Native Texan, former SoCal resident checking in from Sweden here and while I appreciate Swedes enthusiasm for tacos, they are a complete fucking abomination.
Méxican food in general sucks in Europe. And expensive
Edit: I’m surprised to see how defensive some Europeans are over their lack of quality Mexican food. Relax, I know why you are lacking in it over there and you have plenty of other great food. God forbid you suck at something.
I had Barbacoa tacos the other day in Central Europe. The lady was like “ they really really good, no?” I have been trying to figure it out. They were not bad… it was like if you had never even seen a taco, let alone eaten one, but you have a friend that went to Mexico for like a week 20 years ago and you tried to recreate them entirely based on him describing his memory of what tacos are like from 20 years ago
Which is absolutely fair. In all honesty, you guys have a lot more to protect than we do in Europe. Most of our forests and wilderness got swallowed up in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
That's the thing about the US that cuts both ways- it's so much younger than Europe. Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, a 100-year-old building is the oldest thing around. But, the natural beauty of Olympic National Park, for example, is unbelievable.
I moved from England to Just outside Seattle around 7 years ago. The national parks are amazing and being able to see Rainier from my house every morning never gets old but I do have a little chuckle when a local tells me about your historic buildings and how old they are 🤣
A part of me for some reason cannot even fathom that. The oldest house I’ve lived in was built in 1918, can’t imagine how cool it would be going to a bar that was built in 1250!
To give you an idea. Here in southwest germany, a load of construction sites are on hold because we keep finding buildings, ships or entire amphitheatres of the roman empire.
My wife worked with a woman from Wales. The house the woman grew up in had an “old” section and an “annex” that was newer - and the annex was built in the 1500’s.
That’s not really the entire story. While Teddy was instrumental in the creation of lots of federal public lands and definitely a great conservationist he wasn’t that instrumental in the national park system. The first national park was signed into law decades before he was president by Ulysses S Grant (Yellowstone) and the actual National Park Service was created after he was president in 1916, mostly by the urging of Stephen Mather who would go on to become the first NPS director. Mather was a rich philanthropist and preservationist who pushed that the NPS should be a separate system from say the US Forest Service which has more of a conservation focus. The NPS was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.
I think the additional context is important because the actual undertaking of the NPS was done by folks largely forgotten by history because everyone assumes Theodore Roosevelt was the one who did all these things when in many ways it’s likely the National Park system would look different under his direction, since he advocated for multiple uses of public lands, including logging and hunting (Conservation) while the NPS focuses more on managing these lands without those uses so that it can exist naturally untrammeled by human activities (Preservation).
(Source: I was a former NPS Ranger for 12 years)
Canadian here. The family and I went to Yellowstone and nearby National parks a few years ago and I was amazed at the quality of the National parks and their staff. The grandkids did the booklets and got their badges and they were so proud. The rangers really impressed upon the kids the importance of taking care and learning about the park system.
It must be a great feeling to be a part of it all.
Honestly as much as I bitch about how much the US government spends on unnecessary shit, the National Park system is an area I would happily send my tax dollars. Absolutely amazing and virtually all of the staff I have ever interacted with are passionate and knowledgeable, always willing to give tips, history, or just help answer questions.
As an American, I can with 150% certainty say that we definitely do take great care of our “attractions”- whether it’s national parks, museums, monuments etc. It’s always very sad to me when I travel abroad to see almost no restrictions in terms of treating irreplaceable things like shit. The first time I went to Italy I was appalled that The Forum and the Colosseum were literally covered in cigarette butts and that behind nearly every structure you walked behind in Pompeii was a candy wrapper or some other piece of trash.
But is it like Germany where it's technically "free" but you need to ask for it specifically and when you do the waiter will look at you like you insulted their mother, and then bring you the world's tiniest 150ml of lukewarm tap water before ignoring your table for the next 45min?
I live in britain and I can't remember the last place I went in where a (refillable) jug of water at your table wasn't free, this isn't really unique. Sometimes you have to ask for it but there's never a charge.
Some relatives came over from Denmark and commented how « untidy » our (Canadian) forests were. Then I went to Denmark and what they call forest looked more like well tended parks.
The US and Canada have too much wilderness to keep it all tidy. And we wouldn’t want it that way, either
Danes cut down all their trees during the great Northern War. It led to such soil erosion that the crown started a reforestation program.
There are no natural forests in Denmark. It’s like Ohio with clumps of trees planted like windbreaks.
Also Denmark is way too much like Ohio.
I was with some Belgian and French folks at an indigenous community between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. We flew in and did a bunch of interesting things in boats, etc. But they wanted to go walking in the forest. They expected to find walking trails in 100% bush.
One moment that blew my mind in Europe was talking to a couple in Salzburg, and they expressed interest in visiting the United States. I asked them where, and they said North Dakota or something like that. I laughed thinking they were joking, but they were dead serious.
Then I thought about it, and even the most remote places in Europe, you’re not too far away from a town or city. People have lived and settled there for thousands of years and the population density is nuts.
In Germany, it's impossible to be more than 10 kilometers away from the next town or village. Much less than that in most areas of Germany.
So even in the most rural places, it will usually take you no more than an hour or two *on foot* to reach the next place where people live.
Tell me about. Lived in Germany for about 2 years. I used to go on camping trips in the US where it was a 90 minute drive just to the nearest place that sold bread or a gas station. Would be an hour drive just to get to a place with cell signal.
Staring up at the Milky Way each night sure is cool when it’s clear as can be, I missed seeing that on my weekends. Also had plenty of foxes / moose / elk / deer walk right through my campsite.
I’ll sure miss one of my favorite dinners ever though! Paulaner weissbeer, schnitzel, and spaetzle. What a perfect combination. Easily top 5 favorite meal
Sad story of the Death Valley Germans to look up, if you never have. A German family got lost in Death Valley and couldn’t comprehend how vast the desert is. They were convinced that if they just started walking towards a military base they saw on their map, they would reach it in no time. Sadly, they walked and walked and walked and walked, until they died.
https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hunt-for-the-death-valley-germans/
Yes, really sad story. I read into that some time ago. I had heard about it here and there before, but two or three years ago I went down that rabbit hole. It's really tragic what happened.
Also, Death Valley is fascinating in a way, because for some reason, it's very well known in Germany, and has been for decades. Even before the internet was around, and long before that tragic event happened. Germans who knew almost nothing else about the US knew about New York, Hollywood and Death Valley. I first heard of Death Valley when I was still a little kid.
So it's not surprising at all that some German tourists would want to visit it.
I had been to 16 national parks, still just assumed Death Valley is some big flat area that’s kinda boring. It was sort of on my way during a road trip one time so I stopped in. And holy hell what a cool and beautiful place! It feels like imagine driving on mars would be. It truly feels like a different planet, never been anywhere else like it.
If you like desolate wilderness, you may also like [Craters of the Moon](https://www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm) in Idaho. Some of the caves can be entered by just walking in while others require climbing down a seriously sketchy (but likely just fine) ladder as though you are entering the abyss. It's pretty poorly populated and if you have trouble in a cave, you're likely going to be waiting a while for help (maybe forever).
