So having lived in Europe, the US, (and Canada–america’s hat) for a while, I’m starting to get some insights into how the US and the northern part of the European continent measure up, quality-of-life-wise. So, without further ado, here’s the Platonist’s list of why america is better than europe (and vice versa).
Part I. Reasons why the US is a better place to live.
1. Target. Wal-Mart serves as a filter for the true dregs of american society, and so if you pay a small target tax of 10% (Target’s mark-up from walmart prices), you can avoid the often horrific peopleofwalmart.com and bask in the glory of incredible amounts of stuff for sale, for cheap, under one roof. This is simply not to be had in Europe. Americans really, really miss target over here. Especially Holland, which doesn’t even have any large-scale grocery or superstores at all (unlike germany and france, which have them, only there, everything is basically at department-store prices–nowhere do you walk into a big box store in Europe and say, “wow, that’s a good deal!” –except at Ikea. (Thank god for ikea, or Europe would literally be sitting on the ground. Ikea is the one reason why Europeans have advanced beyond the middle ages).
1.5 Breakfast. I almost forgot this, until breakfast this morning. Simply put, the europeans are ridiculous for insisting that breakfasts of coffee and pastries are satisfying every day of your life. Coffee and pastries can be a wonderful change of pace for breakfast, but, nothing in the world comes close to touching the Anglophone breakfast of pancakes/waffles (with real syrup-i.e., maple, baby), eggs, toast, bacon, and/or sausage, with oj–and coffee. How could the continentals be so absurd, as not to adopt this clearly delicious and satisfying custom? This is one thing about them that I really don’t get. Not to mention, without this kind of breakfast, diner culture is all but impossible. A major downside of being in europe is the lack of diners with 24-hour breakfasts. What do you eat after the disco?
2. Cars. In Europe, gas costs $9.00/gallon so you can’t drive anywhere even if you want to; cars cost double US prices, and parking spaces are too small to fit your goddamned auto. European parking garages absolutley suck. You have to fold in your side mirrors to squeeze between the cement columns. Every aspect of European roads, parking spaces, etc, is totally designed to keep you from wanting to drive places. In the US, you can still drive anywhere for virtually free, even if gas goes up to $3.00/gallon. Above that, it does start to be painful, admitted–but yesterday I filled my 12 gallon tank in my mini station wagon, and it cost E80–that is, $120.). And you know what? Frack the train. It’s a pain in the ass. Sure, you can read, but it usually takes literally 2x as long to get somewhere by train as by car, and it still costs more in Holland than driving, by quite a bit, even though they intentionally jack the gas prices to astronomical levels–with the main intention of making it so expensive, that people will take the train instead.
3. Big yards. People in the US can still kind of afford them. Europeans cannot.
4. Mc Mansions. People in the US have closet space, and garage space. This means that they have places to put all the shit they buy at target. In the Netherlands, you literally have a bike shed, and one small hall closet. There is nowhere for a man to put a tool box, let alone a table saw, or a tractor. How can you be a man, if you don’t have a workshop? Europeans can’t afford to have them at home, basically at all. Most of them live in apartments, anyway, without even the bike shed.
5. Racial diversity. After being in Europe for a year or more, I really begin to miss all sorts of non-whitebread things…. jive accents, enchiladas, korean food, the works.
6. Funniness and irony. The English invented irony, and the Americans (and Canadians, who supply lots of major comedians per capita) have made entire culture industries out of being funny, viz., the onion, urbandictionary.com, south park, simpsons, the far side, calvin and hobbes, funny t-shirt websites, etc… there isn’t a single European cultural thing that thas succeeded in being funny–at least intentionally.
7. Music lyrics. Well, england and the US are both groovy here (with england supplying about 3/5ths of the groovy in the genre as a whole–and canada and even ireland and scotland all taking significant shares), but the continentals, not really having much irony in the british sense, don’t seem to be able to write a song lyric to save their arses. There is just too much cheeze in their pop sentiments, and too little striving to imitate wordsworth. I mean, they perpetually like David Hasslehoff (as a singer!) and Kylie Minogue. More than enough said on that score. Some of this is because they don’t actually study their own literature and literary history in the way Anglophones do, but that’s another story.
