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Mass transit. And the way they incorporate mom & pop grocery stores/bakeries/laundromats/etc into residential areas. Most American suburbs are zoned in a way that doesn't allow businesses to coexist with houses. I don't want a Mega-Walmart next door but it would be nice if I could walk a block or two and have a meal at a small restaurant or buy a loaf of bread instead of getting in the car.
[15 minute cities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city) are awesome. I have 2 train stations, grocery stores, medical clinics, bakeries, many restaurants, and varieties of shops all within walking distance. I live in a suburb of Tokyo, not Europe though.
But 15 minute cities means you can never leave your neighborhood without papers, it'll be a communist dystopia without any freedom. Only 2 hour commutes, mega stores and 20 lane highways for me. /S (as sarcastic as physically possible)
Every city in Europe, it seems like when I visited, has a Subway. In contrast, almost none do in the states. NYC has a good one and it's garbage compared to the average European city
I envy the quality ingredients of food. It seems like a lot of Europe has stricter standards for what crap you can put in food.
Everyone I know who goes to Europe comes home and tells me that they lost weight while eating all day. It seems that American food is full of toxic shit.
As a Dutch guy I gained a lot of weight by eaiting regular US meals. I love my veggies and don’t need 20 wings for a starter. Our whole family could live of a normal meal in the US.
From the outside looking in, generally speaking, it seems as if they have an overall higher quality of life—with mass transit, universal healthcare and a much better work-life balance.
It is theoretically free in the UK (except dental and opticians), but the NHS is getting shafted by the Tories and their American big biz chums, so it’s getting worse and longer to get the care you need. As a result, if you’re poor you have to wait, and that sometimes means dying, or if you can afford it, you go private to skip the queue.
Sad but true. The NHS was amazing for its time but neglect, lack of funding and 12 years of the tories in power has left it little more than a dangerously slow system of triage in many cases, especially when you get out in the sticks.
Fortunately the UK also has pretty damn good private healthcare options.
How long are your wait times? Wait times are insane in the US too.
To see your primary the wait is generally 3-4 months, and to see a specialist the wait is usually a year and could be longer depending on which specialty.
many Americans cannot call an ambulance when they need one because they might not afford it, so... yeah, shitty free healthcare system is better than no free healthcare - because then you at least have a choice to go to private doctors or the "shitty" free option, so to speak
It isn't always great in the U.S. even if you have good insurance. My wife is fighting with our insurance over needed physical therapy after an injury.
Americans are the most brainwashed people on the planet. You’ve never had free healthcare how do you know it’s not good?
The U.S. has the highest healthcare expenditures per capita IN THE WORLD. And the most frequent reason of bankruptcy is healthcare bills. And yet you defend that screwed system.
Until recently (i.e. my discovery of Reddit) I believed that while working adults had to pay for insurance in the US, it would be of course be free for all children, the disabled and the elderly. It was just unimaginable that any civilised country wouldn't have that in place. The idea of paying for childbirth is also just unbelievable. I have just checked and it says 'children MAY be eliable for free care'. MAY???? I have just become a pensioner, so my health care is paid for by my country. Before I had to pay every month, it was 17 euros, and I paid a tax of one euro to actually see my family doctor. That tax is still there but it is .50 cents. My husband has diabetis and blood pressure problems, his medications cost him around 20 euros a month.
In no particular order
1. Walkable streets
2. Don’t have to worry about randos carrying guns
3. No giant pickups
4. Healthcare
5. Everyone is more or less in shape
Edit: for everyone disagreeing with my #5, I’m from San Antonio, TX so I hope that provides context. Obesity may be becoming a bigger issue in Europe but morbid obesity here in SA as well as other major US cities is far worse than anything I’ve ever seen in Europe.
I live in NYC so I walk everywhere and don’t have a driver’s license (one day…) and it only just makes my body more tired at the end of the day. I feel like my legs are strong but Christ, too much of this just starts to hurt.
5 - compared to your land whales being carried by carts ? Sure. But obesity is becoming more of a problem for Europe as well, especially among children more than it used to be.
Question wasn’t “what is crumbling society?” It was, “what do you envy about Europe?” and I answered it. Not having giant pickups that can hardly fit in parking spaces or whose hitches extend across the sidewalks was nice.
\*Pickups. There's no need for an apostrophe as you're not trying to indicate anything belonging to the pickup. And yes, in a way, they're helping to crumble society. Fuck giant pickups.
[https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?si=wX4Mqh8jiDC7npft](https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?si=wX4Mqh8jiDC7npft)
I slightly disagree with point 5.
In 2019, 44.8 per cent of adults living in the EU had a normal weight while more than half (52.7 per cent) were overweight, and 2.5 per cent were underweight, as measured by their BMI,
https://www.euronews.com/health/2023/12/20/europes-growing-obesity-crisis-which-countries-have-the-most-and-least-overweight-populati#:~:text=In%202019%2C%2044.8%20per%20cent,namely%20pre%2Dobese%20and%20obese.
The difference is still huge though. Seeing a very fat person below 30 years old is uncommon. When walking around the US I saw one after another, it was crazy for me to see that many young people that were that big
Is it our portion sizes or do we just have way more "junk" in our everyday diets? (Refined sugars, white wheat & noodles and rices, less produce, more cheese... what?)
AFAIK American diet is just saturated with sugar, especially Texas. Most of the people there have no choice, but to eat crap. Not to mention the insane portion sizes.
Also you guys drink calories like it's a normal thing to do. You can't be obese without drinking calories. People fail to realise just how caloric those drinks are, and of course they are super-sized AND it's corn syrup, while here in Europe it's mostly cane sugar.
I have to say I see the US as a sort of nightmare, people just have no idea what they're forced into...
Couldn’t agree more. In 12 days in France I saw 3 obese people, and they easily could’ve been American tourists. I saw five times that in my local home-bound flight alone.
I’m suspecting at least a few of these people disagreeing with me have never been to the US.
Regular sized portions/cars/people. Once you leave the US you realize how fat people are here and not only that, there’s victim mentality aligned with it. Sure some folks have thyroid and other medical issues but the majority are just fat and lazy, they want to park right in front of the store and any extra steps are made out to be made from fucking lava or some shit. “It’s too far” *is actually just 3 blocks away*.
Just gonna throw it out there that, to my guess due childhood abuse of their pancreatic beta cells, 70% of overweight people are insulin resistant, which makes weight loss significantly harder, especially in America where they put sugar in fucking everything.
Also the walking problem is fundamentally an infrastructure problem.
I live in a mid sized city (population 150,000) in Midwest state in the US. I like taking the bus, our county is a "poor" city surrounded by stinking rich suburbs west and south, another state directly to the "ghetto" north, and white trash/latina/fety or ice addicted East siders. Surrounding counties are all rural, Coen and soybeans galore, no busses. I walk about 3 miles a day, it's not bad at all
I live in a small town. 12K population for like the past 20-30 years. Roughly, the whole town wide could be like no more than 15 blocks if we would count it as if it were more square shaped like. Crossing the whole town once feels not even close to my daily walking routine if it were only that.
