference I observed, trains in Germany were an all but fantastic experience.

I was surprised how heavy German food was and how much smoking folks in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria do. It seemed elevated compared to the average US city.

slazer2au ,

Depends where you go.

Western Europe is pretty safe tourism wise.
Further south you go cheaper things are.
internet, food, and healthcare is also per country.

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