8. Individuality. Despite the corporate hold on the US, americans are still on the whole quite a bit more wide-ranging in their thoughts, habits, dress styles, etc., than any one group of continental Europeans. It’s very refreshing, and a bit stifling in europe to have all the dutch people be so nice, and so civlized, and polite, but yet a bit, well, boring, individually and as a whole. This is probably partly due to their tiny houses/apartments: they teach their kids not to make any noise so as to avoid angering the neighbors. The result: quiet, polite, boring people who don’t whistle, don’t shout, don’t sing loud. This is the result of not having enough personal space.
9. Free thinking. Again despite the corporate hold, there is still quite a lot of entrepreneurial spirit in the US, and a sense that everyone has a right to think their own things. Perhaps because the population base is so large, but also certainly due to the English enlightenment/protestant culture, people really do come up with tons of theories, on everything, all the time, and they still are very much world leaders on this score.
10. Open spaces. Well, there is still a lot of this left in North America, which is why the Europeans came over here in the first place.
Part II. Reasons why Europe is a better place to live.
1. Intelligence. For some reason, Europeans aren’t afraid of being seen as intellectual. in fact, they all act embarrassed or ashamed if they don’t come across as intellectual. This is ideal. Americans on the other hand, when they realize that they have accidentally elected a professor as president, use this as a means to argue that he is too smart to run the country. They obviously prefer to elevate village idiots to high office.
2. Violence. Europeans have learned how to live civilly. I have ridden hundreds of busses in the Netherlands, and I have never, ever, once, encountered a person who seemed scary. In the US, you literally can’t ride public transport, or walk, in half the urban neighbourhoods, or a lot of other places besides, or else you are in serious danger of your life. This is not cool.
3. Aggressiveness. This is another American trait that is a major downer. I have a post on it; but the guys in the US all walk around posturing at each other like antagonistic tribesmen – I mean, even at the gas station, you can’t even look most guys in the eye, without them acting like they are going to either beat you up, or else pull out a gun, etc. How idiotic! European men, on the other hand, often look you in the eye when you pass, and if they make eye contact, they almost invariably smile, or politely say hello or good day. My gosh. Civilization! We have a few things to learn.
4. News Media. The US just has infotainment – and worse, we have naked corporate agendas masquerading as ‘news.’ It’s bollocks. The Europeans actually after WWII deveoloped news media whose job it is to analyze world events, and provide differing perspectives on them. Wow! They don’t try to provide things in sound bytes, they don’t aim to have the highest ratings and thus show as much blood and violence as possible. In the process, they create a public which expects balanced, rational, non-sensational, and humane coverage of world events. No wonder the European public is far, far, more civilized than the american public.
5. Lack of Corporate control. The Europeans know how to control corporations. There are not excessive advertisements, and video screens on every possible surface. Corporations are not allowed to build thousands of outlets in one area, and squeeze out all competition. Big corporations are not allowed to control elections, or to control the media. Wow! In the US, everything we see, everywhere, is covered in adverts, and paid for and manipulated by corporations. Only we’re so innured to it, that we don’t even notice. And our citizens have been conditioned by these corporations to think that, if it’s not covered in adverts, and if it doesn’t carry a pro-corporate message, then it must be SOCIALISM! (aaah!). Which no one believes in, really, anymore, anyway. There is no longer any serious socialist threat to capitalism, even in Europe. It’s just a convenient way for corporations in the US to deflect any hint of criticism. And it’s working admirably.
6. Humane social policies. Because everyone is taken care of, there are a lot less desprate people at the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Part of the reason why you don’t meet any scary people on the bus. And the homeless people are actually taken care of in proper mental facilities, so there are very very few of them.
7. Humane work policies. Europeans actually get things like–vacations! And maternity leave, etc. Americans are essentially work slaves. And they have let themselves be convinced by the corporate media, that if they took one more hour off per week, that they would be replaced by robots, or Indian sweat shop workers. For the most part, this is bollocks.