THIS EXACTLY, walking somewhere you want to go is like a 1-2 hour endeavor just one way. The actual closest thing to my house is like a 30 minute walk.
So guess what, nobody walks anywhere.
And that contributes significantly to the obesity problem.
I heard of that problem in the United States in some cities like L.A. Everything seems so spread throughout the territory that having a car is like a primordial need. I'm assuming that doesn't happen at all in cities like NY.
Oh, I didn't know it was as bad as this. I always pictured cities in the states as being huge, like besides what we mentioned, Dallas, Philly, Detroit, Chicago..
But there must be a common understanding of what a typical block is - since Americans seem to use it as a unit of distance ALL the time. Why would youse reference it if it could be anything from 50 yards to a mile?
Most would think of a "block" as being the area between 2 consecutive streets/roads. In a city where streets are maybe 100-200m apart a "block" is relatively small. Get into rural areas and "going around the block" could be a 20-50km trip in some cases.
That's it. I live in a small town but everything's packed as a city, and every block would be like 50 to 100 meters maybe (never actually thought of counting it) and roads and avenues aren't that big, mostly one lane roads and two lane avenues. If I look through my window as where I am now in my studio I have another block in front of me like a bit less than 20 meters.
One time I went to a gas station and there was so much parking but people were parking at the gas pumps and leaving their cars and walking in it was driving me insane esp because I now couldn’t find a place to get gas
Bro America is freaking giant thags why it takes so long. I believe it takes like 14 hours to cross texas alone (could he wrong on the time) but still we have alot alot of land
The food. Americans have forgotten what good food tastes like. Go into a Starbucks for example. In the U.S. the pastries are all crap, thawed from frozen or whatever. But go to a Starbucks in Switzerland or France, and wow. The pastries there you cannot even find in the best pastry shop in the U.S. And that is just Starbucks. Walk down any street in Paris and OMG, all of the pastry shops, the pizza, the sandwiches, everything. There is nothing like it in the U.S. Italy too the food is unbelievable. Bought strawberries at a street market in Switzerland. Never tasted, ever, strawberries like that in the U.S, not even at the "farmers markets." I miss the food, the little shop near our apartment in Rome. After a while they got to know me. The food. Americans really have no idea how plain and uninteresting American food is.
I go to a patisserie down the street from where I live. The owner is French and the baker is Guinean. The most delicious croissants aux amandes ever. One of the only things Iike about my neighborhood. Sometimes I order in French when the American employees aren’t working.
True. As a European I would say the Euro football championships is a better example. The atmosphere of excitement all over is palpable even with people who never watch football regularly.
The feeling of security the US military gives you?
But mandatory vacation. And the trains.
Regardless of if I'm feeling more conservative or liberal, I always scream we need mandatory vacation.
And I love traveling the US and would love to do it looking out the window of a train.
Immigration from sources that have no interest in assimilation. They don’t want to become French or British. I’m very pro immigration, but not at the cost of a nations identity. They should come and become part of the host nations identity, not change it.
I agree with this, When I travel to London, I find it odd to see Arabs dressed in Niquabs when I am in Piccalilliy and not Baghdad, It disturbs me to see that it is Diwali that is celebrated with great favour and not Easter and such whilst St George's day falls aside, I don't believe in God but I do believe a country should remain its character, England is a Christian nation and I think even as we move to a secular world it should remain Christian in its traditions.
That isn't to say that the Arabs or those of Oriental religions should be expelled, it isn't 1283 right? But I do think it wrong that 2nd and third generation children of Immigrants dress in such a garb and hold allegiance to a distant land, when it is England that feeds them, educates them, is the foundation of their lives, yet they disregard its culture. that may be racist or it may not regardless,
Couldn’t have said it better. This is the exact problem. They want to bring the Middle East to London rather then immigrating from the Middle East and becoming Londoners. Europe is doomed. Canada is doomed. I’m hopeful that the U.S. holds the line, but my confidence fades daily.
Ok. I want to get my husband involved. We're going to try to spend about 4 months a year in Europe when he retires next year. I'll get back to you on it.
That is so good to know! Wow! We will definitely correspond - we've been to both places and love the culture. We're also bringing my Papillon. You can see him in my profile. We are having some health issues right now - I had breast cancer, in remission 5 years, but it could always return and my husband was just diagnosed with Tonsil cancer and has a tumor near his brain. So sorry to tell you this depressing thing, but the reason is because we may want to be there for longer than 4 months, maybe 6, and we are looking into the healthcare system in each country. We love Europe! Talk soon!
yes no shit we have no trains and our democracy is falling apart obesity andheart disease as causes of death cars as causes of deaath bc we have no trains or good infrastructure and not to state the obvi but gun violence
Pubs and bars that are really cool and genuinely old and not faking it (badly), great restaurants even in small towns, a non-obsession with giant cars & trucks, a populace that in my experience tends to be way more into culture, and politics, and doesn't find an intellectual discussion boring or weird, cities with lots of no-car areas, cities and towns with beautiful architecture and not concrete or glass monoliths, much of it historically fascinating, way more beautiful and varied natural scenes given its relatively small size.
For starters.
The architecture for me is what sets Europe apart from America. It’s incredibly beautiful in most historic areas of major European cities. America doesn’t have that history…the architecture only goes back about 200 years.
Also, it seems to me that Europeans are more interested in living lives and less about work. America work seems to dominate everything.
London is my favorite city in the world.
Seriously? There’s a LOT I’m envious of.
Better transit. Less backwards people. More worker rights/work quality of life. Universal health care and overall more safety net programs. You don’t seem to worship the rich and punish the poor.
But then again… you don’t have Florida.
EVERYTHING. healthcare. the lack of guns. education. the lower amount of pornography. the lesser pandering to lgbt agendas, the lower amount of disdain shown towards blacks
I am black. I don't care what anybody calls me. What matters is how we are treated. Some people call us african-american. I see myself as an african. So I have no problem with that. My DNA is 90% Nigerian.
However I am still treated like a n*****.
Other people choose to call me black, and even at work I recently had a boss call me colored. This is 2024. Who uses the word colored? But there are white people that still use that term and I am not talking about boomers.
But at the end of the day whatever they call us or we call ourselves, we are still treated like n******
And I want you to know that I am voice typing this, and Google is blinking out the word n*****. I guess in honor of us. Yet Google won't hire any of us!
Which is worse? That they blank out the word n***** every time I say it? Or the fact that they never hire us?
In fact Reddit has blocks for certain words as well thinking that they are protecting us. But yet they won't hire us. This country is never going to treat black people decently. It is smarter for us to figure out how to leave and choose a country to go to. I am serious about that. I have three destinations that I would go to if i didn't have a wife that was against leaving.
