#1
In my 30s I had a chance to work in Germany for a bit. Instead of denying me care, they asked me if I needed any special help with my diabetes care while I was a VISITING, TEMPORARY employee.
I got the best healthcare in my life while in Germany.
Danke Deutchland!
#2
When I was in college, I did a study abroad trip that was in a little town in Italy. We (one traveling partner and I) got there on Sunday at about 3PM local time after traveling for around 24 hours (-> New York -> Milan, then a train to near Trieste). When we arrived, _everything_ was closed. Stores, restaurants, everything.
We were starving, though. The last thing we ate was the breakfast on the plane about 6 hours earlier, and we wouldn't get more food until the first trip breakfast the next morning. So, we want wandering around looking for food.
After a couple hours, we found a restaurant with its doors open. It was empty inside, but there was one employee there. He didn't speak English, we didn't speak Italian, but we managed to communicate "Hey, we're here to eat." He motioned for us to sit down. A few minutes later, he brought us each a plate of food. We never ordered or anything, but we were starving, so we just ate. About halfway through eating, an older woman came down and I think asked us how it was... she didn't speak English either, but we gave her a thumbs up, which apparently translated well enough. We tried to ask for a check, but he just waved us off.
That's about when we realized, they weren't open. They lived upstairs, they were cooking themselves dinner, and we wandered in hungry and confused so they fed us. We came back a couple days later, and it was a much more normal restaurant experience: we were seated, given menus, had a waiter that spoke English, etc.
It was a huge WTH moment, but in a good way.
#3
Meanwhile, half of the US views views these things as extreme socialism/communism and would prefer that a gun has more rights than a person.
Americans are notorious, particularly on the internet, for not knowing much about other countries or cultures. People often assume that Americans don’t realize Europe is a continent and that people in other nations might not speak English. And while there are plenty of well-educated people from the US, one of the best ways for the rest of the country to learn about the world is to go out and see it.
International travel can be extremely expensive, though. On average, it’ll cost Americans between $500 and $1,000 just to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. And the entire trip will cost thousands when you factor in accommodation, food, souvenirs, excursions, and more. Because of this, 42% of Americans have never left the country. And some of those who have traveled internationally went on “once in a lifetime” trips that they looked forward to for years or even decades.
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Any American who’s been to Europe or European who’s visited the United States will tell you that both places are entirely different. Yes, Europe is home to dozens of different countries and cultures, so you’d have to visit them all to get the full experience. But you could make a similar argument for the United States. Culture, climate, and geography vary greatly between states. It’s hard to believe that Hawaii, Alaska, Texas, New York, and Utah are all in the same country.
When it comes to the differences between the United States and Europe, though, travelers know that there are plenty. In terms of lifestyle, it can be shocking to many Americans that 81% of Europeans use public transit for day-to-day travel. Meanwhile, only 11% of Americans use public transportation on a daily or weekly basis.
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B R E A D.
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Many Americans abroad also notice how vastly different the healthcare systems are in most European countries. It’s not exactly free, but it’s extremely rare for residents in Europe to go into debt because of medical bills.
There’s also the issue of food. While Europe does have a problem with obesity, just like the United States, Europeans tend to eat healthier, fresher food overall. Part of this is due to how strict rules are about which additives are allowed in food in Europe and how much more prevalent highly processed food is in the United States.
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I am a foodie and love to eat out at restaurants and such. BUT I will say, that sometimes my stomach doesn't always agree with me. I know somethings I should stay away from (mainly dairy and carbs) but sometimes I just say f it and eat whatever I want.
I went to Rome, Italy for a week for a college class I was taking and I was ready to indulge on lots of pizza and pasta. We pretty much ate out at restaurants for every meal aside from the small breakfast buffet in our hotel each morning. I was so surprised how the food truly didn't affect my stomach at all. I never really suffered stomach aches or bloating and what not, which is very common for me (I'm from the US). I think it was because of how fresh all the food is as I don't believe they use any fillers or preservatives. I had some of the best food of my life there.
#12
There are bound to be plenty of cultural differences every time you visit another country. As long as you celebrate the differences and appreciate them, I’m sure you’ll have a great time traveling to any nation. Keep upvoting the responses that you wholeheartedly agree with, pandas, no matter where you’re from. And let us know in the comments below: what were the biggest culture shocks you noticed when you traveled to another continent?
Then, if you’d like to read another article from Bored Panda discussing this topic, we recommend checking out this one next!
#13
I read in advance that pubs don't do tipping, so I avoided that. However, it blew my mind that it didn't really matter that much whether I left a tip even at a sit-down restaurant. I still did it whenever there was a tip line on the bill, but it's quite the culture shock. You actually pay your servers a living wage?
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I visited Dresden in Summer 2007, and the Frauenkirche, which was destroyed in the Allied bombings in 1945, had only finished being rebuilt in 2005. During the days prior, we had visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. Part of it may be the fact that I was born in 1989 and have no living memory of the Cold War, but it was really eye-opening to see how recent it all felt once you were there.
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My life circumstances found me in England at 9-10yo. I had a Cadbury bar. It was *incredible* on a kid's palate, and I can't stand Hershey bars anymore.
#20
Also public transit. They’ve got it down to a T.