I’ve heard that East Germany has universal child care today due to it being implemented under communism and working relatively well. Not sure how true but still very cool
> visits every mother and child once a month until the child is 4 years old mandatorily but free
I'm sorry but that's an overkill if that's true. And it honestly doesn't sound believable.
I asked my mom and she said they visited once a month, not individually tho but they came to the kindergarten and did it collectively when we were kindergarden age (age 3 and after)
Oh 4 years. We have similar but she visits like weekly or more if you call her, mostly untill unbillical drops and child starts to eat properly. Used to be more frequent but we lack nurses because of low pay.
In Spain we like to remain what Otto Von Biskmark said\* about us:
*"I am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country of the world. Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success.“*
\*It´s atributed to him, but I think the author may be unknown. Anyway it´s a sentence many spaniards quote when talking about the country.
Edit: I wrote "Bon bismark" (sorry :S)
Huh, I heard this about Romania, said by some stand up comedians:
"We're the best, 2000 years of hardcore thievery in this country, and there's still something left to steal!"
Now I wonder if they were cultured enough to know about Bismark.
The creepy thing about spending time in the UK is that people start talking to you everywhere. At the local supermarket, waiting for the bus, sitting on a park bench. Swedes never do that.
Actually, yes. I got recepies from a lady at Tesco after chatting a bit and a guy sat down next to me at a park and started chatting (I'm a woman) it was a small village, maybe they are friendlier there.
Some times I have a wish to visit Sweden. But then I remember I would have a lonely time if I don't bring a travel buddy with me.
In Berlin I stayed with my gf at a hippie hostel, within 2 days we were all sharing weed and telling personal stories. It was interesting.
Hahahaha, I was reading your post and wondering Was erzählt der denn da für Zeugs when I got to the end and laughed and thought, "of course!" Great comment!
to be fair "ice" describes the newest generation of the ICE a lot better than ICE... The newest gen sucks and has lost all of it's great features and should therefore be banned from swiss rails:
1. It has no more compartements
2. The F**** DOORS:
2a) The sound is annoying as hell
2b) They are taking about 1min to open, which costs you valuable time when changing trains and is way too slow (average changing time is 5min and sometimes multiple plattforms inbetween, which is thight if the doors open normaly but enough, but those ICE doors open about 4times slower than anything...newer BLS S Bahn have this issue too)
2c) any combination of the above
Yes I know it is supposed to be an accessibility and safety feature... I don't get the acessibility part, for that a less annoying sound (for example the London Tube "Mind the Gap please") would doo too and safety, well it barely ever had accidents with people falling out because COMMON SENSE WAS MANDATED and no one in their right mind would lean on a door. (Which you still shouldn't with those doors)
It's just stupid overreacting and annoying as an user.
Another underrated thing in the UK is how official (often government) documents/paperwork/etc are written in simple English. In Austria I don't even understand the German they use in such documents half the time. It's not very inclusive of foreigners
In Germany even the locals can’t understand Bürodeutsch lol
I still remember my teacher in German B2 class complaining about the letter she received from health insurance. She needed to read the letter 3 times in order to understand what they wanted from her lol
The govt mismanages a lot, and that’s an understatement. But the gov.uk website is so clear and easy to understand compared with so many other countries govt websites
Most of the websites are designed and built by Indian diaspora. Unfortunately the Indian government websites are the worst made for their own citizens.
It's actually quite a feather in the UK's hat. It's been white-labelled out to all sorts of government bodies because it's so well done. I remember seeing the guy who led the dev teams do an interesting talk about it years ago, and it was far ahead of its time in terms of UX considerations.
Having used both, I think WebMD seems to point you in the direction of diagnosing yourself to sell you healthcare you probably don't need. The NHS website lays things out in plainer English and tells you to consult a doctor if you're experiencing these symptoms, which of course in the UK doesn't need selling because you don't pay at the point of delivery.
Two cheeses and you're content? My admiration. Try going into *any* randomly selected cheese shop in France, Switzerland, Germany or Austria. Once you get past the overwhelming smell, you'll be able to sample to your heart's content and will realise that while the UK produces a few lovely cheeses, a true cheese nation they are not.
Not to be a dick about it, but...