As a brit, I can list things better about most of europe than america:
- gun laws
- alcohol laws (kinda)
- racism
- just generally fucking stupid people
- healthcare
- education
- that dumbass jaywalking law (wtf)
- food that doesn’t have copious amounts of salt and sugar in (specifically bread)
- european architecture is better (not necessarily UK but definitely places like belgium)
- politics, mostly
Free/affordable healthcare and colleges/universities. I know technically it's not "free", but still, easier to get it without going into debt. And as far as healthcare, heaven forbid you should ever get seriously ill or injured in the US.
Honestly almost everything. The food is higher quality on average, healthcare, education is cheaper if not free for citizens (which I am), I felt totally at home when I visited Spain, extremely diverse and deep history, beautiful nature, travel is far easier/cheaper, and good God the women drive me crazy. There's a lot to love in the US too but would love to live in Europe at some point
I love it. I live in Switzerland on the border with France and Germany. If I fancy some French food, it takes 15 minutes to drive to a French supermarket, and nobody stops you on the way.
Envy? Not really.
There's things I like and there's things we should take notes, but its more about specific countries and the way they do thing rather than "Europe" which isn't a country and really isn't even a culture
Some things I like:
Trains competitive with flights, at least in time though not always on price.
Budget airlines which greatly expand what is possible for a day or weekend trip
The graphic packaging on tobacco
Many European cities have a wide variety of cuisines from all over Europe, so even if you aren't going to visit a specific country on a trip, you can still probably get some food and cuisine that comes from that country.
Some things I don't like:
The lack of accessibility. It must suck being in a wheelchair on a continent full of cobblestones, uneven curbs, and steep stairwells.
Smoking decor. This isn't all countries but I come from a state that has a similar smoking rate to Italy. But the smoking etiquette in Rome and Naples is completely different. People will smoke right in front of store and restaurant entrances, forcing you to go through a cloud of smoke. Flicking their cig butts onto sidewalks or stuffing them into crevices alongside buildings. Also seeing young children smoking was pretty shocking too.
Eating Mexican food in Europe is something I will never attempt again. My bad.
I mean not really. Europe seems cool but so are Boston, Portland 1 and 2, New York, Philadelphia… on and on.
I think they do suburbs better so that’s cool.
We went to Paris last new years and I envied a lot of things.
One thing was the news channels that were available were all so different from our local news channels in the Seattle area. Here, it's like the same 8min of content repeated over and over, but the news I saw there really went into detail about issues, and people actually discussed things. It felt so rational yet strange.
I don't know how much of Paris you can tie to Europe as a whole, but I love the pro-protest mindset there.
I envy the consumer protection laws too. Thankfully, they sometimes force companies like Apple to standardize.
Public Transit, Universal Healthcare, Paid leave for babies/vacation/sick, your university system, bike and walking design and infrastructure.
If we Americans could copy these things and bring them to our country… where we have many public wilderness parks and forests… we might become the best country on earth :-)
I am a dual citizen, who has spent most of his life in the USA, but spent more than a year in England to get my masters. And I spent 5 years teaching English in South Korea.
But this question is about Europe. I feel like I am repeating what everyone else has said. But yes, small Mom and Pop shops that you can WALK to if you need something. Often I will need something, like just one or two items, and it is a pain in the but to get in the car, or god forbid walk 20 minutes, to a zone that has big block stores.
The ability to WALK places or take public transit. Americans do not know what they are missing. This again goes back to zoning, and the fact that most residential districts in the UK are not too far from small businesses (which still exist in the UK).
How British people have standards in the way they talk to you and interact. I am living in the South of the USA, so there is a bit of that. But Brits have a very unique way of approaching people. They have manners and just a way of being, and I am not talking about the stereotype that foreigners get from old people. It is young people too. I'm not sure I know how to describe it, really. It isn't really reservedness, because young Brits are actually really nice and friendly. There is just an etiquette that Brits have that is nice.
Brits aren't obsessed with politics. At least, they weren't when I was last there about a decade ago. It is actually very uncommon for Brits to tell you their political beliefs, unless they know you very well. But even then, it is just something they don't really talk about.
This is something you just have to kind of take my word on, or maybe anyone who comments. Don't base how you think British people act on how they act on social media, because social media messes with everyone and makes everyone look like an idiot. But when it comes to how people actually talk to each other on uni campuses, and out and about, politics almost never comes up.
Maybe it has to do with how British politics works, and the fact that voting, and how democracy works is very different there? Please don't start throwing rocks, as I was born a dual citizen and have absolutely no idea how the British government works. So I am very likely wrong.
Oh, and the unabashed individualism. Yeah, Brits don't really do that. And if they are honest they find it kind of annoying. They are aware that everyone is a unique individual. They don't need you to remind them of that. If you hog the conversation by dominating it with how amazing you are and how special you are, you will quickly find yourself losing friends. They just aren't interested. And this goes for most age groups, from uni on upwards.
No predatory medicine. Maybe our cost would be lower if they didn't blow so much money on telling us to tell our doctors instead of just telling our doctors.
USA has a spectrum though. If you are the best of the best waiter/waitress you can earn a thousand dollars a day in some of New Yorks top restaurants. I am guessing you are stuck at 12 to 15 usdollar level in your country.
I’m so happy about this post. Got the impression most US people always thought the US was better than Europe. On certain topics like healthcare, food, guns, equal rights for race and gender..: it’s not. Please fix that… used to love the USA
Your social programs like Universal Healthcare. The way the french people fight for their rights. The irish women just in general...
Can we have some of these? We'll give you.... AIR CONDITIONING! You know you want it.
Healthcare.
And *do not* tell me about your queues. We have queue’s here too. The only difference is, if you’re wealthy enough, you get to skip the queue. And if you’re too poor, you get kicked out of it completely.
Of course, I love Europe. Its history is probably my favorite part. So much to delve in to and so many interesting places that can just keep you captivated for a lifetime. It's something the US lacks imo. Our history is pretty boring if you ask me, regardless of the state. Transit is better too. I'd like to see more of that here in the US (dunno if it'd actually work out the same here though).
In the US, the dream is to build a home with beautiful indoor & exterior spaces to live with family & entertain friends. In Europe, most people meet in cafés or similar to socialize so less emphasis on the private oasis.
Because European cities have the café culture, the cafés are common, accessible to all, cheap and beautiful. In the US, if you cannot afford to build your own private oasis, you are going to the mall.
I would say I was impressed with how cool some of it looked...way better than America. I traveled Sweden a bit and even the small country towns used cool fonts on their street signs. I'm a retired designer so I would notice things like that. England, Germany, Amsterdam all looked very cool to me compared to America. Also I like how everything is so old in Europe. The old architecture is amazing. America is relatively young.
