News/Interesting Stories/Beautiful Pictures from Europe 🇪🇺
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(This list is obviously incomplete, but it will get expanded when necessary)
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I recently found out that the suburbs in the US have NOTHING other than single family homes.
No small grocery store, no hair salon, no post office, no pub, no tiny kebab place around the corner, nothing. There are areas where you have to drive 30 minutes just to buy bread.
Now I understand why 15-minute cities are such a buzz among Americans.
Can you believe it that some go batshit crazy and call 15-minute-cities a conspiracy? I laughed real, real hard when I first encountered that.
Now you understand why most Americans need cars.
That's a bit exaggerated. "Corner" stores of any kind are rare in suburbs as they are zoned for residential use only. However, there are often small areas zoned commercial scattered around where a small number of shops are located. I'm pretty sure land use planning requires these things to avoid exactly what you were describing.
I've never been more than 10 minutes from groceries or gas in the suburbs. Now rural life, that can mean some planning if you need anything at all. And if you want to do anything remotely interesting you're almost always going to be traveling some distance. And with very few exceptions cars are practically mandatory.
Edit: times based on car travel, not walking.
Honestly, 10 minutes by car is still pretty far for a somewhat urban environment.
And with very few exceptions cars are practically mandatory.
Edit: times based on car travel, not walking.
That's the crazy thing to Europeans. Pretty much everywhere you can walk 10 to 15 minutes or drive a few minutes by bike to get to a grocery store or restaurant. From the smallest town to the big cities.
I know it's a clichee but guns. I regularly watch some youtubers from a lot of backgrounds. Science, engineering, music, you name it. And the casual way they talk about guns, even carry them, is deeply disturbing to me.
Yeah I guess it happens that you shoot a gun once or twice in your life. From military service to the plain old "Schützenverein" in Germany. But having them in everyday life is... just... dangerous.
They in-part have open carry in malls. And plazas. I don't get why everyone carrying in a public space isn't classified as a danger.
There is so much that screams "stress" to me when I think of living in the US that makes me uncomfortable. To just mention that your job can fire you at will and your health care might be attached to your job, or that a person who can not drive a car for health reasons, like me, is basically fucked. Or no sick days and a very low amount of vacation days that you might have to take when you are sick and on top taking them at all is looked down on, while my boss reminds me to tell him when I prefer to take my vacation days, because by law I have to take them.
I could make a very long list of things that come with American life that I find stressful. Just one more tiny thing: I do not have much money, so I have to be careful not to overspent. In Germany the prices on the shelf in the grocery store are the total I will have to pay. In the US the total can be whatever, you just have to be really good at doing math in your head, have enough money to not care or walk around with a calculator. So it is not just the big things that add onto each other. If I am sick I can walk to the nearest grocery store and drug store in less than 3 minutes from my flat, the doctor's office is inbetween both and the visit is free and medication either free or costs 5 Euro each for what I usually need. My gall bladder surgery was all in all 100 Euro, including ambulance transport on a Sunday because it was an emergency and aftercare with my doctor. My days in the hospital and at home afterwards were fully paid by my employer.
I wonder what America would look like if everyone would live on an European stress level. We do not have no stress of course, but the base line for many Europeans is way lower. On top there is a base line of feeling safer (less shooting, except for Ukraine of course) and more social secure.
It surprises me that despite all that, Americans do rarely complain and are as happy as they are. I admire them for that, but also wish they could have less stress in their lifes.
America is a developing country with a Guccu bag.
There are some rich areas, but even there, the vast majority of people are poor and live under not-great conditions.
I think the "pursuit of happiness" mindset is still very strong over there. You're only poor because of yourself, not because rich people fucked you over. So you can't really complain, because it's your fault.
The expectation of everyone having a credit card as soon as they can get one and paying everything with credit to somehow "build" credit. Sounds such a great way to get people into financial trouble at a young age.
In Germany the system is shit too. There is a private monopol company that calculates and stores a score for you. The calculation method is secret, but we know several things can lower your score, such a having too much bank accounts/credit cards, moving too often, if you ever had debts and how fast you paid them and so on. When you ask a bank for a loan, they check this score and may decline if it's too low. There are some people who have problems getting a loan because they have no records for their score.
I'm always surprised at the huge taboo about nudity. A while ago I read some comments about a Swedish TV show and some people were complaining how unnecessary it was that you could see a guy's naked butt for a moment. I hadn't even noticed when watching.