8. Green urban planning. The Dutch, in particular, have created a bicycle-utopia in many neighbourhoods. THey also have very nice demarcation between town and country. So when you’re in town, you’re in town, but as soon as you leave, it’s leafy green fields and foliage. Very refreshing – and no sense of being trapped in miles and miles of sprawl, where there is no real nature. (The downside though, is that urban neighborhoods, especially many Dutch ones, are pretty claustrophobic: to get to the green, you have to leave the main living area, which is pretty cramped. North Americans are now ahead, I think, in making actual urban spaces green with urban gardening, etc).
9. Lack of traffic sprawl. Though there are plenty of places with traffic jams, esp. during summer vacation. But there is nothing like the ridiculousness of california freeways, or those cities in the midwest which are just scores of miles of interstates all crisscrossing, surrounded by industrial wasteland. Toronto sucks in this regard, as well.
10. Cities. Europe actually has cities that you can live in, party in, have a good time in. American cities, as is well known, are basically dead, for the most part. Europe of course also has all of the stereotypical art, architecture, bars, etc., which everyone comes here for… Europeans totally know how to live, how to party, how to have fun, in a communal setting. Americans can do this, but only within their tightly segregated social groups, which only meet at ‘their type’ of bar, their type of restaurant, or at private parties at people’s houses. As soon as you mix groups in the US, you get trouble – becasue the average effective socialization age of American males is about 5-11. So if you want to chillax, and party, and enjoy yourself in a public setting, well, come to the continent!
Part III. Analysis, Spock.
On the whole, I want to be able to have American material things: a yard, a garage, a basement, a large house, two cars, an RV, a boat, and Target (i.e., standing for the amazing variety of things that you can buy at any American mall-area for so relatively cheap)–but at the same time, I want to have European society: i.e., people who don’t try and kill you if you look at them, or even better, who will smile at you and hand you a beer (or wine, depending on the region). That is the good life. Oh, and I also would prefer to have European architecture (pre-1920), and European landscapes, for the most part (save the rockies, and some parts of the west to a degree- but, much of France and Italy, etc,. are about as beautiful as you can get).
So in sum: American stuff, European people, institutions, architecture, and landscapes.
That can be rewritten as the following equation:
Live in Europe, but be stinking rich.
(And you’ll note, that’s just what all of our pop stars and actors do, as soon as they get rich… is move to Europe, but come to NYC for shopping weekends, and occasional parties. )
Good, fair analysis–which is pretty uncommon on this subject. I would add only one thing to the mix, which is about the typical thinking of violence level, America vs Europe—when we think of “Europe” as being less violent than the US, we usually don’t take into account all of Europe (which is not very fair, since we Americans would like to pretend that the South doesn’t exist for statistical purposes), to include Eastern Europe. However this is Europe. Plus, only societal violence seems to be counted in the typical calculus, rather than state or political violence (which is of course just as predicated on social tolerance for violence towards others). I mean, Germany until only twenty years ago (twenty years ago!!) practiced aggressive state violence against its citizens, threatening to shoot them for crossing a border. Plus, the rest of Eastern Europe’s troubles including a secret police (now the mob) that subsists on a level of mistrust and lack of caring for the welfare of fellow citizens; and not counting that only sixty years ago, Europe exploded into killing millions of its citizens. There is nothing comparable in American society, for sheer numbers to that level of violence. Plus, there are many many neighborhoods in European societies that are frightening, where killings and beatings are typical, even among gangs of children. Suicide is also a much larger percentage of violence in Europe than US, so it all depends on what is taken to be “violence”. However, all European cities are generally much livelier, rooted much longer into the cultural landscape than in the New World, and so the typical Western European city is overall less frightening-seeming. But this isn’t the whole picture.
Thanks for the response! I guess that I meant ‘western europe’ as traditionally recognized, including italy north of naples. The east has historically been in such a different sphere for so long, that it’s not really the same society; anywhere which has spent long times under orthodox or ottoman rule has not had a chance to be a integral part of that catholic/protestant simbiosis that has for a long time helped to spread humanism in europe, a humanism which admittedly has only really come into its own in the latter half of the c20th, at least from the point of view of the majority. For the cultural elite, that humanism has been around a lot longer, helping to civilize Europe since, well I guess about the time of the renaissance in the south and the advent of protestantism in the north. As for what’s going on now, who knows how long it will take for the east and west to ‘integrate’ and where the balance will ultimately lie. It’s kind of like the US north and south, which are still two cultural centers which are very actively vying for hearts and minds.