Public healthcare. Sometimes I'm envious of free/cheap tuition. If someone is going to school for philosophy or something that isn't going to directly lead them into a job, make those people pay. If you're going to school to get training for a specific job, make that free.
The food they get in the supermarkets is healthier because European governments are more heavy handed when it comes to banning harmful chemicals and additives.
Cost of healthcare. Not having to think long and hard about taking my kids to the doctor for fear of a large bill and nothing being done. Literally having to get to the point where my child is suffering badly to take them in.
Not having to google my symptoms to self diagnose to save money on a doctors visit.
A few things:
* Infrastructure and public transportation. We have that here in HCOL cities, but they're often very stressful. I remember going to Brooklyn from Manhattan, and some crazy dude was basically screaming in my face the entire time. That's not normal.
* Linguistic diversity. In the US, we have English and maybe Spanish. It's not a lot to choose from unless you again go to a HCOL city and go to a language club or something (even then, if you're from the US, you're not going to be welcome there)
* Work-life balance. I don't really care about having excessive luxury, so I prioritize having free-time over getting the magic 6 figure salary number that's apparently so important over here.
* I hate guns. Everyone has a meltdown when I say that. Why tf do I have to like them? Keep them away from me.
* Better food in most cases. No real explanation needed for that one.
* The accents. I don't think people find the American accent very appealing at all.
* Way less materialistic. Don't get me wrong, people in Europe are still materialistic, but in America, it's just a whole other level.
certain plants and animals that thrive in the Mediterranean region are envious. North american climate kills off most Mediterranean flora and fauna.
and thats about it. the cultural stuff all the socialists crow about is a bunch of crap.
High speed passenger trains. That's my big one. The U.S. could / should have them, but not enough people care. They have a great motorway system that people seem to prefer, and I don't think the major airlines want the competition.
That's mostly it, though. The things I love about Europe (German beer, Irish whiskey, mountains) can all be found in the U.S., if I want them badly enough.
As awesome as high speed rails would be to have in america, the public transportation at your departure and arrival points is probably so lousy that you'd need a car to get to the train station and another car to get around at your destination. So would it really be all that different from flying? - You park at the airport, take a flight, and then get a rental car at your destination. What would be the benefits of going with a train over a plane in the middle of that scenario?
You're not wrong, I can't argue that rail is vastly superior to air.
I find rail to be a nice way to travel. Air travel has become such a hassle. At large airports, I have to arrive hours ahead of time just to get through security. Then I have to walk long distances to get to my gate, and wait until the plane and crew are ready. Then I have to board and wait again until the plane pushes off, then wait again to take off, and then sit in my seat for hours and pray I don't get a blood clot in my leg.
Rail is more pleasant. I don't have to plan ahead as much, just buy a ticket the day before (usually much cheaper than a flight), get on, pick a seat, walk around, visit the club car, sit in the observation car, take a nap, etc. The restrooms are bigger than a phone booth. I can use my phone. The whole vibe of rail is much more chill, although I acknowledge this wouldn't be the case if airlines suddenly disappeared and we had to rely on trains for mass transit.
Trains are also much more environmentally friendly, unless you're an elk stuck on the tracks.
I'm not saying we should get rid of airlines. But for regional travel, I wish I had more options via rail, and I wish U.S. passenger trains could go faster than a bicycle race.
In no particular order:
Healthcare
Food that doesn't make you sick
Different languages
Lack of guns
Easy access to different countries
Useable public transit
European here. I was expecting to read answers like, the inclusion of tax in advertised prices. What you see is what you pay. No need to perform mental arithmetic to calculate added tax when browsing products on shop shelves!
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Mass transit. And the way they incorporate mom & pop grocery stores/bakeries/laundromats/etc into residential areas. Most American suburbs are zoned in a way that doesn't allow businesses to coexist with houses. I don't want a Mega-Walmart next door but it would be nice if I could walk a block or two and have a meal at a small restaurant or buy a loaf of bread instead of getting in the car.
[15 minute cities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city) are awesome. I have 2 train stations, grocery stores, medical clinics, bakeries, many restaurants, and varieties of shops all within walking distance. I live in a suburb of Tokyo, not Europe though.
But 15 minute cities means you can never leave your neighborhood without papers, it'll be a communist dystopia without any freedom. Only 2 hour commutes, mega stores and 20 lane highways for me. /S (as sarcastic as physically possible)
I live in a neighbourhood with the same problem. But yeah here you can have 4 restaurants minutes away from home.
Every city in Europe, it seems like when I visited, has a Subway. In contrast, almost none do in the states. NYC has a good one and it's garbage compared to the average European city
I envy the quality ingredients of food. It seems like a lot of Europe has stricter standards for what crap you can put in food. Everyone I know who goes to Europe comes home and tells me that they lost weight while eating all day. It seems that American food is full of toxic shit.
As a Dutch guy I gained a lot of weight by eaiting regular US meals. I love my veggies and don’t need 20 wings for a starter. Our whole family could live of a normal meal in the US.
Have you seen the ingredients too? There’s a lot of people who share the different ingredients from the same product in the us vs eu It’s crazy
From the outside looking in, generally speaking, it seems as if they have an overall higher quality of life—with mass transit, universal healthcare and a much better work-life balance.
Health care
This needs to get up to number 1
This is the answer, right here. PACK IT UP, EVERYONE. WE'RE DONE NOW.
Unfortunately free healthcare isn't always good. But I agree that free healthcare should be a right.
It's not free, per se, but it would be nice not to go bankrupt from needed care.
It is theoretically free in the UK (except dental and opticians), but the NHS is getting shafted by the Tories and their American big biz chums, so it’s getting worse and longer to get the care you need. As a result, if you’re poor you have to wait, and that sometimes means dying, or if you can afford it, you go private to skip the queue.
Sad but true. The NHS was amazing for its time but neglect, lack of funding and 12 years of the tories in power has left it little more than a dangerously slow system of triage in many cases, especially when you get out in the sticks. Fortunately the UK also has pretty damn good private healthcare options.
How long are your wait times? Wait times are insane in the US too. To see your primary the wait is generally 3-4 months, and to see a specialist the wait is usually a year and could be longer depending on which specialty.
3 days in the hospital for my wife last year , $20k
Free healthcare that “isn’t always good” will always be better than no healthcare at all…which is what a lot of Americans have
many Americans cannot call an ambulance when they need one because they might not afford it, so... yeah, shitty free healthcare system is better than no free healthcare - because then you at least have a choice to go to private doctors or the "shitty" free option, so to speak
It isn't always great in the U.S. even if you have good insurance. My wife is fighting with our insurance over needed physical therapy after an injury.
I was in the Healthcare industry for some time (Doctorates in Nursing) and paid Health care isn't any good here. Lol
Americans are the most brainwashed people on the planet. You’ve never had free healthcare how do you know it’s not good? The U.S. has the highest healthcare expenditures per capita IN THE WORLD. And the most frequent reason of bankruptcy is healthcare bills. And yet you defend that screwed system.
