10 things Nuclearned learned whilst in Europe (now with bonus things!!!)

[HAL9000]

I'm quoting the above but kinda addressing everyone who is making opinions with very little experience. In some cases there is clearly no experience.

10 days in 4 cities...

I'm not going to get dragged down into the gutter that this thread is becoming but I'll throw out a few ideas.

I've lived in both the USA and Europe for many years. A couple things are certain - in my opinion at least. First of all Europeans know very little about the USA other than what they see on TV and in Movies. Second Americans know almost nothing about Europe. There I said it. You can all foam at the mouth but I believe this to be a pretty inherent truth.

10 days in 4 cities does not even begin to scratch the surface. It doesn't even allow you the time needed to form an opinion. I can't just show up to New York City for 3 days and expect to post something of value on an internet forum with respect to what I think of the city - let alone all of New York City, New York, or America. There's just no way I could form an opinion. At best I might be able to say something like "Wow there were a lot of taxis in Manhattan". Beyond some visual opinions there's not much to be gathered in 3 days, let alone 10.

As you noticed language is a problem too. You were in England and couldn't understand English. I don't blame you either since it takes me days to get used to some of the dialects. It's gotta be very hard to form an opinion on a place when you can't understand what they're saying or their sense of humor. They were probably taking the piss every 3 seconds and loving how dumbfounded you were.

I'm not trying to be a dick but I think one of the biggest problems we have between our two continents is people making judgement and forming opinions based on no substance or actual experience. It's no fun when Europeans bad mouth an entire continent as ignorant red necks just because they see Britney Spears and George Bush on TV. It's no fun when Americans say stupid things about Europeans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIbb42a6K4I

Want to form an actual opinion? Spend much more time in Europe, learn the language, learn the customs, understand their culture, and don't paint with such broad strokes. Europe is a continent. I don't talk about Nebraska as if I know it. I've never been there. I can only speak on behalf of a very small part of America and not the entire continent. It's very diverse and different in Europe just like it is in the USA.

Next time you go to Europe try to spend more time. Pick one big country, or a couple small ones, and spend a month or more there. It's no different than me telling my European friends to spend a month (or more) in the USA. You'll all come home with a great appreciation for the other.

Best post in the thread

 

[rh71]

9. They have the whole restaurant thing down to an art (i.e. no tipping, and you have to ask for the check - no one bothers you otherwise)

may have been asked already but is the restaurant food overpriced like people here claim it would be without a tipping system and owners having to pay their waitstaff more?

EDIT>> I see you mentioned "very small surcharge". I'll take one of those over this stupid system any day. A couple days ago we had a table of 14 with 1 waitress. Poor girl was scrambling to get everything out while we had to bug her to clean up the table full of empty plates and chicken bones, and fill our drinks. We were put in a position of feeling sorry for her yet not getting our service. At the end we felt obligated to pay her a 20% tip. We asked about a standard gratuity for large parties and she said "we're supposed to give the option of doing the standard 18% gratuity or leave it up to you guys." Great play by the restaurant. Give us only 1 waitress and sub-par service and have us screw her out of a decent tip for working hard or force us to pay for what we don't feel like we should. If they had given us 2 waitresses, they'd be splitting the tip and still getting screwed out of a decent wage. What a fuct up system.

 

[rh71]

9. They call french fries chips, even though they're french fries.

it confuses me when fricken American eateries call it "fish & chips".

- no ice... you know what they say about not drinking the water... you don't want their ice either. I do like things better with ice but you get the idea.

- body odor: I think it's because of the lack of A/C... when I went to asia the heat was unbearable - I showered 3 times a day. Deodorant just doesn't cut it. They have the trains that are hollow there... as it moves forward, the body odor moves backward.

- washcloths? What about lather soap onto your hand and rub? Why would you want to use someone else's cloth? Would you use someone else's handkerchief? And why do people use handkerchiefs?

- GTaudiophile & Germany... the way you talk - I wish Hitler did take over everything! I kid, I kid.

 

[HAL9000]

I do really struggle to understand why you said that you can't understand an Englishmen speaking in an English accent.... It's like the standard...? I can understand you guys.

 

[NuclearNed]

I do really struggle to understand why you said that you can't understand an Englishmen speaking in an English accent.... It's like the standard...? I can understand you guys.

I had a couple of problems...

1. some Englishmen have very thick accents.
2. Englishmen use certain words and phrases that are uncommon or unused in America. In some cases, I could make out every word certain people said, but their overall sentence structure made no sense to me

 

[HAL9000]

I had a couple of problems...

