It’s well known that Americans and Europeans often argue about whose way of living is better. But to truly understand the differences, it’s helpful to hear from someone who has lived in both places.
Elizabeth Yuko, a journalist and professor of ethics at Fordham University, spent nearly a decade in Ireland before returning to the U.S. Reflecting on her experience, she says, “I knew that moving back to the United States after eight years in Europe would mean some sort of reverse culture shock. While I anticipated the big changes—like less paid time off and different attitudes toward food—it was the little things that really stuck out.”
One of the things Yuko had to readjust to was the culture and habits surrounding grocery shopping. In Dublin, she typically shopped at modest-sized local stores near her house. “I had the option of getting my fruits and vegetables from the green grocer, my meat from a butcher, and my bread from a bakery. For everything else, I’d stock up at small grocery stores,” she explains. Large supermarkets were available but less accessible without a car, so she seldom visited them.
“When I moved back to the United States, I was overwhelmed by the sheer variety of foods in supermarkets—especially cereals, for some reason. The whole shopping process took longer because I had so many more choices.”
Yuko was also struck by the constant presence of prescription-drug commercials when she returned to the U.S. There, it’s typical to see ads for everything from antidepressants to asthma medication. However, after so many years living in Ireland, she realized just how unusual they are.
“The European Union has strict guidelines on TV ads for prescription drugs, so they’re not part of the advertising landscape,” she says. “And when you think about it, rewriting the lyrics to pop songs to try and sell diabetes medication to potential customer-patients is a pretty odd premise.”
One more surprising difference Yuko encountered was the style of local news in the U.S. “Dramatic music, flashy graphics, and glamorous newscasters—these are all parts of local news programs that I took for granted,” she says. In Ireland, with a population of 4.8 million, national and local news are combined into one “straightforward, no-nonsense” broadcast.
“Adding to the somber nature of the news was a one-minute segment immediately preceding one channel’s six o’clock news that used to feature the Catholic prayer ‘The Angelus,’ but has been toned down to tolling bells and different scenes of everyday life.”
“Though I didn’t expect a minute of quiet reflection before the American local news, it did take a while to get used to the high-energy, sensational local-news broadcasts in the United States again,” Yuko notes.
You may be amazed to learn that refrigerators in Europe and America aren’t the same size either. “The first house I rented in Ireland had three bedrooms, two bathrooms… and one tiny refrigerator,” Yuko recalls. She soon discovered this was standard in most homes, except for some larger families.
Yuko eventually came to love the smaller fridge because it reduced waste and encouraged more frequent shopping for fresh foods. “When I first moved back to the States, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I had my very own giant ‘American’ refrigerator all to myself in a small studio apartment.”
Yuko was also fascinated by how elections are handled in the U.S. and Ireland. Before moving to Europe, she had volunteered on several political campaigns and wanted to continue this work abroad, so she decided to intern with the Irish Labour Party.
“There are no paid political television commercials,” says Yuko. “Each party is permitted a short broadcast before a general election, but it’s typically focused on the party itself rather than specific candidates, apart from the party leader.”
“When I came back to the United States, the election season here seemed so long, and all the TV commercials served as a reminder of the importance of money in American politics.”
Yuko sometimes misses the ease of travel she enjoyed in Europe. “I could pop over to France or Finland for a short trip without totally breaking the bank,” she shares. Thanks to budget airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet, traveling to other countries was very affordable, and having friends across the continent meant she often had a place to stay.