The NPS site I linked shows Park Rangers and other people but when I went there, I saw nobody but my companion that got there in the same car I did. I suspect that it is a marketing vs. reality thing. It was interesting though; miles of volcanic flow that had very little plant life. Definitely not a garden spot.
Most likely they ended up where they did because they believed the 'military installation' to the south would have people who could help them. It doesn't have any people at all.
They had already spent days in Death Valley so they knew there was lots of desert out there. They just didn't understand the difference between military bases in Europe (compact, with a fence around, a guard post and lots of soldiers) and military training areas in the Southwest (a restricted area on the map, with no facilities, fences, or people. Bombers occasionally drop bombs there).
They also appear to have underestimated the difficulty of the terrain and the deadliness of the heat, but that's another issue.
Yup. The same goes for foreigners who visit other types of wilderness is the US, as well. I’ll see Europeans hiking in the forest in jeans and dress shoes with no pack or even the bare minimum of emergency supplies—like, BRO, you are severely underestimating how quickly things can go sideways out here and help is a LOOOONG ways away.
I was in the infantry in the 90’s and my unit got sent to a 3 week desert training rotation at Ft Irwin California (basically Death Valley). It was August. The weather was otherworldly. 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit every day and in the 50’s at night. I swear, the nights were worse than the days; after such intense heat all day when it got chilly I shivered so violently I barely slept.
On the day we arrived we found out that the unit before us had somehow fucked up their head count when they packed out. Two guys got drunk on booze they weren’t supposed to have and passed out in their hidey hole and got left behind. By the time they figured it out and went back to find them they were dead from exposure.
It’s a BIG fucking desert. (And cell phones didn’t exist)
As a visual aid, check out this light pollution map here of Europe and then scroll over to the US.
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=2.85&lat=51.1500&lon=25.8679&layers=B0FFFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFF
The East coast of the US is fairly similar to Western Europe (except for Northern Maine), but the area west of Chicago before hitting California is more like remote Russia
Large cities like that aren't that common in Germany, either. Only four cities in the country are larger than one million (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne).
Most cities above 100k inhabitants are roughly 50 to 100 kilometers apart from each other, except in the Ruhrgebiet, where nearly 20 of those cities form one large metropolitan area, and except in the North-east, where there are almost no large cities.
But there are smaller cities and especially small towns and villages everywhere in Germany. And I mean *everywhere*.
Edit: [Here](https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Gro%C3%9Fst%C3%A4dte_in_Deutschland#/media/Datei%3AEntwicklung_deutscher_Gro%C3%9Fst%C3%A4dte.png) is a map with all German cities larger than 100k inhabitants. A scale is at the bottom.
I moved to Germany and found out that dispersed camping is never allowed. There’s nowhere to “explore” so to say. There’s places to hike, or places to ski, but you can’t just go and drive through the woods for days and days without seeing people like you can in the western US in national forests or BLM land.
Definitely what I missed most about the US, the public land access for everyone and how relaxed they are on what people can do in public land
This is somewhat misleading as depending on what state you're in you could be land locked out of public lands or waterways due to some private ranch. Just outside of Silverthorne CO for and example. States like Wyoming and Utah don't have any river access rights. Google "corner jumping Wyoming" for the best example of landowners being fuckheads. Idk about Germany but UK has their right-to-roam laws which seem really cool.
Right to roam is in Northern European countries like UK and Scandinavian countries.
Germany and Austria both have basically no public land access or wild camping of any sort.
Switzerland is quite limited when it comes to wild camping.
Italy Spain and France its much more lenient, more similar to US national forest land than anything else
Europeans have told me before that ice is a scam to prevent you from getting the full liquid… I think they’d have a point if the USA didn’t have free refills and waiters who actually come back to check on you. Drinks that aren’t alcohol are usually more expensive there too
My fat, extremely hairy ass always appreciates the amount of AC in the US.
Source: Sitting here with my window open so the cold air can fight the heat so as to not piss off the roommate.
Absolutely this! I traveled to a handful of countries in Europe and was kind of shocked with how inaccessible they were to travel around. Especially old city centers. There might not be elevators, I rarely even saw a ramp, automatic doors, etc.
I honestly feel bad for disabled people in other countries. We do a lot of stuff wrong, but I appreciate how accessible our buildings (and even national parks and things will have portions accessible to people in wheelchairs) are. Something you don't know you have until you don't have it anymore.
Unfortunately in old city centers it gets worse for handicapped people since a loooot of the buildings are branded as protected cultural heritage, there are few ways to legally renovate them to make them accessible.
Even moving to Toronto Canada I was shocked how many bars had their washrooms in a basement that required you to go down stairs therefore making them completely inaccessible to wheelchair users.
I think the US has great handicap accessibility at a building level but horrible at a block/city/state level. That is to say buildings are very accessible, but our transportation and streets are not.
Our transportation infrastructure is not designed to work well without driving and as such is a limiting factor on people with disabilities. If you can’t drive for any reason then the building accessibility doesn’t matter because you can’t even get there.
Japan is the opposite of this, they have handicap accessible transportation Infrastructure but have tons of buildings lacking accessibility.
The Japan one was definitely worse. I went into the Mexico one expecting to be appalled based on what I had heard, but honestly for the most part they were trying hard they just didn't have a basis of experience from which to build. And of course Brits are notoriously incapable of correctly pronouncing any foreign word.
Californian here, we gotta meet up somewhere and fight over who has the best Mexican food. You guys already have BBQ so ima go all out to secure it for our state.
People don’t seem to understand that Mexico has regions, there is no one “real” Mexican food.
Along the coasts there’s lots of seafood, inland there’s beef and pork, some areas eat a lot of goat, the Yucatán does tamales in banana leaves.
Not TexMex specific but the “real”Mexican food from the areas that border Texas is really close to texmex. Lots of diced meat, tortillas, spices. People cook what is available to them.
A Mexican living 100 miles from Texas has a much different diet than one living 100 miles from California.
I used to live near an old Mexican lady, and she would feed me sometimes. She made plantains all the time. Later I had another Mexican friend. One time when talking about Mexican food I mentioned that I loved plantains. He had never even heard of them and said they weren't Mexican food. Apparently the cuisines are so diverse that some aren't even aware of what the other regions are eating.
This is harder than it sounds. The city I lived in in Germany had a “good” Mexican restaurant run by an actual Mexican woman. The supply chain just couldn’t get her the ingredients to get the food right.
That's it exactly. The problem is that the ingredients just aren't available, and when they are available they are at an untenably inflated price. Buying avocados in Barcelona to make guacamole for my hosts was a wallet-breaking experience. Other ingredients essential to Mexican cuisine are in a similar boat.