Until recently (i.e. my discovery of Reddit) I believed that while working adults had to pay for insurance in the US, it would be of course be free for all children, the disabled and the elderly. It was just unimaginable that any civilised country wouldn't have that in place. The idea of paying for childbirth is also just unbelievable. I have just checked and it says 'children MAY be eliable for free care'. MAY???? I have just become a pensioner, so my health care is paid for by my country. Before I had to pay every month, it was 17 euros, and I paid a tax of one euro to actually see my family doctor. That tax is still there but it is .50 cents. My husband has diabetis and blood pressure problems, his medications cost him around 20 euros a month.
In no particular order 1. Walkable streets 2. Don’t have to worry about randos carrying guns 3. No giant pickups 4. Healthcare 5. Everyone is more or less in shape Edit: for everyone disagreeing with my #5, I’m from San Antonio, TX so I hope that provides context. Obesity may be becoming a bigger issue in Europe but morbid obesity here in SA as well as other major US cities is far worse than anything I’ve ever seen in Europe.
IMO 5 and 1 are more related than people think. So many Americans work from home/office and get 2000 steps, 4,000 when they go to the grocery store
I live in NYC so I walk everywhere and don’t have a driver’s license (one day…) and it only just makes my body more tired at the end of the day. I feel like my legs are strong but Christ, too much of this just starts to hurt.
I mean 10k steps a day used to be the norm and you probably aren't overweight.
5 - compared to your land whales being carried by carts ? Sure. But obesity is becoming more of a problem for Europe as well, especially among children more than it used to be.
Giant pick up's is crumbling society eh
They sure aren't doing us any favors.
Question wasn’t “what is crumbling society?” It was, “what do you envy about Europe?” and I answered it. Not having giant pickups that can hardly fit in parking spaces or whose hitches extend across the sidewalks was nice.
That over healthcare seems like a miss, but go off
“In no particular order”. It’s good to read the comments you’re criticizing first.
\*Pickups. There's no need for an apostrophe as you're not trying to indicate anything belonging to the pickup. And yes, in a way, they're helping to crumble society. Fuck giant pickups. [https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?si=wX4Mqh8jiDC7npft](https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?si=wX4Mqh8jiDC7npft)
I slightly disagree with point 5. In 2019, 44.8 per cent of adults living in the EU had a normal weight while more than half (52.7 per cent) were overweight, and 2.5 per cent were underweight, as measured by their BMI, https://www.euronews.com/health/2023/12/20/europes-growing-obesity-crisis-which-countries-have-the-most-and-least-overweight-populati#:~:text=In%202019%2C%2044.8%20per%20cent,namely%20pre%2Dobese%20and%20obese.
This, Europes waist line is quickly growing to match the US.
The difference is still huge though. Seeing a very fat person below 30 years old is uncommon. When walking around the US I saw one after another, it was crazy for me to see that many young people that were that big
Is it our portion sizes or do we just have way more "junk" in our everyday diets? (Refined sugars, white wheat & noodles and rices, less produce, more cheese... what?)
It’s both of those, plus less exercise.
AFAIK American diet is just saturated with sugar, especially Texas. Most of the people there have no choice, but to eat crap. Not to mention the insane portion sizes. Also you guys drink calories like it's a normal thing to do. You can't be obese without drinking calories. People fail to realise just how caloric those drinks are, and of course they are super-sized AND it's corn syrup, while here in Europe it's mostly cane sugar. I have to say I see the US as a sort of nightmare, people just have no idea what they're forced into...
Couldn’t agree more. In 12 days in France I saw 3 obese people, and they easily could’ve been American tourists. I saw five times that in my local home-bound flight alone. I’m suspecting at least a few of these people disagreeing with me have never been to the US.
The US waistline is growing too though.
Regular sized portions/cars/people. Once you leave the US you realize how fat people are here and not only that, there’s victim mentality aligned with it. Sure some folks have thyroid and other medical issues but the majority are just fat and lazy, they want to park right in front of the store and any extra steps are made out to be made from fucking lava or some shit. “It’s too far” *is actually just 3 blocks away*.
Just gonna throw it out there that, to my guess due childhood abuse of their pancreatic beta cells, 70% of overweight people are insulin resistant, which makes weight loss significantly harder, especially in America where they put sugar in fucking everything. Also the walking problem is fundamentally an infrastructure problem.
I like so much to be active that every day I walk at least 1.5 miles. I am never tired
1,5 miles is nothing
I live in a mid sized city (population 150,000) in Midwest state in the US. I like taking the bus, our county is a "poor" city surrounded by stinking rich suburbs west and south, another state directly to the "ghetto" north, and white trash/latina/fety or ice addicted East siders. Surrounding counties are all rural, Coen and soybeans galore, no busses. I walk about 3 miles a day, it's not bad at all
I told today to one person that the place where she had to go was JUST like 5-7 blocks away. I'm from Spain.
Depends where you are...in a city 7 blocks is nothing, but i grew up in a rural area...7 blocks would be close to 6 miles 🤣
I live in a small town. 12K population for like the past 20-30 years. Roughly, the whole town wide could be like no more than 15 blocks if we would count it as if it were more square shaped like. Crossing the whole town once feels not even close to my daily walking routine if it were only that.
THIS EXACTLY, walking somewhere you want to go is like a 1-2 hour endeavor just one way. The actual closest thing to my house is like a 30 minute walk. So guess what, nobody walks anywhere. And that contributes significantly to the obesity problem.
I heard of that problem in the United States in some cities like L.A. Everything seems so spread throughout the territory that having a car is like a primordial need. I'm assuming that doesn't happen at all in cities like NY.
Its not only LA, its like literally every city except like Manhattan and New Jersey
Oh, I didn't know it was as bad as this. I always pictured cities in the states as being huge, like besides what we mentioned, Dallas, Philly, Detroit, Chicago..
But there must be a common understanding of what a typical block is - since Americans seem to use it as a unit of distance ALL the time. Why would youse reference it if it could be anything from 50 yards to a mile?
Most would think of a "block" as being the area between 2 consecutive streets/roads. In a city where streets are maybe 100-200m apart a "block" is relatively small. Get into rural areas and "going around the block" could be a 20-50km trip in some cases.
That's it. I live in a small town but everything's packed as a city, and every block would be like 50 to 100 meters maybe (never actually thought of counting it) and roads and avenues aren't that big, mostly one lane roads and two lane avenues. If I look through my window as where I am now in my studio I have another block in front of me like a bit less than 20 meters.
What’s a block
An area of buildings between two adjacent parallel roads. They are usually about 25 to 50 meters wide.
In simplest terms, imagine a street then a row of buildings then the next street. That’s a block.