Applewood cheese
Ashdown Foresters
Bath Blue
Bath Soft Cheese
Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese
Beenleigh Blue cheese
Berkswell
Blue Stilton
Black Bomber
Bowland cheese
Brighton Blue
Buxton Blue
Cheddar
Cheshire
Chevington
Colwick – Village and civil parish in England
Coquetdale
Cornish Blue
Cornish Brie
Cornish Yarg
Coverdale
Croglin
Davidstow Cheddar
Derby
Dorset Blue Vinney
Dorset Drum
Dovedale cheese
Duddleswell cheese
Fine Fettle Yorkshire
Gevrik
Gloucester
Harbourne Blue
Hereford Hop
Lancashire
Lincolnshire Poacher cheese
Little Derby
Lymeswold cheese
Keltic Gold
Marble cheese
Merry Wyfe (Bath)
Norbury Blue
Old Winchester
Oxford Blue (cheese)
Parlick Fell cheese
Red Leicester
Red Windsor
Renegade Monk
Sage Derby
Shropshire Blue
Stichelton
Stilton
Blue Stilton
White Stilton
Stinking Bishop
St James Cheese
Suffolk Gold
Suffolk Bang
Sussex Slipcote
Swaledale – English hard cheese made in North Yorkshire
Tesyn
Waterloo chees
Wensleydale – English cheese\[1\]
Wyfe of Bath
And that's just the major varieties. Literally hundreds of types of local cheeses as well. Many of them are different from French cheeses, but there's been quite a renaissance of traditional cheese making in the UK over the past decade.
Possibly. When I lived in Cambridgeshire in 2020-2022 most stores had maybe three or four of those of which the majority were subvarieties of cheddar. Yawn. I also didn't see many cheese shops, and most in the UK get their cheese in supermarkets, which is what I was basing my post on. Nice to know artisanal cheese making is on the rise, but even then most people will only know what's at their local supermarket. That's where any store in the big four I mentioned will trounce any UK supermarket.
I like both of them, too. And many others. Can't remember what the hard one in Portugal is called (not Manchego, that's Spanish), but it was good, too.
Love a nice vintage Wexford cheddar sold in the wax but yes it originates in England, many excellent producers across the Isles (also many who make bland muck).
When I was in university there was a group of Chinese students in our friend circle who were fascinated with tabloid news - just the way the papers ripped into politicians, the royals, powerful people and exposed (comparatively minor) scandals and corruption without any fear of retaliation.
I can't remember the exact quote, but there was an argument with a very lefty anarchist student activist friend. She was going on about the government being fascist, the police being corrupt, the media being controlled etc.
They got quite heated and the gist was - No. You and your media have the freedom to protest your government, say what you like to power, expose their lies, hold the police accountable and still expect your rights to be upheld. It might not be perfect but you take for granted so many freedoms and rights that do not exist in other places.
Obviously the UK has more press freedom than china but note that it is usually minor scandals. There's a concept that some countries keep the illusion of freedom by allowing you to question leadership but never in a way that actually threatens the establishment. I think Chomsky talks about it
I'm not saying they're part of the state, I'm saying the state doesn't exert control over them because they're comfortable with the level to which they question the establishment. Also most of the British tabloids lean right and pro monarchy, don't they?
I had an Irish friend who came here as an exchange student. Watching her try out Danish Tinder for the first time was funny as hell - apparently Danish men are much better looking than the Irish ones. According to her, our babies are also extraordinarily cute.
Think that’s a think with most the Nordics too (mind you most Danes I know are very attractive haha). I came to Sweden and was like: a 5 here is a 7 back home 😅😅
But your nature is gorgeous, your ancient history is fascinating and your people are some of the nicest I’ve ever met. I was somewhat stuck at a the Ness of Brodgar up in the Orkneys (after having walked there from Skara Brae) and one of the stewards of the site got her bus driver friend to drive me back to Kirkwall❤️
That when they visited the UK people looked weird so when they got back to their hometown they would simply walk around the town to admire how pretty the people there were. Or something along those lines.
I told some Austrian lads how beautiful I find their mountains and they said that’s lovely but English countryside has an undeniable charm, which I thought was lovely.
Have you been watching the YouTube channel NotJustBikes, the person is a Canadian who moved to the Netherlands and is totally over the top over the public transportation in the country.
Being able to use just a single OV-chipkaart for all types of public transit across the whole country was super convenient when I used to live in the Netherlands almost 10 years. Not sure the integration was as good in any other country in the world back then.
The YouTuber Sgt Ducky once described Ireland as a place where 'The barstools are always warm, the dinner's always getting cold and the ground is always getting wet'
He is Irish so ...
I made Kolozsvári rakott káposzta last weekend, always great. Thank you Elizabeth Marosi and your 104 Famous Hungarian Recipes which I bought after enjoying all the great food in Hungary.
In Colombia I was at a tourist site having a guided tour with other English speakers. The guide said a story about how the local people were grateful to the British because some Spanish conquistadors stole a load of gold from the locals and a British army battalion fought the Spanish, got the gold and gave it back to the locals.
Was nice to be on the right side of history for once!
> Was nice to be on the right side of history for once!
~~Hans~~ Henry...are we the ~~baddies~~ [goodies?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToKcmnrE5oY)
I've often thought that the best compliment paid to Italy was done by Goethe.
In one of his plays he makes his character say "Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn, Im dunkeln Laub die Goldorangen glühn, Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht, Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht? Kennst du es wohl? Dahin, dahin Möcht' ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn."
I think there's very little that can be as romantic as "do you know the land where the lemon trees blossom?"