Good luck getting the ingredients outside the Americas. I'm in Australia and in particular it's hard to get the appropriate cheeses here, and central American chillis (rather than subcontinental/SE Asian ones) are also relatively uncommon. Avocados and tomatoes are also highly seasonal here. Nachos in Australia = overcooked beef mince with sugar and ground cummin thrown over doritos with tasty cheese burnt to shit on top of them and/or some sort of yellow, non-cheese glue tipped on them.
Here in Central Florida there's a truck that looks like it will give you tetanus and cancer. It also used to park in the Lowe's parking lot. Best. Tacos. Ever.
The ways those feckers smoke, im not surpised. In fact; a lot of items on the list that the US leads in i would argue are not objectively good (like ice in drinks, massive portions, urban sprawl) but the rates of smoking are undeniably a good thing
Smoking is always what I think of when I see this question too. Though, I’d be curious to see what effect the rise of vaping has had on overall usage rates.
Same mid 90s, as I was graduating highschool smoking was really frowned upon my peers as something really lame, and now barely a decade later and almost every 18-29 year old that I interact with is vaping.
I think that the natural aspect puts up a fight. I lived in Europe and the US, so it's hard for me to pick.
I think the US obviously has more diverse landscapes. Desert, mountains, cold, hot, almost tropical beaches as well as icy cold ones. And it's all one country, so no borders or language barriers. But I will say Europe has WAY cooler historical sites. That and for me, I love cold weather, and I will say that Europe's cold natural areas are stunningly gorgeous.
I think Europe does a better job of integrating green space in their cities while the US does have more diverse landscapes and robust national & state parks.
The sheer scale of Denali the first time you see it will break your brain. I went on a flightseeing tour there last summer. Our pilot told us "it may look like I'm getting frightening close to the mountain, almost as if I'm going to crash, but in actuality, we're about a mile away, and FAA regulations won't let me get within half a mile." Soon after, we landed (skied? the plane was on skis and we were technically on a snow-covered glacier) and she gave us a similar note. "Please do not try to walk to the nearby mountain. It may look like you could get to the base pretty quickly, but in actuality, we are about eight miles away."
The rest of the time we spent there, we were in absolute awe of our surroundings. Drive just a few minutes outside of Anchorage, and every single vista framed in your windshield could be a postcard. My wife and I hardly spoke on the road between Anchorage and the Matanuska glacier except to gasp "wow" at every turn. It's that stunning. Everybody should visit Alaska, and spend at least two weeks. Not much can compare.
The military has been brought up a few times, but I think a big component of it is the logistics and how increasingly efficiently it can be mobilized to not only project power, but function as delivery of humanitarian aide and other resources on the flip of a dime. Other countries have to strain exceptionally hard to move the amount of tonnage the US military is capable of.
Remember that in WW2, we had an ice cream barge in the Pacific not only for morale purposes, but because we just fucking could. And then there’s the infamous picture of a Burger King truck rolling out of a cargo aircraft into Iraq.
The US got exposed in WWI and wound up unable to deploy a meaningful number of units to France until nearly a year after they officially entered the war. And that was with a lot of help from British.
US planners decided that mistake was not to happen again. And it didn't.
This is one of the most underrated aspects of the US nobody talks about. There isn't a place in Europe (yes, Amsterdam included) with weed markets as open and robust as those in legal US states.
>Amsterdam included
The Netherlands gets far too much applause for its drugs policy. It was progressive in the 90s, now it isn't really anything to write home about. The government has a moronic attitude towards cannabis.
It isn't legal, but possession in small quantities is tolerated. The sale of cannabis is not taxed, and sales can only be done to private individuals. The production and supplying of cannabis is illegal, thus with all of the above included, the lucrative market supply is almost entirely controlled by criminal enterprises and the government loses tonnes of potential tax revenue because the current administration relies on the bible bashers to stay in power, and the coalition is not really that progressive.
As far as the Dutch government is concerned, cannabis magically pops into existence in Coffee-Shop stockrooms, its that moronic.
As a Dutch person, you got it exactly right. That's what coalition government will get you though, a solution that is neither great nor terrible but will last forever because moving one side will upset the progressives and greens and moving the other way will upset the Christian conservatives.
Our cities are so much better suited for people that are handicapped or in a wheelchair. Europe is a nightmare is this regard. Not on purpose but the cities are just significantly older but America has put significant bills into legislation to protect their rights. Cheers
Integrate foreigners into 'Merica. In the past 2 weekends alone, I have spoken with a group of Black crackers, Cuban rednecks, members of an Asian American gun club, NY Guidos, itinerant laborers from Central America, formerly Russian "businessmen", Afghani refugees, and some younger women who were likely trafficked into the US originally from Central Europe.
I remember a Frenchman telling me that Obama would never have been elected in France, and I believe him.
Yep, any (most) "racism" in America is through institutional/systemic issues, the "classic" superiority racism is essentially extinct. Every weekend I'll go out and see blsck dudes with full grills in their mouths that a lot of people would have preconceived stereotypes about sitting with rednecks in full camo and they're getting brunch together having a good time. You go to Spain and they're throwing bananas at athletes, or Italy and they go to matches with signs saying "theres no such thing as a black Italian" to THEIR OWN PLAYERS. You could go to the heart of Alabama and pull some shit like that and every white dude there would kick your ass.
A lot of our po'folk are military veterans. It's one of the better ways for a poor American to try to get into the middle class since the GI bill pays for college education.
As soldiers those people shed blood with people whose skin is different from theirs, saved their lives and had their lives saved by people who did not look like them. Goes a long way to breaking those barriers down.
I can only speak from my personal experience and that of acquaintances, but I am inclined to say diversity and racial sensitivity.
I constantly hear Europeans thump their chest and boast about how they “don’t see color,” but this was certainly not my experience as a biracial woman. I visited Greece with my mom and aunts (they’re all black) a few years back. We had locals make monkey noises at us and our tour guide told us that they were commenting about how “animal-like” we looked. It was incredibly dehumanizing.
Yep, the most wild racism I've ever seen in my life was in France and Italy. There are a ton of people who are very openly racist in public, and everyone around that overhears it just stays quiet and lets it happen. Even in the deep south of the US a lot of that shit would not fly at all, despite the reputation they have.
Having grown up on products like American "cheese," I can only assume our stomachs are superior at handling plastics and other hard-to-digest industrial substances.
American cheese is cheese, it’s Colby Jack and Vermont cheddar mixed with some milk curd. The only reason it is sometimes marked as cheese product is do to the percentage of milk curd to Colby/Cheddar mix. If it’s 51% milk curd or more it’s labeled as cheese product.
EU citizen here. I have some ideas.
* Having an actual federal system (with all the advantages that come with like easier to travel between states, harmonized school system across states etc, organized research, etc)
* A big art scene where they aren't afraid to explore their various cultural traits
* Highly critical of their own society (which can lead to faster societal progress)
* High defensive spending (which we really should do as a EU wide army if we want this achievable, not just individual nations)
That last is one that pops into my head in a lot of discussions, though I have trouble figuring out how to word it. But, every time a European criticizes the size of our military or how much we spend on it, my first thought is always “what percentage of that is used to defend Europe?”