One thing you missed to compare is the healthcare system. Until you get to need it you are not aware of its monstrosity in the US.
Europe! Because first the US doesn’t have jobs. Second the houses are going down and in 2006 houses were booming. But the stock said that it will go even higher in 2012 (NOT TRUE) so people didn’t sell their houses. If people sold their houses then they would get more money. And europe has freedom and peace but america is boring.
Exaggerations. There are hundreds of millions of people in the US. The person who wrote this must be young.
Very good but what about work / careers ?
Have a thanks to be discovered by european….E viva Christofer Columbos!!!
There is no perfect place. What I like today is that we all have a choice and can experience all this. We can move around. At different ages we value different things. And that’s the beauty of the modern world!
Europe leads in all of these things”
1. Better education, more cultural and interesting.
2. Better medical care and FREE
3. healthier people, less fat, better looking and living longer.
4. Much lower crimes or death, Europeans (men, children, and old) dont go around killing folks as in the USA.
5. Cops dont go around hurting, abusing or killing innocent people
6. better mass transportation meaning you dont have to pay $9 per liter and .
7. more holydays and paid vacation
8.better movies
9.better food, specially in Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, France.
10. Better wine
11. Better tennis players, footballers, F1 drivers, Moto GP, cycling (baseball and USA football and not world sports)
12. Better artitst
13. rock and roll I would say is even.
14. burgers and hotdogs the USA is top
15. Invading other lands and killing innocent people the USA tops that too
16. Complaining the most while traveling to foreign lands, USA tops that.
17. No learning a 2nd language, USA!
18. More sensitive where you MUST say “I am sorry 10 times” , smiles are fake and ALL is AWESOME, the USA
19. Religion over the top, USA but when it comes to living that “christian” life is something else specially when is time to kill or invade other lands.
20. More cars, more contamination and more roads and less space for people to walk, USA.
21. ALways in a hurry and while traveling “lets see europe in one week”, USA people.
22. Internet and staying in touch, the USA tops that and is something I love.
21. USA also leads in better entertainment like theme parks and things to do. I love the USA and many other things from there but Europe is home and I prefer it here.
I think though that while it may be nice in theory to have American stuff with European people/attitudes…these two things conflict each other. Americans have to be “selfish” and stand-offish to improve their material standing…Europeans do with the basics and turn to non-material things instead. I found my life in my Oma’s rural Bavarian farmhouse (where everything is reused at least three times and the town’s sign probably hasn’t been changed since the century it was founded) to be way more fulfilling and rich than here in the states where everything is big, new, and relatively inexpensive. Instead of splurging on new clothes in abundance, I was content splurging on a scoop of gelato every afternoon while strolling the gardens. Sigh, I think I’ll go watch Rick Steves now…
Hailing from Asia, and living mostly in US (South, if it matters) and in Canada (Toronto, if it matters) and now in the praires of Canada, I lack the bias between old and new world but can offer only perspective from my living off North America and my perception of European life.
As I understood, there is a need to generalize living in NA (barring Mexico as I would refer going forward) vs EU (barring East but including the renowned Islands on the west) to compare broadly. But also, we need to be careful when comparing Western Europe with US as a whole. Most people in the NA, live not far from the coast. The North Eastern part of US is most suited to really compare it to EU. The South (Deep South, South West and South East), the West coast and vast plains are vastly different from EU.
South–more religious if it matters, family and marriage are still respected and more anti-union, especially Texas. More space and cheaper to live in for middle and lower middle class and more available jobs especially in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Atlanta. The winter Weather is milder but also its gets quite hotter in summer in this region. Except Florida (non-tourism jobs are in Jacksonville/Tampa area while few are also in tourist areas like Orlando and Miami), where you have fabulous coastline, not much scenic, especially when compared to greener EU.
West–Higher cost of living, good weather up in Northern California (San Francisco), Oregon and Washington (Seattle), good penetration of technology companies, little laid back and less snooty than New Englander counterparts. Scenic areas comparable to EU. It was a dreamland decade a back or so but now you need to be rich enough to live in there. Southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego including access to warmer beaches and amusement parks), Arizona ( Phoenix Southern rim of Grand Canyon is closer from here) and Nevada (Las vegas – Western rim of Grand Canyon) are other cities that has good touristry feel and jobs.