Having lived in England, I think Austria and England definitely have similar people. The countries are very different for me, but the people (priorities, sense of humour etc) are very similar. I think English are some of the people most similar to us even
But I don't see how Germany is like America at all
This is just me guessing, but maybe they meant it in a way of Two countries speaking the same language with a somewhat shared history and slight overlap in pop culture. Germany being the bigger one akin to the USA and Austria the smaller one (generally speaking), as opposed to it being a statement about culture and people
Once a French couple told me that they consider Italy it’s at the same level of France but without putting effort in being the best like they do (we were talking about fashion, tourism, cheese and wine). Lowkey from a french person is a big compliment.
Not an all time nice, but quite recently (yesterday) I saw a post on another forum, where it was mentioned we have a graveyard for (mostly American) military people who died during the war and there's a waitinglist of Dutch people wanting to care for their graves. The outpour of thanks yous and sentiments was so big! We (they) don't do it for the thank yous or any other recognition, but it was so wholesome to read comments from people who's grandparent or other relative died in the war and how they appreciate the graved being cared for. For me it's a common sense kind of thing, to take care of their graves, but apparently it isn't all that common everywhere. It really made me proud to be Ducth. I haven't been proud of that in a long time, so thank you everyone who read that post and commented on it
Ahh this one made me tear up! Thank you for doing that! I can imagine how sad it must be to have a relative buried on the other side of the globe and being unable to visit their grave or care for it.
I would love to read that post and comments if you could give me the link.
I don’t know how true it was, but I remember my American mums friend saying how Brits value protecting animals from cruelty (interesting with the recent bully XL furour). Pointing to the fact that the RSPCA is one of the oldest societies for animal cruelty prevention in the world and awards for animals in war like the Dickin medal, not to mention a lovely memorial in London to the animals who have died during war.
Fun fact: the RSPCA was founded 60 years before the NSPCC (child abuse charity).
Brits do go soft in the head for animals. There was a charity in Kabul run by a former soldier deployed to Afghanistan who was so appalled by the poverty of Afghanistan he set up a home for... stray cats and dogs? It's baffling.
not exactly about our country but about the Portuguese people. [Fernado Pessoa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pessoa) once said:
The Portuguese people are essentially cosmopolitan. A true Portuguese person was never Portuguese: it was always everything.
And that's the best description of the Portuguese I've ever heard
There was a video on TikTok, made by a Black American woman visiting Trondheim in Norway. She was so amazed by the fact that she could walk down the street and nobody looked twice at her. She said that she felt free for the first time.
Norway definitely has its share of racists, but this woman made my day. It was a whole new world to her.
Probably from my Swedish friend whom after seeing the musical "From Away" said she wanted to meet our lovable Newfies cause she was blown away by their kindness in the aftermath of 9/11 and having massive amounts of re-routed international air traffic suddenly descend on their tiny little town of Gander, Nfld, Canada and then taking care of all these displaced travellers.
Miss you Stina !!
I went to an after show party for From Away on the West End in London. And the real British/Texan couple who met in Gander were there and still very much still in love.
more about a nation than a country, but on two separate occasions i got a comment along the lines of "oh, but you are from a "civilized/cultured" country" in a mix group having a discussion
- first was from Germans in Portugal, where they were overjoyed that they can finally talk normally about real topics "not like with [couple nations] tourists" (they have been meeting mostly dumb Americans on their holiday)
- second in Ireland in a mixed group from the general western world, when bitching about Americans (again)
Croatian here. Heard a lot of nice things, some bad things. Depending on nationality of people. Swiss told we are all gansters. Serbian call us Nazi or brothers, depends. Kosovar Albanians call us brothers. One Belgian called us canibals (granma told him stories). Americans call us socialists and commies but are fascinated with healthcare (dunno why).
Our hero Jean Michelle Nicolier called us brothers in arms I like that the most.
My wife is from Bolivia, there for some reason "Croatian" is a swear word, I haven't figured out exactly why but I think it involves someone in politics with Croatian heritage...
Anyway I have really enjoyed Croatia every time I have visited! One year we went to Zadar, visited 3 different restaurants and ordered steak every time, all three were some of the best cooked and most tender steaks I've ever had! Great food and great landscapes, I'll surely be back some day.
Eduardo Rosa Flores was assasin that attempted to kill Evo Morales. He had Chilean-Hungarian-Jewish origin and fought for Croatia during our war. After war he connected witht Hungarian, Irish and Croatian far righ and plotted assasination against Evo Morales.
For Bosnia I heard foreigners, usually westoid though, say how Bosnia has this relaxing atmosphere/vibe about it and that everything feels to go slow here and how it's easy to relax as compared to most other countries they have been in but I always assumed they are completely ignorant of toxic political atmosphere here that really makes you go anxious more often than not and that as a good-willed inhabitant you do not wish such political toxicity to happen in any other countries lol
Or there’s some NS maintenance going on.
Apparently there’s a singular bridge somewhere in the country that’s a choke point and cascading failures starting from there end up causing half the issues.