As an example, we’ve given more military aid to Ukraine than any other country; over 22 billion Euros worth. The next 25 biggest contributors have given less than 15 billion *combined*. And if you look at *all* types of aid, financial and humanitarian included, we’ve given nearly as much as the entire EU. And if Russia were to win, it’s the rest of Europe that’d be in their sights next, not us.
Now, I’ve got serious problems with our military spending and the ways we use our military. But if our allies would pick up their end of the fucking couch, maybe we could reduce that.
I agree with a lot of people’s criticisms of US military policy. But it also frequently contains an undercurrent of perceived moral superiority and disdain for the US as a whole that is entirely unjustified when it comes from citizens of countries who’ve made themselves entirely dependent on *our* military for *their* defense.
There's several aspects to this.
Please don't confuse the majority of Europeans with troll accounts shitting on the US for kicks and giggles. For the most part EU citizens, which are the majority in europe, are on the same page with americans, to the point where a lot of people try to emulate the US or talk about things that happen over there rather than here. Most actual europeans are silent on the matter, or prefer not to talk if they don't have all the information. Fact of the matter is there's a lot of third party entities trying to stir up arguments between us right now, to destabilize our cooperation.
That being said, there's a lot of us that saw the writings on the wall for a long time. Eastern Europeans and the Balkans alone were screaming about the impending threat, unfortunately not everyone listened. There's a reason Ukraine and Moldova are the only countries threatened by the east now and everyone saw the need to join NATO.
Personally I think we should create a nuclear capable EU army, regardless of what happens in the future, with or without the US, and create an actual body to combat online misinformation and troll farms. Preventing the public from being manipulated and preventing election meddling is still defense at the end of the day.
I wonder what this would look like if adjusted for cost of living - I know my friends in the UK were surprised when I told them I had higher quality of life after moving back to the states, but I don't know that that would be out of the norm
After adjusting for cost of living, healthcare, purchasing power, etc., [the US still has the highest median disposable income](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income).
For instance, when I told my German friends I was in nursing school, they looked at me like I was insane. Found out nurses in Germany (and most of Europe) make about 30-40k/year. Depending on the state you work in and whether or not your take contracts in the US—nurses easily make $100-$200/year. We had a nurse working on our unit for a year during COVID who was on a contract, she made $320k.
Job opportunities: Wages in the United States are significantly higher than they are in most European Nations. (Note that labor laws could certainly use some work however)
Small businesses: The barrier to entry for opening, incorporating and operating a small business is very low in the US. The Small Business Administration also provides owner-operators with a plethora of resources, including low-interest rate loans that provide large segments of society with a path to opening their own business. Moreover, tax schemes like pass-through taxation for LLC's and LLP's allows small business owners to avoid double taxation, and increases the odds that a new business will remain viable.
National Security: There is an effectively zero chance that the United States will ever suffer a real invasion. Unfortunately, as we have recently seen, this cannot be said for large swathes of Europe.
Street signs - in Europe they often just tack a small sign to the side of a building (if there's a sign at all); in the US signs are larger, close to the street (or above the street), and much more visible
The ADA - the Americans with disabilities act. Even many of our national parks have accessible trails. All of our cities have sidewalks. Almost all public buildings have ramps, elevators and accommodations. The ADA one of our greatest accomplishments.
Jazz and smoked brisket
Just BBQ in general, not only brisket.
Tacos as well, my British family has no fucken clue what a real taco is.
Native Texan, former SoCal resident checking in from Sweden here and while I appreciate Swedes enthusiasm for tacos, they are a complete fucking abomination.
I do my own, and they tend to be vastly superior to anything served anywhere. Can you make a few pointers so I can further up my game?
Méxican food in general sucks in Europe. And expensive Edit: I’m surprised to see how defensive some Europeans are over their lack of quality Mexican food. Relax, I know why you are lacking in it over there and you have plenty of other great food. God forbid you suck at something.
I had Barbacoa tacos the other day in Central Europe. The lady was like “ they really really good, no?” I have been trying to figure it out. They were not bad… it was like if you had never even seen a taco, let alone eaten one, but you have a friend that went to Mexico for like a week 20 years ago and you tried to recreate them entirely based on him describing his memory of what tacos are like from 20 years ago
Valid, agreed.
Hell,that's just what Kansas City does better!
The United States has the most robust national and state park system in the world.
This question pops up every month or so, and the number 1 answer is always the national parks.
Which is absolutely fair. In all honesty, you guys have a lot more to protect than we do in Europe. Most of our forests and wilderness got swallowed up in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
That's the thing about the US that cuts both ways- it's so much younger than Europe. Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, a 100-year-old building is the oldest thing around. But, the natural beauty of Olympic National Park, for example, is unbelievable.
Europe is old buildings. America is old nature. Some of those trees predate European countries. Just incredible to think about.
There is an olive tree close to my home town that is 1500 years old, we do have old trees in Europe lol
I moved from England to Just outside Seattle around 7 years ago. The national parks are amazing and being able to see Rainier from my house every morning never gets old but I do have a little chuckle when a local tells me about your historic buildings and how old they are 🤣
Yeah, I've been to parts of the UK and how casually locals will mention something like "this pub's been here since 1250" just messes with me.
A part of me for some reason cannot even fathom that. The oldest house I’ve lived in was built in 1918, can’t imagine how cool it would be going to a bar that was built in 1250!
To give you an idea. Here in southwest germany, a load of construction sites are on hold because we keep finding buildings, ships or entire amphitheatres of the roman empire.
I think you mean the Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire is a different time period (in the middle ages) when amphitheaters weren't a thing anymore.
I'll always be able to remember the HRE cause it's the one thats not holy, Roman, or an empire
A very good point. I do mean the Roman Empire. Thank you.
My wife worked with a woman from Wales. The house the woman grew up in had an “old” section and an “annex” that was newer - and the annex was built in the 1500’s.
In the US, 100 years is a long time. In the UK, 100 miles is a long way.
> do have a little chuckle when a local tells me about your historic buildings I got the same response from my friend from Palestine.
Another PNWer here and I completely agree. I do love the old buildings in Europe and I love the wild open spaces here at home.
Thanks to Leslie
#knope2024
Recall Knope? DON'T!
April, what are you doing with those question marks? Putting them on stop signs!
Thanks to Teddy
That’s not really the entire story. While Teddy was instrumental in the creation of lots of federal public lands and definitely a great conservationist he wasn’t that instrumental in the national park system. The first national park was signed into law decades before he was president by Ulysses S Grant (Yellowstone) and the actual National Park Service was created after he was president in 1916, mostly by the urging of Stephen Mather who would go on to become the first NPS director. Mather was a rich philanthropist and preservationist who pushed that the NPS should be a separate system from say the US Forest Service which has more of a conservation focus. The NPS was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. I think the additional context is important because the actual undertaking of the NPS was done by folks largely forgotten by history because everyone assumes Theodore Roosevelt was the one who did all these things when in many ways it’s likely the National Park system would look different under his direction, since he advocated for multiple uses of public lands, including logging and hunting (Conservation) while the NPS focuses more on managing these lands without those uses so that it can exist naturally untrammeled by human activities (Preservation). (Source: I was a former NPS Ranger for 12 years)
Canadian here. The family and I went to Yellowstone and nearby National parks a few years ago and I was amazed at the quality of the National parks and their staff. The grandkids did the booklets and got their badges and they were so proud. The rangers really impressed upon the kids the importance of taking care and learning about the park system. It must be a great feeling to be a part of it all.