Mid-west and plains- Some places around Lake region are scenic.The job scene is not good and cost of living varies across the region. Weather gets cold and lots of snow. Notable cities are in as Detroit in Michigan, Chicago in Illinois, Cinncinati and Cleveland and Columbus in Ohio, Minneaplois in Minnesota and may be Milwaukee in Wisoncin. The other states in this region have vast open landscapes and agricultural strongholds and North Dakota is recently booming due to oil.
Rockymountain areas–Colorado is Switzerland like scenic, with some nice areas around Denver and beyond. Other states like Montana, Idaho and Wyoming are by far remote and Yellowstone Park is certainly plus for nature enthusiasts.
North East (includes mid-atlantic and part of Penn state)–Mostly crowded, some of high paying jobs in financial, legal or niche professional services. Working public transit across metros in this region. Hurried place of life. Not a good place to live in if you are mediocre and not rich. The places in Vermont, Maine (Less hectic) and upstate NY (Niagra region) are scenic.
Canada- Again wide variety in North American scale, weather is definitely cold except parts close of Vancouver. Tries to blend European lifestyle with American way of life. Offers some pristine wilderness as well and good quality of life in big cities like Toronto (most Americanized city), Montreal and Vancouver and second run ones like Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Halifax (Largest in the Atlantic region). The praires offer wide open spaces from Winnipeg, the largest city in that region outside Alberta (Canada’s oil hub and most Americanized province). Very less crowded even in North American scale. Newfoundland is off the Canadian Atlantic coast, was very laid back and beautiful but now oil revenues are giving new hope for the economy in this region. The North is mostly frozen but offers excellent remote lifestyle opportunity with small cities like Yellowknife and Whitehorse are worth mentioning. Overall, Canada is a very very stable country and doesn’t go through the huge ups and downs in the economy and plentiful resources to share with its relatively small population. Cost of living is higher than US but cheaper than EU.
After living in Europe for 30 years I moved to USA for work. I have lived in California for 10 years now, I have a good job, weather is nice, but nothing else is even close to what I expected when I came here. People are rude and fake, not very intelligent, arrogant and convinced they are superior. There is a lot of social pressure to get an expensive car, live in a big house, otherwise you have no value. there are lots of expensive cars around but they don;t come with class and elegance as you would expect; kids express themselves by screaming all over the public places with moms being proud of them; schools are mediocre, the accent is on how to become successful and make money, but nobody teaches them manners and other values; there is a huge amount of illiterate people and illegal immigrants, boring towns severely lacking cultural events, boring architecture, boring people, arrogant teenagers who feel constantly entitled without actually doing anything, typical california blond women, obsessed with big fake boobs, botox, same hairstyles, thin lips, looking plane, common, there is no spark of anything cool, interesting, different in their appearance; men are the same, jeans, sneakers, baseball hats, big trucks; there is no social life; people get in their cars in the morning and come back at night, there are sometimes years before they get to know their neighbors, when that happens it’s just fake small talk and fake smiles, it is hard to develop a real friendship, everybody is for himself, plain, boring architecture, same uniform cardboard buildings, colleagues at work don;t talk to each other and have zero manners, they say whatever it crosses their mind having no consideration for potentially hurting you, just a dumb, practical, obtuse environment; there is very little chance to find somebody to have an insightful discussion with; they laugh loudly at stupid things and talk loudly about trivial things, most interesting ones: football, barbecuing, house renovation, church. Products in stores are a laugh, poor chinese quality, ugly, no style, no good taste, furniture looks like grandmama’s, clothing is at least 3 years back from the trend in europe, food is crap, and everything is overpriced; people buy expensive garbage and have no clue about what real good quality and taste is. And the worst: churches at every corner of a street, religious manipulation, million dollars businesses selling religious crap and angels to fools; and there are lots of them around
Welcome to America … I think the only good thing about America compared to Europe is some of our restaraunts ( and no not the fast food) but some of our 24 hr breakfast lunch and dinner diners, as well as our wild and crazy movies and such. Europe is wonderfully full of educated people on the norm but being there sometimes I would find myself missing the wildside. But Europe is a far better country with by far better people.
love this article, very informative and nice, I have never been to USA but I live in Ireland and this article describes Europe very well.