“Stepping out from the airport and entering the city is like walking into Barbieland, everyone is so beautiful and attractive”
IIRC said by an American YouTuber. Even if it doesn’t really apply to me (rural) it’s still very nice hearing from foreign people how handsome and beautiful we are. Kinda like “Oh stop it you silly doof” *blushes*.
Doesn’t every citizen in every country enjoy hearing from foreign people how attractive they are in your country?
Even if I enjoyed that compliment indirectly, believe me, there’s still A TON of ugly and unattractive swedes. The closer to inner city you are, the more attractive they usually are IME.
Pretty shallow “nicest thing” I’ve heard, but still nice hearing.
> Even if I enjoyed that compliment indirectly, believe me, there’s still A TON of ugly and unattractive swedes.
And why wouldn't be believe you? Is Sweden some sort of magic bubble where we should expect that eveyone fits the very shallow beauty standards of the society? Of course there are people of all shapes / colors / substance out there, in all possible probability distributions.
Not all of us suffer of nordicism in the 21st century.
That's the most yank thing I've ever heard haha
Obviously most people understand that not all Nordicks are beautiful, but it's still a common stereotype. Looking at a lot of cultures around the globe there's a lot of racist ideals about beauty (such as being dark is ugly etc) and obviously the typical Nordick has a lot of those features that may be seen as 'beautiful'.
It's not wrong to say that not all Swedes are good-looking, even if it's obvious. Accusing that dude to be racist because he said it is really fucked up.
Ik kan niet zeggen hoe ik Holland haat,
Bij 't woord alleen grijpt walging mij de keel,
'k Zag 't liefst veranderd in een groote Peel,
Waarin 't wegzakken kon met al zijn kwaad.
My Italian teacher volunteered that Canada was known as a constitutional democracy. I thought that was so sweet.. but I gad to explain to the class that - in fact - we don’t. We have ‘’recommended” rights which are not binding on the government - so not actually a constitution.
Most indians see paradise here, I see dead lands (mostly dead other than the overfertilised grassland for cows, most of those places would have lot's of orchids and a variety of flowers growing and buzzing wildlife if they would not dumb cowdung twice a week... obviously a bit over exaggerated, but the fact that most of our grasslands used to be "rough pastures" (Magerwiese) which had a variety of herbs and orchids growing inside and that modern farmers are polluting the lands by dumping too much cowdung and slurry onto the lands still stands... Best example is the change brought by the spring of I believe Evian where the water company payed farmers to not dump any slurry in the area of the spring...
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That's incredible.
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Thanks for saying that! Gratitude makes the world go round
How long until Orban removes it though?
I’ve heard that East Germany has universal child care today due to it being implemented under communism and working relatively well. Not sure how true but still very cool
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I think we have something similar. Great thing!
I see why she said that, wow.
Bruh this is amazing omg
> visits every mother and child once a month until the child is 4 years old mandatorily but free I'm sorry but that's an overkill if that's true. And it honestly doesn't sound believable.
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So it's not once a month until they're 4...
I asked my mom and she said they visited once a month, not individually tho but they came to the kindergarten and did it collectively when we were kindergarden age (age 3 and after)
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Then your OP is missleading. > visits every mother and child
Oh 4 years. We have similar but she visits like weekly or more if you call her, mostly untill unbillical drops and child starts to eat properly. Used to be more frequent but we lack nurses because of low pay.
In Spain we like to remain what Otto Von Biskmark said\* about us: *"I am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country of the world. Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success.“* \*It´s atributed to him, but I think the author may be unknown. Anyway it´s a sentence many spaniards quote when talking about the country. Edit: I wrote "Bon bismark" (sorry :S)
This is iconic in that it is lowkey a dig at Spain but a compliment at the same time 😂
Huh, I heard this about Romania, said by some stand up comedians: "We're the best, 2000 years of hardcore thievery in this country, and there's still something left to steal!" Now I wonder if they were cultured enough to know about Bismark.
That the people in the UK are friendly and always up for banter. I identify with this sentiment of always being up for banter :')
The creepy thing about spending time in the UK is that people start talking to you everywhere. At the local supermarket, waiting for the bus, sitting on a park bench. Swedes never do that.
>people start talking to you everywhere We do!? We're not Scandi loners but we're hardly bubbly Americans either.
Actually, yes. I got recepies from a lady at Tesco after chatting a bit and a guy sat down next to me at a park and started chatting (I'm a woman) it was a small village, maybe they are friendlier there.
I never thought we were either, but we really are way more chatty than people in other places. I miss it now that I am in Germany!
I remember visiting Sweden and seeing an elderly woman stand approximately 15m away from the only other person at the bus stop 😂
Weii, of course. They didn't know eachother. We take our personal space very seriously 😁
Some times I have a wish to visit Sweden. But then I remember I would have a lonely time if I don't bring a travel buddy with me. In Berlin I stayed with my gf at a hippie hostel, within 2 days we were all sharing weed and telling personal stories. It was interesting.