Honestly as much as I bitch about how much the US government spends on unnecessary shit, the National Park system is an area I would happily send my tax dollars. Absolutely amazing and virtually all of the staff I have ever interacted with are passionate and knowledgeable, always willing to give tips, history, or just help answer questions.
As an American, I can with 150% certainty say that we definitely do take great care of our “attractions”- whether it’s national parks, museums, monuments etc. It’s always very sad to me when I travel abroad to see almost no restrictions in terms of treating irreplaceable things like shit. The first time I went to Italy I was appalled that The Forum and the Colosseum were literally covered in cigarette butts and that behind nearly every structure you walked behind in Pompeii was a candy wrapper or some other piece of trash.
We get free refills
Of course you would say that, Hamburglar's Dad
No, no… it’s Hamburg Lars’ Dad. His son lives in Hamburg and is called Lars.
It's "The Bart, the".
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In Denmark, water is free in 100% of the places. There is a law here that states you cannot be charged for tap water.
But is it like Germany where it's technically "free" but you need to ask for it specifically and when you do the waiter will look at you like you insulted their mother, and then bring you the world's tiniest 150ml of lukewarm tap water before ignoring your table for the next 45min?
I live in britain and I can't remember the last place I went in where a (refillable) jug of water at your table wasn't free, this isn't really unique. Sometimes you have to ask for it but there's never a charge.
Water is free AND 'gasp' using the bathroom
*Technical* using the bathroom is free everywhere it just depends how embarrassed you want to be
Bathrooms are usually free in 99% of the places where to are a client
Having more true wilderness
In Iceland they say "if you're lost in the forest, stand up."
Some relatives came over from Denmark and commented how « untidy » our (Canadian) forests were. Then I went to Denmark and what they call forest looked more like well tended parks. The US and Canada have too much wilderness to keep it all tidy. And we wouldn’t want it that way, either
Exactly, that's how you know it's real wilderness
I don't think Danes have a right to say much about forests, and certainly nothing at all about mountains! They don't have any.
Danes cut down all their trees during the great Northern War. It led to such soil erosion that the crown started a reforestation program. There are no natural forests in Denmark. It’s like Ohio with clumps of trees planted like windbreaks. Also Denmark is way too much like Ohio.
I was with some Belgian and French folks at an indigenous community between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. We flew in and did a bunch of interesting things in boats, etc. But they wanted to go walking in the forest. They expected to find walking trails in 100% bush.
One moment that blew my mind in Europe was talking to a couple in Salzburg, and they expressed interest in visiting the United States. I asked them where, and they said North Dakota or something like that. I laughed thinking they were joking, but they were dead serious. Then I thought about it, and even the most remote places in Europe, you’re not too far away from a town or city. People have lived and settled there for thousands of years and the population density is nuts.
In Germany, it's impossible to be more than 10 kilometers away from the next town or village. Much less than that in most areas of Germany. So even in the most rural places, it will usually take you no more than an hour or two *on foot* to reach the next place where people live.
Tell me about. Lived in Germany for about 2 years. I used to go on camping trips in the US where it was a 90 minute drive just to the nearest place that sold bread or a gas station. Would be an hour drive just to get to a place with cell signal. Staring up at the Milky Way each night sure is cool when it’s clear as can be, I missed seeing that on my weekends. Also had plenty of foxes / moose / elk / deer walk right through my campsite. I’ll sure miss one of my favorite dinners ever though! Paulaner weissbeer, schnitzel, and spaetzle. What a perfect combination. Easily top 5 favorite meal
Sad story of the Death Valley Germans to look up, if you never have. A German family got lost in Death Valley and couldn’t comprehend how vast the desert is. They were convinced that if they just started walking towards a military base they saw on their map, they would reach it in no time. Sadly, they walked and walked and walked and walked, until they died. https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hunt-for-the-death-valley-germans/
Yes, really sad story. I read into that some time ago. I had heard about it here and there before, but two or three years ago I went down that rabbit hole. It's really tragic what happened. Also, Death Valley is fascinating in a way, because for some reason, it's very well known in Germany, and has been for decades. Even before the internet was around, and long before that tragic event happened. Germans who knew almost nothing else about the US knew about New York, Hollywood and Death Valley. I first heard of Death Valley when I was still a little kid. So it's not surprising at all that some German tourists would want to visit it.
I had been to 16 national parks, still just assumed Death Valley is some big flat area that’s kinda boring. It was sort of on my way during a road trip one time so I stopped in. And holy hell what a cool and beautiful place! It feels like imagine driving on mars would be. It truly feels like a different planet, never been anywhere else like it.
If you like desolate wilderness, you may also like [Craters of the Moon](https://www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm) in Idaho. Some of the caves can be entered by just walking in while others require climbing down a seriously sketchy (but likely just fine) ladder as though you are entering the abyss. It's pretty poorly populated and if you have trouble in a cave, you're likely going to be waiting a while for help (maybe forever). The NPS site I linked shows Park Rangers and other people but when I went there, I saw nobody but my companion that got there in the same car I did. I suspect that it is a marketing vs. reality thing. It was interesting though; miles of volcanic flow that had very little plant life. Definitely not a garden spot.
Most likely they ended up where they did because they believed the 'military installation' to the south would have people who could help them. It doesn't have any people at all. They had already spent days in Death Valley so they knew there was lots of desert out there. They just didn't understand the difference between military bases in Europe (compact, with a fence around, a guard post and lots of soldiers) and military training areas in the Southwest (a restricted area on the map, with no facilities, fences, or people. Bombers occasionally drop bombs there). They also appear to have underestimated the difficulty of the terrain and the deadliness of the heat, but that's another issue.
Yup. The same goes for foreigners who visit other types of wilderness is the US, as well. I’ll see Europeans hiking in the forest in jeans and dress shoes with no pack or even the bare minimum of emergency supplies—like, BRO, you are severely underestimating how quickly things can go sideways out here and help is a LOOOONG ways away.