1. some Englishmen have very thick accents.
2. Englishmen use certain words and phrases that are uncommon or unused in America. In some cases, I could make out every word certain people said, but their overall sentence structure made no sense to me

1. That's true, but did you have problems with "BBC English" accents?
2. Could you give any examples?

 

[NuclearNed]

1. That's true, but did you have problems with "BBC English" accents?
2. Could you give any examples?

1. generally no problem with TV; usually it was more of a problem with people on the street, servers in pubs, etc.
2. I can't remember any specifics

 

[NuclearNed]

may have been asked already but is the restaurant food overpriced like people here claim it would be without a tipping system and owners having to pay their waitstaff more?

EDIT>> I see you mentioned "very small surcharge". I'll take one of those over this stupid system any day. A couple days ago we had a table of 14 with 1 waitress. Poor girl was scrambling to get everything out while we had to bug her to clean up the table full of empty plates and chicken bones, and fill our drinks. We were put in a position of feeling sorry for her yet not getting our service. At the end we felt obligated to pay her a 20% tip. We asked about a standard gratuity for large parties and she said "we're supposed to give the option of doing the standard 18% gratuity or leave it up to you guys." Great play by the restaurant. Give us only 1 waitress and sub-par service and have us screw her out of a decent tip for working hard or force us to pay for what we don't feel like we should. If they had given us 2 waitresses, they'd be splitting the tip and still getting screwed out of a decent wage. What a fuct up system.

I thought restaurant prices were very reasonable, generally comparable with US prices

 

[NuclearNed]

I thought of more:

11. (applies to Italy only?) Wine & beer are fine, but Europeans have no idea how to make a decent cocktail. Among other sins, they want to add carbonated water to every drink... and they are likely to screw up the basic ingredients/ratios of even common drinks. (wife got a Margarita... I'm not sure what was in it, but now I have some idea what fizzy urine might taste like)

12. The European cities we saw were extraordinarily clean compared to US. The only exception to this was that there seemed to be a lot of graffiti in places.

 

[HAL9000]

1. generally no problem with TV; usually it was more of a problem with people on the street, servers in pubs, etc.
2. I can't remember any specifics

Ok where did you spend most of your time?

 

[HAL9000]

I thought of more:

11. (applies to Italy only?) Wine & beer are fine, but Europeans have no idea how to make a decent cocktail. Among other sins, they want to add carbonated water to every drink... and they are likely to screw up the basic ingredients/ratios of even common drinks. (wife got a Margarita... I'm not sure what was in it, but now I have some idea what fizzy urine might taste like)

12. The European cities we saw were extraordinarily clean compared to US. The only exception to this was that there seemed to be a lot of graffiti in places.

11. Is just Italy. The fizzy stuff was probably lemonade....

 

[xanis]

12. The European cities we saw were extraordinarily clean compared to US. The only exception to this was that there seemed to be a lot of graffiti in places.

I'm guessing that you didn't go to Naples. 😉

 

[NuclearNed]

Ok where did you spend most of your time?

London & 3 cities in Italy

 

[HAL9000]

London & 3 cities in Italy

Bizzare.... The south don't really tend to have accents except the chavs

 

[NuclearNed]

Bizzare.... The south don't really tend to have accents except the chavs

Just curious... have you been to the US? Did you have any trouble there? The reason I ask is because I can easily imagine you might have the same problem here with our variety of accents & colloquailisms. I've lived in the southeast US many years and even I can't understand some of the locals sometimes.

 

[Papagayo]

BBC Panorama - Euro 2012 - Stadiums Of Hate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z93iQgI3_Iw
and there is sh*t you didn't see😉

Wow..
I never knew that that hatred was so open and accepted in parts of Europe.

Just because you visited few places in Europe, you cannot generalize the whole Europe. There are good places along with bad places, just like in US and other countries or continents.

 

[bignateyk]

5. "Smart" hotel rooms suck. Several of the rooms required a key to "turn on" the room, which is how the hotel controls the power consumption of their customers. Generally, this key has to be turned in to the desk while you are out siteseeing. In other words, while you are gone, nothing in your room ("air conditioning", water heater) works.

Lots of new hotels in the US are starting to use the same system. Most of the time the HVAC system still runs, it just has a preset level it goes to. I.e., it might set the AC to 75 when you leave instead of the 65 you might have set it to. All in all, these rooms are becoming standard at almost all new hotels in the world.