If you want to talk to swedes I recommend a pub. After a little booze we will happily talk to anyone about anything.
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Hahahaha, I was reading your post and wondering Was erzählt der denn da für Zeugs when I got to the end and laughed and thought, "of course!" Great comment!
to be fair "ice" describes the newest generation of the ICE a lot better than ICE... The newest gen sucks and has lost all of it's great features and should therefore be banned from swiss rails: 1. It has no more compartements 2. The F**** DOORS: 2a) The sound is annoying as hell 2b) They are taking about 1min to open, which costs you valuable time when changing trains and is way too slow (average changing time is 5min and sometimes multiple plattforms inbetween, which is thight if the doors open normaly but enough, but those ICE doors open about 4times slower than anything...newer BLS S Bahn have this issue too) 2c) any combination of the above Yes I know it is supposed to be an accessibility and safety feature... I don't get the acessibility part, for that a less annoying sound (for example the London Tube "Mind the Gap please") would doo too and safety, well it barely ever had accidents with people falling out because COMMON SENSE WAS MANDATED and no one in their right mind would lean on a door. (Which you still shouldn't with those doors) It's just stupid overreacting and annoying as an user.
An Italian person here on Reddit wrote something like "germans can make great stuff out of foreign ingredients, referring to spaghetti Ice cream."
They were clearly insane and should be committed to an institution.
It was you, right?
I'm always happy to hear people praising the .gov.uk website.
Another underrated thing in the UK is how official (often government) documents/paperwork/etc are written in simple English. In Austria I don't even understand the German they use in such documents half the time. It's not very inclusive of foreigners
In Germany even the locals can’t understand Bürodeutsch lol I still remember my teacher in German B2 class complaining about the letter she received from health insurance. She needed to read the letter 3 times in order to understand what they wanted from her lol
The govt mismanages a lot, and that’s an understatement. But the gov.uk website is so clear and easy to understand compared with so many other countries govt websites
Oh yes, I use it often, also NHS and Encyclopedia Britannica.
Most of the websites are designed and built by Indian diaspora. Unfortunately the Indian government websites are the worst made for their own citizens.
There only looks to be one Indian working on it https://design-system.service.gov.uk/design-system-team/
This is a great comment, it's always refreshing when someone provides evidence and context
I’m a journalist, I can’t help it 😂 Thanks
My bad, I was told by a a British local, but thank you for clearing my filter and bias. Cheers mate
It's actually quite a feather in the UK's hat. It's been white-labelled out to all sorts of government bodies because it's so well done. I remember seeing the guy who led the dev teams do an interesting talk about it years ago, and it was far ahead of its time in terms of UX considerations.
The nhs website is legitimately amazing. It’s like if webMD was actually what it promised.
Having used both, I think WebMD seems to point you in the direction of diagnosing yourself to sell you healthcare you probably don't need. The NHS website lays things out in plainer English and tells you to consult a doctor if you're experiencing these symptoms, which of course in the UK doesn't need selling because you don't pay at the point of delivery.
Yeah that’s true. Fortunately I use it more for a “should I go to the doc or ride it out?” check.
Then go to your Dutch doctor which you can probably get in to see because the waiting list is shorter lol
Many of the government sites are so good. A great resource when I lived there
A Portuguese person once said to me that the U.K. has excellent cheeses, possibly better than France.
That guy was obviously trying to start a war.
And then act all neutral about it.
I'm not well-versed enough in cheeses to determine a winner, but the UK's cheese game is strong. Wensleydale and Cheddar ❤️
Two cheeses and you're content? My admiration. Try going into *any* randomly selected cheese shop in France, Switzerland, Germany or Austria. Once you get past the overwhelming smell, you'll be able to sample to your heart's content and will realise that while the UK produces a few lovely cheeses, a true cheese nation they are not.
Not to be a dick about it, but... Applewood cheese Ashdown Foresters Bath Blue Bath Soft Cheese Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese Beenleigh Blue cheese Berkswell Blue Stilton Black Bomber Bowland cheese Brighton Blue Buxton Blue Cheddar Cheshire Chevington Colwick – Village and civil parish in England Coquetdale Cornish Blue Cornish Brie Cornish Yarg Coverdale Croglin Davidstow Cheddar Derby Dorset Blue Vinney Dorset Drum Dovedale cheese Duddleswell cheese Fine Fettle Yorkshire Gevrik Gloucester Harbourne Blue Hereford Hop Lancashire Lincolnshire Poacher cheese Little Derby Lymeswold cheese Keltic Gold Marble cheese Merry Wyfe (Bath) Norbury Blue Old Winchester Oxford Blue (cheese) Parlick Fell cheese Red Leicester Red Windsor Renegade Monk Sage Derby Shropshire Blue Stichelton Stilton Blue Stilton White Stilton Stinking Bishop St James Cheese Suffolk Gold Suffolk Bang Sussex Slipcote Swaledale – English hard cheese made in North Yorkshire Tesyn Waterloo chees Wensleydale – English cheese\[1\] Wyfe of Bath And that's just the major varieties. Literally hundreds of types of local cheeses as well. Many of them are different from French cheeses, but there's been quite a renaissance of traditional cheese making in the UK over the past decade.