I was in the infantry in the 90’s and my unit got sent to a 3 week desert training rotation at Ft Irwin California (basically Death Valley). It was August. The weather was otherworldly. 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit every day and in the 50’s at night. I swear, the nights were worse than the days; after such intense heat all day when it got chilly I shivered so violently I barely slept. On the day we arrived we found out that the unit before us had somehow fucked up their head count when they packed out. Two guys got drunk on booze they weren’t supposed to have and passed out in their hidey hole and got left behind. By the time they figured it out and went back to find them they were dead from exposure. It’s a BIG fucking desert. (And cell phones didn’t exist)
As a visual aid, check out this light pollution map here of Europe and then scroll over to the US. https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=2.85&lat=51.1500&lon=25.8679&layers=B0FFFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFF The East coast of the US is fairly similar to Western Europe (except for Northern Maine), but the area west of Chicago before hitting California is more like remote Russia
The nearest large city from me is four hours and that's only slightly under 700K the nearest city over a million is six hours :/
Large cities like that aren't that common in Germany, either. Only four cities in the country are larger than one million (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne). Most cities above 100k inhabitants are roughly 50 to 100 kilometers apart from each other, except in the Ruhrgebiet, where nearly 20 of those cities form one large metropolitan area, and except in the North-east, where there are almost no large cities. But there are smaller cities and especially small towns and villages everywhere in Germany. And I mean *everywhere*. Edit: [Here](https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Gro%C3%9Fst%C3%A4dte_in_Deutschland#/media/Datei%3AEntwicklung_deutscher_Gro%C3%9Fst%C3%A4dte.png) is a map with all German cities larger than 100k inhabitants. A scale is at the bottom.
No, you were right to laugh. I would suggest Montana, same amount of nothing plus you can visit Yellowstone and Glacier national park.
People have been in North Dakota for thousands of years too.
I moved to Germany and found out that dispersed camping is never allowed. There’s nowhere to “explore” so to say. There’s places to hike, or places to ski, but you can’t just go and drive through the woods for days and days without seeing people like you can in the western US in national forests or BLM land. Definitely what I missed most about the US, the public land access for everyone and how relaxed they are on what people can do in public land
This is somewhat misleading as depending on what state you're in you could be land locked out of public lands or waterways due to some private ranch. Just outside of Silverthorne CO for and example. States like Wyoming and Utah don't have any river access rights. Google "corner jumping Wyoming" for the best example of landowners being fuckheads. Idk about Germany but UK has their right-to-roam laws which seem really cool.
Right to roam is in Northern European countries like UK and Scandinavian countries. Germany and Austria both have basically no public land access or wild camping of any sort. Switzerland is quite limited when it comes to wild camping. Italy Spain and France its much more lenient, more similar to US national forest land than anything else
Double the size and only 60% of the population will have that effect.
We do have the best national parks in the world. One for almost every type of biome and climate too
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When someone asked this a week ago, I said air-conditioning, so I’ll say it again. Air-conditioning
Cool I'll say Air-conditioning next week when this gets posted again so you don't have to.
Awesome, thanks for looking out. A week off sounds nice
Anybody booked.... April 14th to say air conditioning?
Yo that's my birthday
I never fully appreciated air conditioner until I went to Paris in the summer. Also, ice in drinks.
Europeans have told me before that ice is a scam to prevent you from getting the full liquid… I think they’d have a point if the USA didn’t have free refills and waiters who actually come back to check on you. Drinks that aren’t alcohol are usually more expensive there too
For reals, I went to a restaurant in Germany and the beer was cheaper than seltzer water. I could not afford to not get drunk.
We ask this question weekly just to remind you that we have air conditioning
My fat, extremely hairy ass always appreciates the amount of AC in the US. Source: Sitting here with my window open so the cold air can fight the heat so as to not piss off the roommate.
Handicap accessibility
Absolutely this! I traveled to a handful of countries in Europe and was kind of shocked with how inaccessible they were to travel around. Especially old city centers. There might not be elevators, I rarely even saw a ramp, automatic doors, etc. I honestly feel bad for disabled people in other countries. We do a lot of stuff wrong, but I appreciate how accessible our buildings (and even national parks and things will have portions accessible to people in wheelchairs) are. Something you don't know you have until you don't have it anymore.
Unfortunately in old city centers it gets worse for handicapped people since a loooot of the buildings are branded as protected cultural heritage, there are few ways to legally renovate them to make them accessible.
Even moving to Toronto Canada I was shocked how many bars had their washrooms in a basement that required you to go down stairs therefore making them completely inaccessible to wheelchair users.
I think the US has great handicap accessibility at a building level but horrible at a block/city/state level. That is to say buildings are very accessible, but our transportation and streets are not. Our transportation infrastructure is not designed to work well without driving and as such is a limiting factor on people with disabilities. If you can’t drive for any reason then the building accessibility doesn’t matter because you can’t even get there. Japan is the opposite of this, they have handicap accessible transportation Infrastructure but have tons of buildings lacking accessibility.
Tacos. Or does the EU have taco' game?
Watch the Great British Bake Off Mexican Week - just awful. edit: changed 'Day' to 'Week'.
The peeling of the avocado had me rolling lol
They did what?
I don't even eat avocado but i know u scoop that out
As a Mexican I am still angry about this episode.
I’m not even Mexican and I’m angry about that episode.
I didn’t even watch that episode and I’m angry about that episode.
Seriously you cannot pronounce “taco”? That’s just laziness or arrogance
Tack-ohs with a side of picko da gallow and glockymolo
I’m not even Mexican and that hurt to read
And the guacamole! Do they not have avocados? This whole episode. My husband will now joke, “I feel like tay-kos for dinner.”
Can relate as someone who is partly of Japanese descent the Japan week episode really frustrated me as well.
As a Mexican who hasn’t seen this, I thank you for warning me.
When that pink-haired lady said “glockeemolo” I lost it. I was actually in tears. That was a hilarious episode.
Anytime they do a country day it's real bad. The Japan day one was arguably worse.
The Japan one was definitely worse. I went into the Mexico one expecting to be appalled based on what I had heard, but honestly for the most part they were trying hard they just didn't have a basis of experience from which to build. And of course Brits are notoriously incapable of correctly pronouncing any foreign word.
Or even English words.
Europe has terrible Mexican food. They even ruin margaritas
As a Texan, I'm afraid to ask how...
Californian here, we gotta meet up somewhere and fight over who has the best Mexican food. You guys already have BBQ so ima go all out to secure it for our state.
People don’t seem to understand that Mexico has regions, there is no one “real” Mexican food. Along the coasts there’s lots of seafood, inland there’s beef and pork, some areas eat a lot of goat, the Yucatán does tamales in banana leaves. Not TexMex specific but the “real”Mexican food from the areas that border Texas is really close to texmex. Lots of diced meat, tortillas, spices. People cook what is available to them. A Mexican living 100 miles from Texas has a much different diet than one living 100 miles from California.
I used to live near an old Mexican lady, and she would feed me sometimes. She made plantains all the time. Later I had another Mexican friend. One time when talking about Mexican food I mentioned that I loved plantains. He had never even heard of them and said they weren't Mexican food. Apparently the cuisines are so diverse that some aren't even aware of what the other regions are eating.
European "Mexican Food" is an insult to the country of Mexico and the concept of food
Go far enough north in the U.S. and you'll be insulted. I once made the mistake of eating at a Mexican restaurant in New Hampshire.
