Five Differences Between Europe and America
Europe and America are different in many ways. Some of these differences are quite interesting for those seeking cultural exploration. So, as a Dutch man I’ll give the people from America a taste of our way of living.
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- Transportation: This is probably the most obvious of them all. In many European countries you’ll find scooters and bicycles as a regular way of getting from A to B. There are many roads specifically designed for these ways of transportation, while in America you rarely see them. Also in Europe, taking a metro or bus is considered normal for both long distances and reaching the inner parts of large cities. Obviously there’s still a large quantity of cars around, but these are a lot smaller than their American counterparts and would be considered crack-a-jack toys in America.
- Consumption: Us Europeans still do a whole lot of cooking at home. Ordering or going out to MacDonalds or a nice restaurant is considered a luxury and is only done on special occasions. We also eat a lot of vegetables and “real” pasta dishes (that doesn’t mean noodles with ketchup!). We are also very fond of the Asian kitchen. There are many Chinese restaurants here, which by the way are actually serving Cantonese food. Also, the portions at junk food restaurants here are like 50% of the American size. When we order an extra large menu at Burger King or MacDonalds, we actually get an American “Regular sized” dish.
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- Religion: This varies very much per country. However, because of the high amount of immigrants from Africa, most countries have a wide variety of religions. Here in The Netherlands, we are extremely multicultural. In large cities you’ll often find Muslims, catholics, Jews and other religions living together on a daily basis. Sometimes things escalate but generally we live together quite well and there are actually musks being built here. There’s also a high amount of people not following any religion at all. When you’re looking at Italy for example, you’ll find a huge amount of catholic people.
- Finance: Social security is very good in most countries. There are many ways in which a person can get financial aid from the government. For instance, you get funding for your children, at old age, a retirement fund, at the inability to work etc. We also pay a high amount of taxes for this however. Also, compared to America people get much less loans. Although this is does increase every year. People in Europe generally have a clear sense of money and know how to make sure they are set for the future. There are some countries that aren’t off so well though. People in The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden etc. earn a lot more than people in Spain and Portugal for instance. Also Health care and other benefits are much better in economically healthy countries. The cost of everything is higher too
- Culture: American people generally have a sense to accomplish “The American Dream”. Get a nice car, a big house, kids, a partner and a well paying job. People in America measure status through these objects and achievements. European people do not measure so much in objects and money, but most people do measure through career achievements and social growth. Like in America, you’ll be looked upon in a weird way if you’re saying you’ve stopped working before 50 for instance. Staying at home at a regular work day isn’t accepted lightly even for mothers! We have quality child care and people are expected to make use of it. In less “developed” countries it’s still usual for mothers and young adults to stay at home though.
Hope you had fun reading!
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Post Comment3abkrino
On September 30, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Differences from a touristic point of view: Europe has a rich culture with many historic places while USA has a little in history compared to Europe but they have Disney land (understand what I mean?)
YouBigSilly
On January 11, 2011 at 6:53 pm
As an american I can say nobody I know of eats noodle with ketchup on it. I laughed so hard when I read that. We use tomato sauce sure but not ketchup. We do however put it on alot of other things. We also have a mulicultural society. If you look it up we have more Jews, Muslims and people of various cultures living in NYC and LA than some European countries. Sometimes I think Europeans watch too many American movies and call that first hand knowledge. I can also promise you that we have an INSANE number of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc resturants, all affordable to almost every walk of life. Oddly enough unless you are very well off you are unlike to eat any authentic European cuisine. Most of us just use our grandparents recipes when we get the hankering for that old world menu. How come so many Europeans forget that most Americans are of European descent and what we posses is an amalgamation of many cultures condenced into one nation. I notice you folks like claim to be the intelligent and well cultured but it seems like you are purile and judgemental. You take pride in what was set up long before you arrived on this earth. Seems like all the industrious European folks either left for America or died a long time ago. Atleast we can say what we have we can say we made or contributed to instead of claming how wonderful we are just by mere happenstance of geographic location of birth. Well enjoy your bike ride, which by the way we have in abundance here also. Toodles.