Im an Indian and came across this post….Loved it…We can only imagine how wonderful it must be to have been born in either Europe or America. Ive been to australia once and it seemed like heaven to me. Its actually a mix of what you all have been discussing about europe and america. We love hollywood movies here and follow their actors quite a bit. For europe, I guess language plays a huge barrier. Watching shows or movies with subtitles isnt that engaging. Our country is also developing at a fast pace, but it would take sometime before people here can behave in a more civilized manner.
For those living in the third world, this discussion looks funny.
I came across this website because I moved in with an American in an apartment in Munich (I’m Dutch). He annoys me a little with his complaints about Germany and how great Iowa is.
As I have only visited Florida, I cannot say anything meaningful about the States. But I my intuition is: for some people Europe is better suited, for some the states is. Me personally: Europe. I think I would miss the “down to earth” life of Europe. Driving a convertible Ford Mustang through Florida was bloody awesome. And I guess thats America: you can do whatever you would like to do. On the other hand, why would you need a Ford Mustang when you can safely drive a bike to work, to the supermarket, to the pub in Holland. All I can say is: home sweet home, wherever it may be.
I’ve lived in USA (MA, NH, FL, UT, CO, MD and SC) and in Canada (Québec and BC), and in Europe (Britain, Norway, Latvia, and Italy) and in Africa (Tanzania and Zambia). Much of what you address has some truth to it. However, after experiencing various work environments, regulatory processes, taxation and income systems, healthcare systems, education systems, cost-of-living, infrastructural systems, cultural activity, safety, property ownership, etc……for myself, I sum it it up simply; Europe is like a museum….a fascinating place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there. Don’t get me wrong, just like anywhere in the world, there’s some awesome places to live in Europe but it’s largely unliveable unless you are well-off.
Socialism may supply free things but beware of things that are free. I felt the British healthcare system was quite limited, poor quality, and poor quantity. My formulary in America has over 10,000 melds to choose from where Britain’s entire formulary is less than 800 melds. Italy’s Rx’s treat with the cheapest and least convenient meds possible. Norway is so mechanical, austere and impersonal that the patient is treated as if their on an assembly line. The patient gets very little choice and experiences very long wait times for specialist services. Doctors can only spend 7 minutes with a patient. Europe is not customer service oriented. Cumbersome regulations make small businesses and start-ups very challenging to achieve and stifles even the biggest of companies. They may value intellectualism on the surface but there’s just as many uneducated people as in the USA. In America a person has much greater flexibility to choose their own path and to make as many changes as they’d like as their life’s journey unfolds.
European economics suffers from chronic anemic growth and high taxation is rampant. The central government is king. Europe operates on a top-down scheme whereas the USA operates on a bottom-up scheme. America is more individualistic but it also affords the individual more power to effect necessary change in their own lives and communities. The cost-of-living in Europe is out-of-control whereas America is largely much more affordable and, therefore, liveable. America is more culturally diverse than any one country in Europe. If you move to France or Norway or Britain the locals want you to become more like them whereas in America there is no preconception of what it means to be an American so people tend to operate according to their own cultural norms more freely.
As for income, the British not only have a high cost-of-living but they earn 19% less than Americans on average. Norwegians may have a median income of $56k/yr vs the American $38k/yr but they also have much higher taxes, much higher avg real-estate and rent costs (for small living spaces), much higher grocery bills and forget about eating out….. A large pizza in America is around $15 to $20 while in Norway its $40 to $60!!!! Petrol in Britain avg’s $9.12/gall while in America it avg’s $2.42/gall (as of May 2015). The economists way of telling how wealthy a people are is to calculate the GDP as PPP (Purchase Power Parity). No country comes close to the USA in PPP. In other words, after you pay all of your debt each month how much money do you have left over to play with? Americans have more money to play with than any Nation on earth.