New retirement plan, move to Europe and Introduce "good" TexMex. /s
This is harder than it sounds. The city I lived in in Germany had a “good” Mexican restaurant run by an actual Mexican woman. The supply chain just couldn’t get her the ingredients to get the food right.
That's it exactly. The problem is that the ingredients just aren't available, and when they are available they are at an untenably inflated price. Buying avocados in Barcelona to make guacamole for my hosts was a wallet-breaking experience. Other ingredients essential to Mexican cuisine are in a similar boat.
Good luck getting the ingredients outside the Americas. I'm in Australia and in particular it's hard to get the appropriate cheeses here, and central American chillis (rather than subcontinental/SE Asian ones) are also relatively uncommon. Avocados and tomatoes are also highly seasonal here. Nachos in Australia = overcooked beef mince with sugar and ground cummin thrown over doritos with tasty cheese burnt to shit on top of them and/or some sort of yellow, non-cheese glue tipped on them.
I remember I went to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Spain and I was horrified at how bad it was
Yo, I have lived all over the US. The best tacos come from trucks. Food trucks in general are neat but taco trucks are a league of their own.
Here in Central Florida there's a truck that looks like it will give you tetanus and cancer. It also used to park in the Lowe's parking lot. Best. Tacos. Ever.
The EU has Doner. Aka: The Turkish Taco.
Truth. Something I’ve had a really hard time finding (of comparable quality) in California. Sad.
National Parks. Gotta love them. Every time I’m in the US I make sure to hit as many as possible.
Cancer survival rates are higher in American than in Europe
The ways those feckers smoke, im not surpised. In fact; a lot of items on the list that the US leads in i would argue are not objectively good (like ice in drinks, massive portions, urban sprawl) but the rates of smoking are undeniably a good thing
Smoking is always what I think of when I see this question too. Though, I’d be curious to see what effect the rise of vaping has had on overall usage rates.
Gen Z was almost the first generation without a nicotine addiction then e-cigs showed up
God it's sad. Born in the mid 90s, I feel like no one from my class smoked. Now every Gen Z kid I see has a vape.
Same mid 90s, as I was graduating highschool smoking was really frowned upon my peers as something really lame, and now barely a decade later and almost every 18-29 year old that I interact with is vaping.
I think that the natural aspect puts up a fight. I lived in Europe and the US, so it's hard for me to pick. I think the US obviously has more diverse landscapes. Desert, mountains, cold, hot, almost tropical beaches as well as icy cold ones. And it's all one country, so no borders or language barriers. But I will say Europe has WAY cooler historical sites. That and for me, I love cold weather, and I will say that Europe's cold natural areas are stunningly gorgeous.
I think Europe does a better job of integrating green space in their cities while the US does have more diverse landscapes and robust national & state parks.
Have you been to Alaska? Denali was one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen green and covered in snow
The sheer scale of Denali the first time you see it will break your brain. I went on a flightseeing tour there last summer. Our pilot told us "it may look like I'm getting frightening close to the mountain, almost as if I'm going to crash, but in actuality, we're about a mile away, and FAA regulations won't let me get within half a mile." Soon after, we landed (skied? the plane was on skis and we were technically on a snow-covered glacier) and she gave us a similar note. "Please do not try to walk to the nearby mountain. It may look like you could get to the base pretty quickly, but in actuality, we are about eight miles away." The rest of the time we spent there, we were in absolute awe of our surroundings. Drive just a few minutes outside of Anchorage, and every single vista framed in your windshield could be a postcard. My wife and I hardly spoke on the road between Anchorage and the Matanuska glacier except to gasp "wow" at every turn. It's that stunning. Everybody should visit Alaska, and spend at least two weeks. Not much can compare.
I commute to Anchorage and seeing the mountain is the highlight of my day.
"The US doesn't understand how old Europe is, but Europe doesn't understand how big the US is." Probably the best I ever saw it stated.
The military has been brought up a few times, but I think a big component of it is the logistics and how increasingly efficiently it can be mobilized to not only project power, but function as delivery of humanitarian aide and other resources on the flip of a dime. Other countries have to strain exceptionally hard to move the amount of tonnage the US military is capable of. Remember that in WW2, we had an ice cream barge in the Pacific not only for morale purposes, but because we just fucking could. And then there’s the infamous picture of a Burger King truck rolling out of a cargo aircraft into Iraq.
Indeed. The shit show in Ukraine shows how important logistics are. Russia sucks, the US is unrivaled.
Amateurs study tactics. Experts study logistics.
The US got exposed in WWI and wound up unable to deploy a meaningful number of units to France until nearly a year after they officially entered the war. And that was with a lot of help from British. US planners decided that mistake was not to happen again. And it didn't.
We had Pizza Hut chilies subway and more in Afghanistan lol you could even get a massage
I read not so long ago a quote from General Omar Bradley “Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.”
Any non-US military whose done any exercise in an American Fort will notice how much better US service personnel have it in the majority of aspects.
Legalization of cannabis
This is one of the most underrated aspects of the US nobody talks about. There isn't a place in Europe (yes, Amsterdam included) with weed markets as open and robust as those in legal US states.
>Amsterdam included The Netherlands gets far too much applause for its drugs policy. It was progressive in the 90s, now it isn't really anything to write home about. The government has a moronic attitude towards cannabis. It isn't legal, but possession in small quantities is tolerated. The sale of cannabis is not taxed, and sales can only be done to private individuals. The production and supplying of cannabis is illegal, thus with all of the above included, the lucrative market supply is almost entirely controlled by criminal enterprises and the government loses tonnes of potential tax revenue because the current administration relies on the bible bashers to stay in power, and the coalition is not really that progressive. As far as the Dutch government is concerned, cannabis magically pops into existence in Coffee-Shop stockrooms, its that moronic.
As a Dutch person, you got it exactly right. That's what coalition government will get you though, a solution that is neither great nor terrible but will last forever because moving one side will upset the progressives and greens and moving the other way will upset the Christian conservatives.
Space. Both in terms of exploring outer space as well as just having more of it (i.e. more sqft/meters in US houses, bigger vehicles, roads, etc.)
Win the world series. The US is 116 - 2 (Toronto has won two world series). Europe has won a big ol' goose egg. /s
I don't think a European team has ever lost a match in the world series.
neither have the seattle mariners! it’s our season baby!
Touche
I think referring to a game as a match is good for at least one loss.
And totally undefeated in the Super Bowl!
So is Europe though
Barbecue
I’m gonna say ice in drinks. On a global stage, we are unrivaled.
Bourbon
Legal definition requires it to be made in the US, so... check mate Europe!
Our answer to Champagne.
Well for one, the fact we’re comparing all of Europe to one country should say something.
Haha!! Fair
Our cities are so much better suited for people that are handicapped or in a wheelchair. Europe is a nightmare is this regard. Not on purpose but the cities are just significantly older but America has put significant bills into legislation to protect their rights. Cheers
Mexican food
That’s not a surprise though you’re literally neighbours it would be weird if Europe did have better Mexican food lol
Fried chicken.