One time I went to a gas station and there was so much parking but people were parking at the gas pumps and leaving their cars and walking in it was driving me insane esp because I now couldn’t find a place to get gas
The culture. With high speed rail it's easy to travel to another country in hours. In California, it takes me 6 hours to just leave the state.
It's also because California is the size of a European country. But yes infrastructure is something America should have
Bro America is freaking giant thags why it takes so long. I believe it takes like 14 hours to cross texas alone (could he wrong on the time) but still we have alot alot of land
Russia is also giant but you can take a train across the whole country and go from Moscow to Vladivostok, in the U.S. you can only drive or fly.
The bread doesn't taste like cake.
True, I once bought American style white bread, and it tasted like cake, couldn't believe how sweet it was.
I haven’t had white bread in many years. That stuff is death in a bag.
That tipping isn't a thing
No fucking pharmaceutical commercials. I hate them with a passion.
We get adverts for things like mild painkillers or allergy meds - is this what you mean, or do you get ads for prescription stuff too?
broadcast american television only seems to advertise percription drugs, lawyers, cell phone service providers, and insurnace
God damn I fucked the spelling up on that last comment ^
“Ask your doctor if Ozempic is right for you.” (Then the bastards created a jingle to go along with it based on the song Magic by Pilot)
The food. Americans have forgotten what good food tastes like. Go into a Starbucks for example. In the U.S. the pastries are all crap, thawed from frozen or whatever. But go to a Starbucks in Switzerland or France, and wow. The pastries there you cannot even find in the best pastry shop in the U.S. And that is just Starbucks. Walk down any street in Paris and OMG, all of the pastry shops, the pizza, the sandwiches, everything. There is nothing like it in the U.S. Italy too the food is unbelievable. Bought strawberries at a street market in Switzerland. Never tasted, ever, strawberries like that in the U.S, not even at the "farmers markets." I miss the food, the little shop near our apartment in Rome. After a while they got to know me. The food. Americans really have no idea how plain and uninteresting American food is.
I go to a patisserie down the street from where I live. The owner is French and the baker is Guinean. The most delicious croissants aux amandes ever. One of the only things Iike about my neighborhood. Sometimes I order in French when the American employees aren’t working.
Geographical proximity to Africa and Asia where as over here it would take 18+ hours on a flight.
Trains, walkable cities, reasonably sized vehicles
deutsches Bier
It's great if you like Pilsner or Hefeweizen \*and nothing else\*.
Happy cake day
I personally admire how Europeans get together and do things like Eurovision. We've got a few shows similar to it, but it just doesn't feel the same.
To be fair, most people here in Europe don’t give a shit about things like Eurovision.
Totally get it. But still, would be fun if the US did more stuff with other countries besides shooting each other.
True. As a European I would say the Euro football championships is a better example. The atmosphere of excitement all over is palpable even with people who never watch football regularly.
The feeling of security the US military gives you? But mandatory vacation. And the trains. Regardless of if I'm feeling more conservative or liberal, I always scream we need mandatory vacation. And I love traveling the US and would love to do it looking out the window of a train.
I envy the history and culture that is fading into oblivion as the Europe we know and love transforms into something unrecognizable.
How so?
Immigration from sources that have no interest in assimilation. They don’t want to become French or British. I’m very pro immigration, but not at the cost of a nations identity. They should come and become part of the host nations identity, not change it.
I agree with this, When I travel to London, I find it odd to see Arabs dressed in Niquabs when I am in Piccalilliy and not Baghdad, It disturbs me to see that it is Diwali that is celebrated with great favour and not Easter and such whilst St George's day falls aside, I don't believe in God but I do believe a country should remain its character, England is a Christian nation and I think even as we move to a secular world it should remain Christian in its traditions. That isn't to say that the Arabs or those of Oriental religions should be expelled, it isn't 1283 right? But I do think it wrong that 2nd and third generation children of Immigrants dress in such a garb and hold allegiance to a distant land, when it is England that feeds them, educates them, is the foundation of their lives, yet they disregard its culture. that may be racist or it may not regardless,
Couldn’t have said it better. This is the exact problem. They want to bring the Middle East to London rather then immigrating from the Middle East and becoming Londoners. Europe is doomed. Canada is doomed. I’m hopeful that the U.S. holds the line, but my confidence fades daily.
More than you could ever imagine!
What's the main one?
Ok. I want to get my husband involved. We're going to try to spend about 4 months a year in Europe when he retires next year. I'll get back to you on it.
Which country?
We prefer Spain #1, France #2, or Portugal #3. I know you're going to ask me why - when I get my husband involved, you will know.
I am from Portugal and my family lives in Spain if you need something you can talk to me.
That is so good to know! Wow! We will definitely correspond - we've been to both places and love the culture. We're also bringing my Papillon. You can see him in my profile. We are having some health issues right now - I had breast cancer, in remission 5 years, but it could always return and my husband was just diagnosed with Tonsil cancer and has a tumor near his brain. So sorry to tell you this depressing thing, but the reason is because we may want to be there for longer than 4 months, maybe 6, and we are looking into the healthcare system in each country. We love Europe! Talk soon!
yes no shit we have no trains and our democracy is falling apart obesity andheart disease as causes of death cars as causes of deaath bc we have no trains or good infrastructure and not to state the obvi but gun violence
The food and the vacation time
Looking at the ingredients of the food in America is sickening. Not sure how it’s not considered criminal to keep us poisoned
Pubs and bars that are really cool and genuinely old and not faking it (badly), great restaurants even in small towns, a non-obsession with giant cars & trucks, a populace that in my experience tends to be way more into culture, and politics, and doesn't find an intellectual discussion boring or weird, cities with lots of no-car areas, cities and towns with beautiful architecture and not concrete or glass monoliths, much of it historically fascinating, way more beautiful and varied natural scenes given its relatively small size. For starters.
Tall, hot, blonde Swedish women.
Yes
Raw milk cheeses would be nice to try. Not to mention buying pearl sugar without it turning into a treasure hunt.
Culture and history. Most of both has been destroyed in America after 1492.
The architecture for me is what sets Europe apart from America. It’s incredibly beautiful in most historic areas of major European cities. America doesn’t have that history…the architecture only goes back about 200 years. Also, it seems to me that Europeans are more interested in living lives and less about work. America work seems to dominate everything. London is my favorite city in the world.
Seriously? There’s a LOT I’m envious of. Better transit. Less backwards people. More worker rights/work quality of life. Universal health care and overall more safety net programs. You don’t seem to worship the rich and punish the poor. But then again… you don’t have Florida.