As for safety, gimme a break people, the average homocide rate in Europe is almost the same as America short by .03 of 1%. In fact, after Anderson Breivik’s rampage Norway now tops Europe’s list of highest homocide rate per capita beating out the USA too. If that isn’t enough, my same-sex husband and I were brutally beat in a park while feeding swans in broad daylight in England. We were hospitalized for 5 days while broken bones healed. Never in my life have I experienced such backward ignorance and I lived in SC, FL, and UT. I couldn’t believe how many British, Italian, French, Dutch and German people I have heard say very racial things about foreigners to the likes that I have not heard in the USA outside of a historical movie. My own husband was called a “White Nigger” by an educated nurse in England and I’ve seen Norwegians throw eggs at peaceful Iranian protestors in Olso. I’ve never seen so many homeless beggars and panhandlers on the streets as I have in Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Budapest, and Paris. Europe touts Socialism yet they continue to have the same problem everyone else has.
I know I sound like Europe sucks but I love Europe! However, as a place to live in the modern age…..close but not the best. The USA has its own problems that mirror Europe’s so the grass is not greener on the other side. However, life is more free and there’s a lot more opportunity in America. My best friends in Europe (medical doctors, wine sales reps, horse traders, machinists, mechanics, engineers, and lawyers) have all tried to immigrate to America because of better opportunity. My husband is European and some of my close family still live there too, but we would never move back or think that it is better than life in the USA. Sorry.
You are spot on. I lived in Europe for 3 years and it sums it up perfectly on Europe vs. the US. I loved living there, but even after my first year there, I knew it was someplace that I would never want to permanently live.
Clarification: my husband is a blue-collar laborer from Latvia in Eastern Europe which is why he was called a “White Nigger” in Britain. Many Western Europeans do not like Eastern Europeans moving into their neighborhoods and taking their jobs. I do not believe Europe is more civilized than the USA; I believe they are similar but different. I’ve met a lot of ignorant Europeans with backward ideas.
People who live in Europe think the grass is greener on the other side but hey I was one of them, boy oh boy was I wrong, I moved to United States a year and a half ago to the land of freedom to the land of opportunity, it is freedom alright in some places the civilians shoot you just so they can go to prison for a better life and the police shoot you too if you don’t stop or run way from them. Taxes are very high here too plus you going to pay extra for healthcare insurance, oh guess what it doesn’t pay everything you have to pay copay starts at $35 $50 each time you see a doctor most insurances have deductible which is 750 t per person yearly and it only covers 80% so you have to pay for the 20 percent and that can be a lot of money because things cost a lot over here.. and you have the health care service which is nowhere near to Europe standards..USA most likely nothing will happen to you but you’ll never feel safe.
I lived in Europe for 24 years and in the US for 10. I agree on many points here.
In particular the open spaces in the US and the infrastructure are great. I see people having nice big yards and houses that are unthinkable in Europe, they just don’t make houses and yards that big not even in small towns. However in these 10 years I have never even come close to affording a house so being in the US in an apartment is just as bad if not worse than the average apt in Europe. I say worse because of the presence of nasty, non-hygienic carpet, as well as creeking floors, in the typical US apt.
Europeans are more sociable, on average, probably as a result of the smaller spaces. Healthcare is a huge issue for me why Europe is better. Here, my employer does not sponsor me health insurance, so I have to buy my own. It is thousands of dollars a year, yet I can’t afford to use it because the deductibles are many thousands of dollars. As a consequence, I live in fear that if I get sick, I’m going to spend months of paycheck into a simple health issue. I haven’t been to the doctors in years and if I had health issues I would first try anything before going to the doctor. That includes medications made for pets rather than for humans. Anything rather than racking thousands of dollars for just a few medical tests. In Europe, there is no such thing. Sure, it still sucks getting sick but you pay almost nothing even for complex surgeries, and to my experience you can find more honest, more open minded doctors, that are not just obsessed with getting sued and following dumb greedy guidelines.
If I had a serious health issue without a doubt I would pack my bags and move back to Europe. Also I don’t want to get (too) old here. It is not a coincidence that life expectancy in the US is way shorter than in Europe.
I have to agree with many points posted here. i myself was born and grew up in Europe (Poland) and moved to the US at the age of 26. Lived in the States for about 8 years and moved back to Europe. Why?