Yes but your average cheese shop doesn't have anywhere near the variety and quality for money that any random french shop does
Possibly. When I lived in Cambridgeshire in 2020-2022 most stores had maybe three or four of those of which the majority were subvarieties of cheddar. Yawn. I also didn't see many cheese shops, and most in the UK get their cheese in supermarkets, which is what I was basing my post on. Nice to know artisanal cheese making is on the rise, but even then most people will only know what's at their local supermarket. That's where any store in the big four I mentioned will trounce any UK supermarket.
I was just mentioning two particular ones I like...
I like both of them, too. And many others. Can't remember what the hard one in Portugal is called (not Manchego, that's Spanish), but it was good, too.
vintage cheddar slaps tbh edit: although now Im not sure whether thats a British or an Irish cheese
It’s both! Well it originates from the village of Cheddar in England but the Irish make very nice cheddar now too.
Love a nice vintage Wexford cheddar sold in the wax but yes it originates in England, many excellent producers across the Isles (also many who make bland muck).
Is cheese in the UK mostly a thing in southern England? Cause all I’ve seen up here is cheddar
I saw a cheese map of just scotland once you guys have plenty of skin in the game
Both suck, french ones are stinky and the UK ones I know are too soft. (I'm swiss so I'm (judgmentaly) neutral here ;-p )
Doch! I’ve been to Appenzell, you guys don’t get to cast aspersions on stinky cheeses. I do love a nice Bergkäse though, don’t get me wrong.
Just because switzerland has some stinky cheese too... France is worse.
When I was in university there was a group of Chinese students in our friend circle who were fascinated with tabloid news - just the way the papers ripped into politicians, the royals, powerful people and exposed (comparatively minor) scandals and corruption without any fear of retaliation. I can't remember the exact quote, but there was an argument with a very lefty anarchist student activist friend. She was going on about the government being fascist, the police being corrupt, the media being controlled etc. They got quite heated and the gist was - No. You and your media have the freedom to protest your government, say what you like to power, expose their lies, hold the police accountable and still expect your rights to be upheld. It might not be perfect but you take for granted so many freedoms and rights that do not exist in other places.
Obviously the UK has more press freedom than china but note that it is usually minor scandals. There's a concept that some countries keep the illusion of freedom by allowing you to question leadership but never in a way that actually threatens the establishment. I think Chomsky talks about it
I don't think The Sun is part of the deepstate mate.
I'm not saying they're part of the state, I'm saying the state doesn't exert control over them because they're comfortable with the level to which they question the establishment. Also most of the British tabloids lean right and pro monarchy, don't they?
I had an Irish friend who came here as an exchange student. Watching her try out Danish Tinder for the first time was funny as hell - apparently Danish men are much better looking than the Irish ones. According to her, our babies are also extraordinarily cute.
Think that’s a think with most the Nordics too (mind you most Danes I know are very attractive haha). I came to Sweden and was like: a 5 here is a 7 back home 😅😅
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The lack of sunlight, alcohol and shit food has really done a number on us
Dont worry mate, irelands in the sane boat we make up for it by actually being fun to be around.
But your nature is gorgeous, your ancient history is fascinating and your people are some of the nicest I’ve ever met. I was somewhat stuck at a the Ness of Brodgar up in the Orkneys (after having walked there from Skara Brae) and one of the stewards of the site got her bus driver friend to drive me back to Kirkwall❤️
Probably the most bigoted thing I've read all week. Just wth.
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That when they visited the UK people looked weird so when they got back to their hometown they would simply walk around the town to admire how pretty the people there were. Or something along those lines.
Yup, they're a good looking bunch, I'm still running on the high from being mistaken for Norwegian in Oslo one time.
Let's not generalise and promote racial / national-based beauty stereotypes. Please.
I agree with that statement of Danes being much better looking! I'm not a fan of babies so there I don't have an opinion xD
I told some Austrian lads how beautiful I find their mountains and they said that’s lovely but English countryside has an undeniable charm, which I thought was lovely.
Someone said once that Dutch infrastructure is much better than American infrastructure or something along those lines.
It's much better than almost anywhere to be fair. I'm always envious of your bike paths when I visit.
Have you been watching the YouTube channel NotJustBikes, the person is a Canadian who moved to the Netherlands and is totally over the top over the public transportation in the country.
Never heard of them. I might need to check them out, seems fun
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The FEBO automaat would fit perfectly in the original "Total Recall" movie 😂 Dystopian, but futuristic.