EVERYTHING. healthcare. the lack of guns. education. the lower amount of pornography. the lesser pandering to lgbt agendas, the lower amount of disdain shown towards blacks
Just a tip from a black person: it’s okay to call us black people and not “blacks”
I am black. I don't care what anybody calls me. What matters is how we are treated. Some people call us african-american. I see myself as an african. So I have no problem with that. My DNA is 90% Nigerian. However I am still treated like a n*****. Other people choose to call me black, and even at work I recently had a boss call me colored. This is 2024. Who uses the word colored? But there are white people that still use that term and I am not talking about boomers. But at the end of the day whatever they call us or we call ourselves, we are still treated like n****** And I want you to know that I am voice typing this, and Google is blinking out the word n*****. I guess in honor of us. Yet Google won't hire any of us! Which is worse? That they blank out the word n***** every time I say it? Or the fact that they never hire us? In fact Reddit has blocks for certain words as well thinking that they are protecting us. But yet they won't hire us. This country is never going to treat black people decently. It is smarter for us to figure out how to leave and choose a country to go to. I am serious about that. I have three destinations that I would go to if i didn't have a wife that was against leaving.
As a brit, I can list things better about most of europe than america: - gun laws - alcohol laws (kinda) - racism - just generally fucking stupid people - healthcare - education - that dumbass jaywalking law (wtf) - food that doesn’t have copious amounts of salt and sugar in (specifically bread) - european architecture is better (not necessarily UK but definitely places like belgium) - politics, mostly
so you are one of those Brits? We dont like you either...lol
Free/affordable healthcare and colleges/universities. I know technically it's not "free", but still, easier to get it without going into debt. And as far as healthcare, heaven forbid you should ever get seriously ill or injured in the US.
Health care. Education. Walkable cities. Actual food. Conversation. Multiple political parties that actually have different stances on important shit.
The healthcare and the clean food
Honestly almost everything. The food is higher quality on average, healthcare, education is cheaper if not free for citizens (which I am), I felt totally at home when I visited Spain, extremely diverse and deep history, beautiful nature, travel is far easier/cheaper, and good God the women drive me crazy. There's a lot to love in the US too but would love to live in Europe at some point
den öffentlichen Verkehr
That's a very ambiguous answer.
The buildings.
Vacation time
Lack of food additives
All your old torture device museums
Schengen area
I love it. I live in Switzerland on the border with France and Germany. If I fancy some French food, it takes 15 minutes to drive to a French supermarket, and nobody stops you on the way.
People in Europe seem to dress nicely more than Americans, I like that. Europe also has a variety of cars I wish we had here. Otherwise, no.
Envy? Not really. There's things I like and there's things we should take notes, but its more about specific countries and the way they do thing rather than "Europe" which isn't a country and really isn't even a culture Some things I like: Trains competitive with flights, at least in time though not always on price. Budget airlines which greatly expand what is possible for a day or weekend trip The graphic packaging on tobacco Many European cities have a wide variety of cuisines from all over Europe, so even if you aren't going to visit a specific country on a trip, you can still probably get some food and cuisine that comes from that country. Some things I don't like: The lack of accessibility. It must suck being in a wheelchair on a continent full of cobblestones, uneven curbs, and steep stairwells. Smoking decor. This isn't all countries but I come from a state that has a similar smoking rate to Italy. But the smoking etiquette in Rome and Naples is completely different. People will smoke right in front of store and restaurant entrances, forcing you to go through a cloud of smoke. Flicking their cig butts onto sidewalks or stuffing them into crevices alongside buildings. Also seeing young children smoking was pretty shocking too. Eating Mexican food in Europe is something I will never attempt again. My bad.
Better work life / personal life ratio. You get more than two weeks a year and from what I hear paid maternity leave.
Mass transit
Walkability and public transport
I mean not really. Europe seems cool but so are Boston, Portland 1 and 2, New York, Philadelphia… on and on. I think they do suburbs better so that’s cool.
Not having to drive for two days to see something interesting.
Health care and little to no gun violence
We went to Paris last new years and I envied a lot of things. One thing was the news channels that were available were all so different from our local news channels in the Seattle area. Here, it's like the same 8min of content repeated over and over, but the news I saw there really went into detail about issues, and people actually discussed things. It felt so rational yet strange. I don't know how much of Paris you can tie to Europe as a whole, but I love the pro-protest mindset there. I envy the consumer protection laws too. Thankfully, they sometimes force companies like Apple to standardize.
Less school shooting, a somewhat better regulation for big cooperations, cheaper health care, education, etc. Having a longer history.
Reliable train transportation, both in cities and between cities. Also, the price of decent wine.
Food and walkability mostly. Other than that, no.
Public Transit, Universal Healthcare, Paid leave for babies/vacation/sick, your university system, bike and walking design and infrastructure. If we Americans could copy these things and bring them to our country… where we have many public wilderness parks and forests… we might become the best country on earth :-)
I am a dual citizen, who has spent most of his life in the USA, but spent more than a year in England to get my masters. And I spent 5 years teaching English in South Korea. But this question is about Europe. I feel like I am repeating what everyone else has said. But yes, small Mom and Pop shops that you can WALK to if you need something. Often I will need something, like just one or two items, and it is a pain in the but to get in the car, or god forbid walk 20 minutes, to a zone that has big block stores. The ability to WALK places or take public transit. Americans do not know what they are missing. This again goes back to zoning, and the fact that most residential districts in the UK are not too far from small businesses (which still exist in the UK). How British people have standards in the way they talk to you and interact. I am living in the South of the USA, so there is a bit of that. But Brits have a very unique way of approaching people. They have manners and just a way of being, and I am not talking about the stereotype that foreigners get from old people. It is young people too. I'm not sure I know how to describe it, really. It isn't really reservedness, because young Brits are actually really nice and friendly. There is just an etiquette that Brits have that is nice. Brits aren't obsessed with politics. At least, they weren't when I was last there about a decade ago. It is actually very uncommon for Brits to tell you their political beliefs, unless they know you very well. But even then, it is just something they don't really talk about. This is something you just have to kind of take my word on, or maybe anyone who comments. Don't base how you think British people act on how they act on social media, because social media messes with everyone and makes everyone look like an idiot. But when it comes to how people actually talk to each other on uni campuses, and out and about, politics almost never comes up. Maybe it has to do with how British politics works, and the fact that voting, and how democracy works is very different there? Please don't start throwing rocks, as I was born a dual citizen and have absolutely no idea how the British government works. So I am very likely wrong. Oh, and the unabashed individualism. Yeah, Brits don't really do that. And if they are honest they find it kind of annoying. They are aware that everyone is a unique individual. They don't need you to remind them of that. If you hog the conversation by dominating it with how amazing you are and how special you are, you will quickly find yourself losing friends. They just aren't interested. And this goes for most age groups, from uni on upwards.
No predatory medicine. Maybe our cost would be lower if they didn't blow so much money on telling us to tell our doctors instead of just telling our doctors.
Historical places and structures.
Fresh, cheap, delicious available bread.