Both places are great but I value more personal time and traveling versus money and material things. I earn good money in the US but could never enjoy life (with 10 or 15 vcation days anually) and when I losy my job I was left with no healthcare. (since it was employer based and without income I could not afford insurance).
I think I could have stayed in the US, but their healthcare system and no control on corporations and social policies (vacation, maternity leave) suck big time.
I’ve moved back-and-forth between the US and Poland, and for all of Poland’s poorness and Europe’s high gas prices… I much prefer it. I like the US for short bursts, to see the vast stretches of emptyness for hundreds of miles or the sprawling interstates, but I would never want to live long term there. My personal limit is a year, after that I go crazy.
It’s just so much more relaxed in Poland. Even the capital, Warsaw, is more of a medium sized city than an oppressive megalopolis. The only thing imposing here is the soviet-era government buildings, but even those are slowly giving way to sleek, modern skyscrapers.
In public transport, people are mostly awake- I find that amazing, because in large US cities people are mostly asleep, or eyeing you like you’re about to steal their wallet or something. It really says something about the pace of life. Ha ha and Poles complain how Warsaw is always so rushed and fast moving. It’s slow for me.
And yes, you get more vacation. And being late will probably not cost you your job (unless you’re late in sighing a super important contract or something, but even then you’d probably just get yelled at a lot and reshuffled elswhere). Training employees is normal. They actually tell you how to do a job, and not shove you into a busy week and expect you to magically grasp everything.
I don’t mind the cramped living space, because I have solids walls with actual sound insulation between myself and my neighbors, not pieces of paper I can punch through. I mean, what use are three floors and a basement if you can hear someone battling with the restroom four floors up and the entire house wobbles and creaks like it’s made of cards?
And US food tastes either like bland nothing or a subpar recreation of dishes that actually taste like something. Look, the US does not have what I’d call “bread.” I’ve looked far and wide, but it sucks. Real bread is a crunchy, aroma-filled love affair I pick up from the bakery in the morning, not toast slush made from cardboard.
Wow. This is longer than I meant it to be, and I haven’t even mentioned how wonderful the rest of Europe is! Anyways, Europe it is for me.
its so interesting to read all the posts. i think that the analysis is fairly good as well and many pros and cons were covered well in the various comments. as a black european i would like to just add one perspective: its much harder to get good jobs and gain social acceptance in europe due to harsh racism. in germany, where i grew up, i was on top of class and graduated with honors but never was able to get integrated into the work force like in the U.S. as soon as i get to the usa, i am appreciated for my academic accolades and personal accomplishments( i speak 5 languages) and get 6 figure jobs. i wasnt able to get an internship in my own home country of germany because of my skin color. thats very sad. and i still prefer europe. i am ao european and value most things Europe but careerwise it didnt allow me to grow. i still would consider returning but just wouldn’t know how to deal with the racial injustices. they exist in corporate america, too, but it is far better than in Germany or Spain where i was treated like a dog. i do still my european street culture, food, amazing German bread and of course all the great social policies like free health care or federal maternity leave which are non existent here in the usa
Hi Mimi – thanks a lot for this perspective: I think that American black people will be shocked to hear that racism is really a lot more rigid and ingrained in many European countries still: the sense seems to be that because European countries are ”progressive” and they ”didn’t have slavery” that they ”don’t have that problem like the US does.” But even as a white dude I cringe a lot at the not only racism but sexism in the European countries where I have worked and lived. And yes, southern Europe is still even worse than Northern, but continental northern Europe is still worse than the UK, which is worse than the US. So while the US still has a long way to go, it’s good for Europeans to reflect, and Americans both white and black to get some perspective considering how much animosity there is right now. Now in Europe we have this problem with ”immigration” from Arabic countries, which is hardening European attitudes to ‘non-whites’ just when they need to be thinking more inclusively. So Europe will still have this problem for a while. While I myself think that European countries have a right to limit immigration to a level that their cultures can support, I think that a lot of debate around refugees has caused a polarization (some people get too pro-immigrant and intolerant of anyone who suggests immigration limitations of any kind, and others get too anti-immigrant and racist/nationalist), which is always bad for the real task of democracy, which is the reasonable and humane solving of problems, and the furthering of human rights! Anyway, thanks again – all best – trivium.