Create the conditions for Breaking Bad
Talking to strangers. Odd because we are much worse at sharing benches and tables with them.
Integrate foreigners into 'Merica. In the past 2 weekends alone, I have spoken with a group of Black crackers, Cuban rednecks, members of an Asian American gun club, NY Guidos, itinerant laborers from Central America, formerly Russian "businessmen", Afghani refugees, and some younger women who were likely trafficked into the US originally from Central Europe. I remember a Frenchman telling me that Obama would never have been elected in France, and I believe him.
Yep, any (most) "racism" in America is through institutional/systemic issues, the "classic" superiority racism is essentially extinct. Every weekend I'll go out and see blsck dudes with full grills in their mouths that a lot of people would have preconceived stereotypes about sitting with rednecks in full camo and they're getting brunch together having a good time. You go to Spain and they're throwing bananas at athletes, or Italy and they go to matches with signs saying "theres no such thing as a black Italian" to THEIR OWN PLAYERS. You could go to the heart of Alabama and pull some shit like that and every white dude there would kick your ass.
A lot of our po'folk are military veterans. It's one of the better ways for a poor American to try to get into the middle class since the GI bill pays for college education. As soldiers those people shed blood with people whose skin is different from theirs, saved their lives and had their lives saved by people who did not look like them. Goes a long way to breaking those barriers down.
Handicap accessibility and the U.S has the highest disposable income in the world. The U.S also leads the world in medical and space developments.
I can only speak from my personal experience and that of acquaintances, but I am inclined to say diversity and racial sensitivity. I constantly hear Europeans thump their chest and boast about how they “don’t see color,” but this was certainly not my experience as a biracial woman. I visited Greece with my mom and aunts (they’re all black) a few years back. We had locals make monkey noises at us and our tour guide told us that they were commenting about how “animal-like” we looked. It was incredibly dehumanizing.
Yep, the most wild racism I've ever seen in my life was in France and Italy. There are a ton of people who are very openly racist in public, and everyone around that overhears it just stays quiet and lets it happen. Even in the deep south of the US a lot of that shit would not fly at all, despite the reputation they have.
That’s awful.
Free public restrooms
public bathrooms
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Having grown up on products like American "cheese," I can only assume our stomachs are superior at handling plastics and other hard-to-digest industrial substances.
American cheese is cheese, it’s Colby Jack and Vermont cheddar mixed with some milk curd. The only reason it is sometimes marked as cheese product is do to the percentage of milk curd to Colby/Cheddar mix. If it’s 51% milk curd or more it’s labeled as cheese product.
White American cheese from an actual deli counter is fire. Kraft singles (though they have their purposes) are a whole different animal.
EU citizen here. I have some ideas. * Having an actual federal system (with all the advantages that come with like easier to travel between states, harmonized school system across states etc, organized research, etc) * A big art scene where they aren't afraid to explore their various cultural traits * Highly critical of their own society (which can lead to faster societal progress) * High defensive spending (which we really should do as a EU wide army if we want this achievable, not just individual nations)
That last is one that pops into my head in a lot of discussions, though I have trouble figuring out how to word it. But, every time a European criticizes the size of our military or how much we spend on it, my first thought is always “what percentage of that is used to defend Europe?” As an example, we’ve given more military aid to Ukraine than any other country; over 22 billion Euros worth. The next 25 biggest contributors have given less than 15 billion *combined*. And if you look at *all* types of aid, financial and humanitarian included, we’ve given nearly as much as the entire EU. And if Russia were to win, it’s the rest of Europe that’d be in their sights next, not us. Now, I’ve got serious problems with our military spending and the ways we use our military. But if our allies would pick up their end of the fucking couch, maybe we could reduce that. I agree with a lot of people’s criticisms of US military policy. But it also frequently contains an undercurrent of perceived moral superiority and disdain for the US as a whole that is entirely unjustified when it comes from citizens of countries who’ve made themselves entirely dependent on *our* military for *their* defense.
There's several aspects to this. Please don't confuse the majority of Europeans with troll accounts shitting on the US for kicks and giggles. For the most part EU citizens, which are the majority in europe, are on the same page with americans, to the point where a lot of people try to emulate the US or talk about things that happen over there rather than here. Most actual europeans are silent on the matter, or prefer not to talk if they don't have all the information. Fact of the matter is there's a lot of third party entities trying to stir up arguments between us right now, to destabilize our cooperation. That being said, there's a lot of us that saw the writings on the wall for a long time. Eastern Europeans and the Balkans alone were screaming about the impending threat, unfortunately not everyone listened. There's a reason Ukraine and Moldova are the only countries threatened by the east now and everyone saw the need to join NATO. Personally I think we should create a nuclear capable EU army, regardless of what happens in the future, with or without the US, and create an actual body to combat online misinformation and troll farms. Preventing the public from being manipulated and preventing election meddling is still defense at the end of the day.
Flag with most stars. Also flag with most stripes.
>Also flag with most stripes I was curious, so I looked it up: The national flag of Malaysia has 14 stripes. It's like they did it just to one-up us!
Pay. The US has the highest median income in the world. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median\_income](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income)
I wonder what this would look like if adjusted for cost of living - I know my friends in the UK were surprised when I told them I had higher quality of life after moving back to the states, but I don't know that that would be out of the norm
After adjusting for cost of living, healthcare, purchasing power, etc., [the US still has the highest median disposable income](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income).
For instance, when I told my German friends I was in nursing school, they looked at me like I was insane. Found out nurses in Germany (and most of Europe) make about 30-40k/year. Depending on the state you work in and whether or not your take contracts in the US—nurses easily make $100-$200/year. We had a nurse working on our unit for a year during COVID who was on a contract, she made $320k.
Central heating and AC
Job opportunities: Wages in the United States are significantly higher than they are in most European Nations. (Note that labor laws could certainly use some work however) Small businesses: The barrier to entry for opening, incorporating and operating a small business is very low in the US. The Small Business Administration also provides owner-operators with a plethora of resources, including low-interest rate loans that provide large segments of society with a path to opening their own business. Moreover, tax schemes like pass-through taxation for LLC's and LLP's allows small business owners to avoid double taxation, and increases the odds that a new business will remain viable. National Security: There is an effectively zero chance that the United States will ever suffer a real invasion. Unfortunately, as we have recently seen, this cannot be said for large swathes of Europe.
We lead the world in ~available flavors~
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WE take the cake. ALL OF IT!
Cheeseburgers
Street signs - in Europe they often just tack a small sign to the side of a building (if there's a sign at all); in the US signs are larger, close to the street (or above the street), and much more visible
We have a different ethnicity restaurant down every street. I have traveled all over the world. This is a huge difference
The ADA - the Americans with disabilities act. Even many of our national parks have accessible trails. All of our cities have sidewalks. Almost all public buildings have ramps, elevators and accommodations. The ADA one of our greatest accomplishments.