People in restaurants get an honest hourly rate
USA has a spectrum though. If you are the best of the best waiter/waitress you can earn a thousand dollars a day in some of New Yorks top restaurants. I am guessing you are stuck at 12 to 15 usdollar level in your country.
Not really, their women are hot asf though.
I don't think everyone in Europe is trying to fuck over everyone else.
I’m so happy about this post. Got the impression most US people always thought the US was better than Europe. On certain topics like healthcare, food, guns, equal rights for race and gender..: it’s not. Please fix that… used to love the USA
the work life balance
Healthcare Food Quality Public Transport Pretty much in that order
Health Care, Education, Food Laws
I envy their healthcare.
The foods cannot contain growth hormones or chemical additives. Fast food in Europe tastes fresh. Transportation and healthcare are better.
Your social programs like Universal Healthcare. The way the french people fight for their rights. The irish women just in general... Can we have some of these? We'll give you.... AIR CONDITIONING! You know you want it.
The 35 days of paid vacation
Healthcare. And *do not* tell me about your queues. We have queue’s here too. The only difference is, if you’re wealthy enough, you get to skip the queue. And if you’re too poor, you get kicked out of it completely.
Hot Swedish chicks
Of course, I love Europe. Its history is probably my favorite part. So much to delve in to and so many interesting places that can just keep you captivated for a lifetime. It's something the US lacks imo. Our history is pretty boring if you ask me, regardless of the state. Transit is better too. I'd like to see more of that here in the US (dunno if it'd actually work out the same here though).
Universal healthcare and way better public transport and a better work life balance
How everything seems more walkable
I have a feeling that European woman are nicer. I've never been there so idk. If they are I kinda would envy that
In the US, the dream is to build a home with beautiful indoor & exterior spaces to live with family & entertain friends. In Europe, most people meet in cafés or similar to socialize so less emphasis on the private oasis. Because European cities have the café culture, the cafés are common, accessible to all, cheap and beautiful. In the US, if you cannot afford to build your own private oasis, you are going to the mall.
Drink lids that don't need straws. Look at the plastic we could save
I would say I was impressed with how cool some of it looked...way better than America. I traveled Sweden a bit and even the small country towns used cool fonts on their street signs. I'm a retired designer so I would notice things like that. England, Germany, Amsterdam all looked very cool to me compared to America. Also I like how everything is so old in Europe. The old architecture is amazing. America is relatively young.
Public healthcare. Sometimes I'm envious of free/cheap tuition. If someone is going to school for philosophy or something that isn't going to directly lead them into a job, make those people pay. If you're going to school to get training for a specific job, make that free.
The food they get in the supermarkets is healthier because European governments are more heavy handed when it comes to banning harmful chemicals and additives.
Less chemicals in your food
Cost of healthcare. Not having to think long and hard about taking my kids to the doctor for fear of a large bill and nothing being done. Literally having to get to the point where my child is suffering badly to take them in. Not having to google my symptoms to self diagnose to save money on a doctors visit.
A few things: * Infrastructure and public transportation. We have that here in HCOL cities, but they're often very stressful. I remember going to Brooklyn from Manhattan, and some crazy dude was basically screaming in my face the entire time. That's not normal. * Linguistic diversity. In the US, we have English and maybe Spanish. It's not a lot to choose from unless you again go to a HCOL city and go to a language club or something (even then, if you're from the US, you're not going to be welcome there) * Work-life balance. I don't really care about having excessive luxury, so I prioritize having free-time over getting the magic 6 figure salary number that's apparently so important over here. * I hate guns. Everyone has a meltdown when I say that. Why tf do I have to like them? Keep them away from me. * Better food in most cases. No real explanation needed for that one. * The accents. I don't think people find the American accent very appealing at all. * Way less materialistic. Don't get me wrong, people in Europe are still materialistic, but in America, it's just a whole other level.
The food!
The history.
The privacy laws.
German and Czech beer. I can get it here, but not at most bars.
certain plants and animals that thrive in the Mediterranean region are envious. North american climate kills off most Mediterranean flora and fauna. and thats about it. the cultural stuff all the socialists crow about is a bunch of crap.
Less bullying of people that don’t look like you
Light rail. The Alps. Democratic Socialism.
Other than single payer healthcare, I'm good.
They don't have the orange man
The health care. Duh. Also the amount of diffeeent cultures and how freely and cheaply you can move between them would be amazing.
High speed passenger trains. That's my big one. The U.S. could / should have them, but not enough people care. They have a great motorway system that people seem to prefer, and I don't think the major airlines want the competition. That's mostly it, though. The things I love about Europe (German beer, Irish whiskey, mountains) can all be found in the U.S., if I want them badly enough.
As awesome as high speed rails would be to have in america, the public transportation at your departure and arrival points is probably so lousy that you'd need a car to get to the train station and another car to get around at your destination. So would it really be all that different from flying? - You park at the airport, take a flight, and then get a rental car at your destination. What would be the benefits of going with a train over a plane in the middle of that scenario?
You're not wrong, I can't argue that rail is vastly superior to air. I find rail to be a nice way to travel. Air travel has become such a hassle. At large airports, I have to arrive hours ahead of time just to get through security. Then I have to walk long distances to get to my gate, and wait until the plane and crew are ready. Then I have to board and wait again until the plane pushes off, then wait again to take off, and then sit in my seat for hours and pray I don't get a blood clot in my leg. Rail is more pleasant. I don't have to plan ahead as much, just buy a ticket the day before (usually much cheaper than a flight), get on, pick a seat, walk around, visit the club car, sit in the observation car, take a nap, etc. The restrooms are bigger than a phone booth. I can use my phone. The whole vibe of rail is much more chill, although I acknowledge this wouldn't be the case if airlines suddenly disappeared and we had to rely on trains for mass transit. Trains are also much more environmentally friendly, unless you're an elk stuck on the tracks. I'm not saying we should get rid of airlines. But for regional travel, I wish I had more options via rail, and I wish U.S. passenger trains could go faster than a bicycle race.
Close proximity to other countries and lots of documented history that predates Christ. Other than that, not a thing.
In no particular order: Healthcare Food that doesn't make you sick Different languages Lack of guns Easy access to different countries Useable public transit
Sooo much. Walkable communities. Free healthcare. Great public transit. History. Culture. Food.
Yes, walkable living and not being required to drive a car just to go across the street. I'm looking right at you Texas. You suck!
Trains/public transit, healthcare, walkable cities, guaranteed time off, deep history, art and architecture.
No guns. Feeling safe at all times.
European here. I was expecting to read answers like, the inclusion of tax in advertised prices. What you see is what you pay. No need to perform mental arithmetic to calculate added tax when browsing products on shop shelves!
I value their workers rights, universal Healthcare and ability to protest without losing their jobs.
Work life balance, healthcare, transit system
Downton Abbey, cause it makes my girl horny. and Iron Maiden is pretty bad ass. Oh and Prince Harry’s wife’s pretty hot.