It's surprising because at the same time US media is often labelled as (over-)sexualised.
I know that opinions on nudity also vary a lot across Europe, some might even be very close to opinions on the US. But for me personally it comes as a surprise because there is often controversy about something I wouldn't even have noticed.
The massive dependence on cars. I don't understand why people put up with this nonsense. I just walk everywhere.
education.
while supercharged in one specific field during education, general knowledge of the world outside of said field is near zero.
and then education even ends. no real vocational training.
The fees are crazy too. Considering how many fail out of a course and have to deal with this large debt.
When I read about people being frugal, there's always something like "I now go to restaurants only once a week", "I'm driving the same car for 5 years", "you don't really need 10 subscriptions for x". Do people really not cook their own food and spend money that much? My only subscriptions are internet and rent, and my savings would be gone if I'd get a car 🤷♂️
“I discovered cooking at home” “Meal planning” “Dining in”
Bitch, that’s called Tuesday in most of the world.
Are these by posts by newspapers, blogs, or normal people? Because all the people writing for newspapers and financial blogs seem to live in a different world than most Americans. The average car in the US is 12 years old for example.
I've never understood why the drinking age is higher than the driver licence age.
And taking away voting rights from felons.
Both baffle me.
I'm currently reading Twilight and judging by the tone it's normal for 16-17 year olds to go to school by car (or even truck!) that they drive by themselves? I might be ignorant on the subject so correct me if I'm wrong but car culture in general. We just...took the bus or the lucky ones with a free parent got a lift. I've even walked to school for the fun of it, granted it was 40 minutes by foot.
I'm nearing my 30s. I don't own a car and I don't have a license. I do wish I had one sometimes but once I hop on the bus to the remote place I want to visit, I quickly lose interest once I see the (usually mountainous) road ahead. Driving just scares me.
Most Americans towns require you to have a car because they have little to no public transportation. Can't get a job without a car in most places, for example.
In the Netherlands it's even pretty decadent (and time-consuming) to take the bus to school, most of the kids just cycle to school.
That there are long stretches of road where you can't get somewhat healthy food. I have been on a road trip across Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, and outside the big citys you only get junk food at petrol stations, but no fruits, no vegetables. I guess it makes sense because salad or fresh food spoils quick and is expensive to deliver to each and every petrol station, especially if they don't have a reliable power supply in the middle of nowhere. Never thought about it before. In Germany you can get ice cream, chocolate, cake, salad or a full meal (at gas station prices, and lower quality) on the Autobahn.
Many years ago, I was chatting with a friend from California and she told me her family votes Republican. As in, by default. No matter the policies or political needs of the country.
Aside from the US parties being very similar back then (pre-Trump), I've also learned since then that this may have to do with party affiliation programs.
In the US, you need to register to vote and the parties basically offer to do the registration for you, if you promise to vote for them. So, you end up being 'affiliated' with them, even without being actively a member.
I'm not sure voting by default to one party is a consequence of registering with that party. Maybe some psychological effect.
I'd say the main cause is the fact there are only two parties to choose from, so unless you are a moderate (or these days right-moderate) it is just a waste of time looking at candidates and their policies beyond party affiliation.
The related issue is this: in some places in america, the primaries are run by the parties. So you can only vote for canidates (within a party) in the primaries IF you register with that party. In some races the primaries are the important part, because everyone knows which party will win the main election, so who gets the party nomination is basically the undecided part.
First, I need to confirm if it's true or just a television trope.
Do North Americans really keep their shoes on while lounging on their beds, or is it something directors do for whatever technical reason?
If true, then I can't get over it - and I come from a outside-shoes-indoors culture.
When I moved in with my husband he wore his dirty shoes everywhere inside the house. The dogs even had a designated tile floor to shit on. He’s southern. Needless to say we’re still together because he cut that redneck shit out lmao.
It's common to keep shoes on indoors but not when on a bed.
I was really surprised that quite a few states have a minimum marrying age of 0. And apparently, it's more common than you'd expect for girls as young as 14 to get married, often to far older men.
The fact that they dont have affordable healthcare... Its a human right..
I’ll start: for me it’s the tipping culture. Especially nowadays, with the recent post on !mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world with the 40% tip, it just seems so weird to me to have to pay extra just so that menu prices can stay low.
The silver lining is it isn't forced, unlike all other forms of price gouging. I tip 15% and that isn't changing.
Lol I think this post failed at the OP's request to avoid American bashing.