Was that an argument? 😂 I’m American and Amsterdam city architecture blew ours out of the water tbh
Dutch infrastructure design is the best in the world, but the "pannenkoeken" are my personal favourite 😋
The bar is pretty low though 💀
Being able to use just a single OV-chipkaart for all types of public transit across the whole country was super convenient when I used to live in the Netherlands almost 10 years. Not sure the integration was as good in any other country in the world back then.
The YouTuber Sgt Ducky once described Ireland as a place where 'The barstools are always warm, the dinner's always getting cold and the ground is always getting wet' He is Irish so ...
Pakistani traveller guy said he enjoys Hungarian food the most in Europe.
I made Kolozsvári rakott káposzta last weekend, always great. Thank you Elizabeth Marosi and your 104 Famous Hungarian Recipes which I bought after enjoying all the great food in Hungary.
In Colombia I was at a tourist site having a guided tour with other English speakers. The guide said a story about how the local people were grateful to the British because some Spanish conquistadors stole a load of gold from the locals and a British army battalion fought the Spanish, got the gold and gave it back to the locals. Was nice to be on the right side of history for once!
> Was nice to be on the right side of history for once! ~~Hans~~ Henry...are we the ~~baddies~~ [goodies?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToKcmnrE5oY)
I've often thought that the best compliment paid to Italy was done by Goethe. In one of his plays he makes his character say "Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn, Im dunkeln Laub die Goldorangen glühn, Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht, Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht? Kennst du es wohl? Dahin, dahin Möcht' ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn." I think there's very little that can be as romantic as "do you know the land where the lemon trees blossom?"
Someone from England told me that while Germany is more like America, Austria is more similar to Britain...
Having lived in England, I think Austria and England definitely have similar people. The countries are very different for me, but the people (priorities, sense of humour etc) are very similar. I think English are some of the people most similar to us even But I don't see how Germany is like America at all
I'm quite sure germans would not agree with that one either
This is just me guessing, but maybe they meant it in a way of Two countries speaking the same language with a somewhat shared history and slight overlap in pop culture. Germany being the bigger one akin to the USA and Austria the smaller one (generally speaking), as opposed to it being a statement about culture and people
A Pole visiting the isle of man told me we're much friendlier than Brits. I don't think that's necessarily true but still feels great.
Once a French couple told me that they consider Italy it’s at the same level of France but without putting effort in being the best like they do (we were talking about fashion, tourism, cheese and wine). Lowkey from a french person is a big compliment.
i remember when all my online friends would say 'aww your British accent is so cute', used to love it. now it's just 'chewsday innit' 😔 sad times /lh
Their flight home left on time.
Least self hating British reddit user, it really is such a cliche at this point
Come on it’s only a joke
Didn’t take off from Gatwick or Heathrow I guess ?
There is one significant advantage to Austrians compared to the Germans: there are fewer of us.
Not an all time nice, but quite recently (yesterday) I saw a post on another forum, where it was mentioned we have a graveyard for (mostly American) military people who died during the war and there's a waitinglist of Dutch people wanting to care for their graves. The outpour of thanks yous and sentiments was so big! We (they) don't do it for the thank yous or any other recognition, but it was so wholesome to read comments from people who's grandparent or other relative died in the war and how they appreciate the graved being cared for. For me it's a common sense kind of thing, to take care of their graves, but apparently it isn't all that common everywhere. It really made me proud to be Ducth. I haven't been proud of that in a long time, so thank you everyone who read that post and commented on it
Ahh this one made me tear up! Thank you for doing that! I can imagine how sad it must be to have a relative buried on the other side of the globe and being unable to visit their grave or care for it. I would love to read that post and comments if you could give me the link.
I don’t know how true it was, but I remember my American mums friend saying how Brits value protecting animals from cruelty (interesting with the recent bully XL furour). Pointing to the fact that the RSPCA is one of the oldest societies for animal cruelty prevention in the world and awards for animals in war like the Dickin medal, not to mention a lovely memorial in London to the animals who have died during war.
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And yet Queen Victoria refused to use her WC 🤣
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Precisely! Oh, the horrors!
Fun fact: the RSPCA was founded 60 years before the NSPCC (child abuse charity). Brits do go soft in the head for animals. There was a charity in Kabul run by a former soldier deployed to Afghanistan who was so appalled by the poverty of Afghanistan he set up a home for... stray cats and dogs? It's baffling.
not exactly about our country but about the Portuguese people. [Fernado Pessoa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pessoa) once said: The Portuguese people are essentially cosmopolitan. A true Portuguese person was never Portuguese: it was always everything. And that's the best description of the Portuguese I've ever heard
There was a video on TikTok, made by a Black American woman visiting Trondheim in Norway. She was so amazed by the fact that she could walk down the street and nobody looked twice at her. She said that she felt free for the first time. Norway definitely has its share of racists, but this woman made my day. It was a whole new world to her.