10. European airports & customs are soooooo much more efficient & streamlined than those in America.
Completely depends on the airport. Venice and Paris are two of the worst airports I've ever had to go through. Frankfurt, on the other hand, is one of the best.


MORE:
11. (applies to Italy only?) Wine & beer are fine, but Europeans have no idea how to make a decent cocktail. Among other sins, they want to add carbonated water to every drink... and they are likely to screw up the basic ingredients/ratios of even common drinks. (wife got a Margarita... I'm not sure what was in it, but now I have some idea what fizzy urine might taste like) The cocktails I had there were just as bad.

Depends on the country. Italy has good wine, germany has good beer. Not much of anything good to drink in greece. Both wine and beer suck there. Spain has good wine. I don't think europeans are into mixed drinks as much as people are here in the US.

12. The European cities we saw were extraordinarily clean compared to US. The only exception to this was that there seemed to be a lot of graffiti in places.

😕 Which cities were you in? I've found most large cities in Europe to be just as filthy or filthier than large cities in the US. The allyways reak of urine since there are no public bathrooms to be found. The smog problem is pretty bad most places, and there is graffiti everywhere. I think being dirty just comes with being a large city. This is why I don't like going to cities for the most part.
.

Agree with you on pretty much everything else.

The lack of readily accessable restrooms is what bothers me most about most foreign countries. In the US you just run into McDonalds, Walmart, a gas station, or some other fast food place to use the bathroom. You can find a place to use the bathroom hassle free on just about every block.

Not the case at all in Europe. Most of the time you have to search out a bathroom that you insert money to use, or else find a shop where you have to buy something so they give you a key to use their bathroom.

edit: Also, regarding the airports, most of them have just as much BS security as they have at US airports. Airports in the Middle East are even worse. In Bahrain you have to go through security to get into the airport, then you have to go through security to get to the gates, and then you have to go through security a third time to actually get into your specific gate.

 

[Zargon]

Is now the time to point out that I am American?

:hmm:

I was speaking in general not specifically to you 😛

 

[HAL9000]

Just curious... have you been to the US? Did you have any trouble there? The reason I ask is because I can easily imagine you might have the same problem here with our variety of accents & colloquailisms. I've lived in the southeast US many years and even I can't understand some of the locals sometimes.

I have been to the US, the only problem I had whilst I was there was when I asked someone where the nearest supermarket was, he asked me to repeat it about three times and then eventually said "No sorry we don't sell soup around here"... :|

 

[HAL9000]

Depends on the country. Italy has good wine, germany has good beer. Not much of anything good to drink in greece. Both wine and beer suck there. Spain has good wine. I don't think europeans are into mixed drinks as much as people are here in the US.

We are.

 

[Fritzo]

One problem with the US is we have no history...you can go to Europe and see building that are 1000 years old and still in use. In the US, if a building is 80 years old it's ancient and will probably be knocked down.

I remember walking through castles and ruins and my mind would wander over what may have happened in every room I walked into.

 

[NuclearNed]

One problem with the US is we have no history...you can go to Europe and see building that are 1000 years old and still in use. In the US, if a building is 80 years old it's ancient and will probably be knocked down.

I remember walking through castles and ruins and my mind would wander over what may have happened in every room I walked into.

An interesting fact that puts US history vs. European history into perspective...

The cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde: about 600 years old
The cathedral in Florence Italy: about 900 years old

 

[WelshBloke]

One problem with the US is we have no history...you can go to Europe and see building that are 1000 years old and still in use. In the US, if a building is 80 years old it's ancient and will probably be knocked down.

I remember walking through castles and ruins and my mind would wander over what may have happened in every room I walked into.

Pub I used to drink in was 750 years old.

 

[HAL9000]

Pub I used to drink in was 750 years old.

Yeah there's some pub near me that's 450 years old... but they are turning it into a shop 🙁

 

[Exterous]

Best post in the thread

Worst poster in the thread.

I kid I kid!

Maybe... :sneaky:

may have been asked already but is the restaurant food overpriced like people here claim it would be without a tipping system and owners having to pay their waitstaff more?

I'd say it tough to form an honest opinion about it with such a short time there. Was the restaraunt in general over priced? Was it in a really nice area or an economically depressed one? How hard was it to get that type of food to the restaraunt. (For example: Seafood in Ireland was much cheaper than I can get it here in Michigan but that isn't really a reflection on waitstaff payments)

- washcloths? What about lather soap onto your hand and rub? Why would you want to use someone else's cloth? Would you use someone else's handkerchief? And why do people use handkerchiefs?

As long as they launder the washcloth I have no problems with it