Originally posted by: soccerballtux
In my travel abroad summer semester I've noticed several things:
1). Free water-- Italians can't seem to comprehend that water from the tap should be free. They insist on charging 3 euros for it.
2). Movies-- In the states, the 20 minutes before the movie are interesting 2 minute previews and entertaining commercials. Usually applicable to the genre of the movie you're about to watch. In Europe, there are 15 minutes of mind numbing, boring commercials, and about 7 minutes of previews to movies that are unrelated to the one you're seeing.
3). Movies-- People in the states don't talk much during the movies. Europe, they do.
4). Gas-- $9/gallon in GB. Insane taxes. Yet public transit still costs 3 pounds.
5). People more relaxed in Europe-- when you live in a country that has architecture from 2000 years ago that the whole world comes to visit, deciding to close shop on any given day of the week, because you don't feel like coming in, isn't a problem and doesn't affect your business. In the states, you have to attract customers by good service. Not so in many places in Europe, they just don't care, because 90% of their customers won't ever be coming back.
6). GB-- 5 privatized railways under the umbrella of the government is the worst of both worlds (government and privatized). If you miss your train due to a fault of the railway, they won't coordinate with one of the other companies to get you to your destination before the night is over, even though the train goes straight there. Doesn't matter, because that is a different rail company. You can't complain to the rail company, because they are sanctioned by the government and aren't in danger of losing business to a competitor. But you can't complain to the government, because it's 5 different privatized companies. Result is massive loss of efficiency.
7). Cheap, free, open internet? At Oxford, their IT group doesn't allow the use of any p2p programs except Skype. No ooVoo for chatting with friends back home. Also, free wireless is very rare. Most places charge about 7 euro/hour of internet.
8). Food is cheaper-- hard to get a nice portion of food for any reasonable amount of money. Past about 15 euros at nice restaurants they just start decorating your food and drawing pictures and making it look nice; they don't give you more. No I'm not fat. I just miss being full for a reasonable amount of money. I used to think $8 for burgers and fries was a lot, here it's 10 euros or 10 pounds. Rough on the wallet.
So these are just some thoughts I've had lately.
updates:
9). Can hardly use your credit card anywhere in europe
10). They are incredibly inconvenienced to have to split the check up between multiple people eating at the same table. Since service (tip) is automatically included in the bill, they have no reason to be flexible.
Roundabouts are nice, though.
I'd like to add my 2 cents, since I'm living in Switzerland (along the French border) right now and have been to a lot of European countries.
1) Most places I've been to have offered free water. Just ask for a caraffe; it's basically a glass pitcher of water. It is VERY popular in Europe to drink and carry around bottled water. Tap water may not be free in Italy, I've never been.
2) Haven't seen a movie here yet. I will be seeing the Dark Knight when it comes out here. I must see it
3) Again, haven't seen a movie yet in Europe, but I have been in theatres in America where people talk during movies. For the most part though, Americans stay quiet during a film
4) I agree with this one, it sucks. Gas is insane and public transportation is really expensive. On the flip side, the public transportation is much cleaner and runs all the time. During the day the bus runs every 5-10 minutes. In many American cities you're lucky if it runs hourly (except in big cities with a well-established bus system) and the busses/subways are filthy.
5) This really depends on where you go. In Geneva the service is so-so. In Meyrin (a smaller town) the service is excellent. Instead of going to shops that cater to tourists, go to shops that cater to locals. It's a very simple solution to your problem. You'll find that pretty much anywhere you go in the world, even America.
6) The rail systems are infinitely superior in Europe. They are fast, and for the most part they run on time (especially if you're dealing with a German rail company, then the trains always run on time because they are insane about this kind of thing). The Italian rail companies are a bit shitty, but have you ever befriended Italian natives? Nine times out of ten they are late to everything. It's just part of their lifestyle. I don't like it any better than you, but I wouldn't let it influence my image of the rest of Europe.
7) You do know that the Pirate Bay started in Sweden, right? European internet is more open than in America and is usually faster, but generally costs more (electricity also costs more). At UC Irvine they don't allow any p2p programs, just like Oxford; I can't even download anything with a .torrent extension, not even linux distros. Yeah, using a single remote example to determine the status of the whole isn't quite as glamorous now, is it?
8) Europe is definitely much more expensive for food. However, the food is often better if you know where to look. My two friends and I each had a pizza (for those not in the know, pizzas here are the size of a medium and are meant to feed one - they generally don't come in other sizes) and three beers at this Pizza joint down the road at around $20 a head (in Swiss Francs, so about 20 USD). I'm not talking cheap Heinekens, either. Cheese, beer, and wine are always less expensive in Europe. Vegetables that are in season are also less expensive. If you're willing to cook, eating in Europe costs just as much as eating in America; eating out is generally more expensive if you can't find one of those gem restaurants that are affordable.
9) I have been able to use my Visa everywhere, except the farmers' market on weekends. I'm living in a small village. Also, whenever I've needed money, Bank of America doesn't charge fees on some international ATMs, which is nice.
10) Tip is usually not included in the bill around here, but the waiters start out at minimum wage (unlike in America) so recommended tip is only around 10%. They still don't like to split up the bill, though. Whatever, have one person pay this time and someone else pay the next.
Things that are definitely done better in America
1) Movies (American movies are just the best)
2) Television (I can't wait for Heroes and The Office to start back up)
3) On average, eating out is cheaper (but not as good, and cooking is just as cheap)
4) Fruit/vegetable prices don't fluctuate as much ($5 for a thing of blackberries?!)
5) Mexican food (I grew up in Arizona)
6) Electronics are cheaper (but thanks to the Internet, this point is practically null)
7) Music (many Europeans love techno and disco, and the 80s - I've seen a disturbing number of mullets)
8) Gas is cheaper (but that is quickly disappearing - right now European prices are at about $7.60/gallon ie $2/liter, and last I checked prices were breaking $5/gallon in America)
Edit:
9) Higher Education (although everything below is absolute shit, and we only dominate higher education because the rest of the world's smart people come here because of the better higher education, thus a perpetual cycle)
10) Military spending (to a fault - you can have too much)
11) Girls (sorry Europe, you have some hot babes, but America has the best)