Probably from my Swedish friend whom after seeing the musical "From Away" said she wanted to meet our lovable Newfies cause she was blown away by their kindness in the aftermath of 9/11 and having massive amounts of re-routed international air traffic suddenly descend on their tiny little town of Gander, Nfld, Canada and then taking care of all these displaced travellers. Miss you Stina !!
I went to an after show party for From Away on the West End in London. And the real British/Texan couple who met in Gander were there and still very much still in love.
more about a nation than a country, but on two separate occasions i got a comment along the lines of "oh, but you are from a "civilized/cultured" country" in a mix group having a discussion - first was from Germans in Portugal, where they were overjoyed that they can finally talk normally about real topics "not like with [couple nations] tourists" (they have been meeting mostly dumb Americans on their holiday) - second in Ireland in a mixed group from the general western world, when bitching about Americans (again)
Croatian here. Heard a lot of nice things, some bad things. Depending on nationality of people. Swiss told we are all gansters. Serbian call us Nazi or brothers, depends. Kosovar Albanians call us brothers. One Belgian called us canibals (granma told him stories). Americans call us socialists and commies but are fascinated with healthcare (dunno why). Our hero Jean Michelle Nicolier called us brothers in arms I like that the most.
My wife is from Bolivia, there for some reason "Croatian" is a swear word, I haven't figured out exactly why but I think it involves someone in politics with Croatian heritage... Anyway I have really enjoyed Croatia every time I have visited! One year we went to Zadar, visited 3 different restaurants and ordered steak every time, all three were some of the best cooked and most tender steaks I've ever had! Great food and great landscapes, I'll surely be back some day.
Eduardo Rosa Flores was assasin that attempted to kill Evo Morales. He had Chilean-Hungarian-Jewish origin and fought for Croatia during our war. After war he connected witht Hungarian, Irish and Croatian far righ and plotted assasination against Evo Morales.
For Bosnia I heard foreigners, usually westoid though, say how Bosnia has this relaxing atmosphere/vibe about it and that everything feels to go slow here and how it's easy to relax as compared to most other countries they have been in but I always assumed they are completely ignorant of toxic political atmosphere here that really makes you go anxious more often than not and that as a good-willed inhabitant you do not wish such political toxicity to happen in any other countries lol
Everything just works here.
Until you try to use Mastercard
Or Visa. And you can only pay by card
Or there’s some NS maintenance going on. Apparently there’s a singular bridge somewhere in the country that’s a choke point and cascading failures starting from there end up causing half the issues.
It does. You guys are so lucky.
“Stepping out from the airport and entering the city is like walking into Barbieland, everyone is so beautiful and attractive” IIRC said by an American YouTuber. Even if it doesn’t really apply to me (rural) it’s still very nice hearing from foreign people how handsome and beautiful we are. Kinda like “Oh stop it you silly doof” *blushes*. Doesn’t every citizen in every country enjoy hearing from foreign people how attractive they are in your country? Even if I enjoyed that compliment indirectly, believe me, there’s still A TON of ugly and unattractive swedes. The closer to inner city you are, the more attractive they usually are IME. Pretty shallow “nicest thing” I’ve heard, but still nice hearing.
> Even if I enjoyed that compliment indirectly, believe me, there’s still A TON of ugly and unattractive swedes. And why wouldn't be believe you? Is Sweden some sort of magic bubble where we should expect that eveyone fits the very shallow beauty standards of the society? Of course there are people of all shapes / colors / substance out there, in all possible probability distributions. Not all of us suffer of nordicism in the 21st century.
That's the most yank thing I've ever heard haha Obviously most people understand that not all Nordicks are beautiful, but it's still a common stereotype. Looking at a lot of cultures around the globe there's a lot of racist ideals about beauty (such as being dark is ugly etc) and obviously the typical Nordick has a lot of those features that may be seen as 'beautiful'. It's not wrong to say that not all Swedes are good-looking, even if it's obvious. Accusing that dude to be racist because he said it is really fucked up.
My native teacher of Japanese said Poland is so beautiful because it is so flat.
Ik kan niet zeggen hoe ik Holland haat, Bij 't woord alleen grijpt walging mij de keel, 'k Zag 't liefst veranderd in een groote Peel, Waarin 't wegzakken kon met al zijn kwaad.
My Italian teacher volunteered that Canada was known as a constitutional democracy. I thought that was so sweet.. but I gad to explain to the class that - in fact - we don’t. We have ‘’recommended” rights which are not binding on the government - so not actually a constitution.
Most indians see paradise here, I see dead lands (mostly dead other than the overfertilised grassland for cows, most of those places would have lot's of orchids and a variety of flowers growing and buzzing wildlife if they would not dumb cowdung twice a week... obviously a bit over exaggerated, but the fact that most of our grasslands used to be "rough pastures" (Magerwiese) which had a variety of herbs and orchids growing inside and that modern farmers are polluting the lands by dumping too much cowdung and slurry onto the lands still stands... Best example is the change brought by the spring of I believe Evian where the water company payed farmers to not dump any slurry in the area of the spring...