it turns out humans are not the same everywhere who you are is at least partially influenced by where you are your environment literally has an impact on you and if you don't believe me studies show this and this is a dynamic that's influencing all of us including me as I've moved from one continent to another the tug of war between the US and Europe is just so intriguing to me it just feels like this endless battle between the new and the old world in the west there's no right and wrong obvious
ly when it comes to a discussion like this of cultural comparison there's just trade-offs just it turns out that you can't have it all I think the human race really benefits as a species from our differences plus it's really fun to articulate the things that I'm seeing take place in the world and so that's the inspiration behind this piece comparing the life that I've lived for 19 years in the US to the one that I've lived for five years here in Europe and how my view of things continues to evol
ve now National stereotypes are nothing new right one of the easiest ones to point to is the idea that there's more introversion in Asia for example generally speaking massive generalization and More extroversion in other places like Brazil there are exceptions to all generalizations right but there's also a grain of Truth you know the jokes that we make about these sorts of things wouldn't be funny if they were completely inaccurate if I were to say oh the US is a quiet country that is very res
pectful to all other nations and doesn't make a lot of noise I lose all credibility right you just don't believe me because there's not really a lot of Truth to that now while I've already made a few pieces exploring cultural comparisons between different parts of the world different countries and different regions I want to dig a little bit deeper this time Beyond superficial comparisons like oh Europeans use air conditioning a lot less than Americans yes produce is a lot cheaper and a lot high
er quality in Europe than in the United States because the government's subsidize that sort of thing because people care about it a lot more and yes technology is a lot more affordable in the United States partially because of Taxation on Imports but also because as a society there's more of an orientation towards Innovation and one of the ways that keeping up with the Joneses manifest itself in the U.S is having the latest shiny thing but I want to dig deeper into the character of these two con
tinents and the trends that I'm noticing in people that live in these two continents oh my God there's no Lanes there are no Lanes fair warning these are just my opinions I am just sharing my Ops reservations that I see in the world and within myself so take it or leave it and if you disagree with something that I say please feel free to share it in the comments this is supposed to be fun I find this sort of thing fun for every point I'm going to make here I'm going to really try despite my bias
es yes I chose to live in Europe explore the positives and negatives here because I think there are positives and negatives on both sides we Americans are known for their patriotism literally thinking to themselves we are the best and that's definitely not everyone but enough people do think that that it's a real thing this really cracks me up because you know that's got to be one of the fastest ways that I can think of to take someone off like who likes the guy who shows up at the party and won
't stop talking about how they're the best as I'm sure you can tell this really annoyed me quite a bit having grown up in the U.S but with immigrant parents but a lot of Americans really believe this and what doesn't help matters is the reality that a lot of people can point to the fact that the US is a world superpower but look there are a lot of really proud Europeans too and maybe secretly they think they're the best okay but it is a little bit harder to make the argument that you're the top
dog right now if you're Greek or Italian when in reality your moment to shine came centuries ago for the record I don't think there's a best country I don't think in those terms I think different countries are good at different things and I don't feel like quantitative measurements like GDP say anything about the quality of a country now the reason I bring all this up is because of a weird feeling that I get when I return to the US it's this feeling that I'm in the center of the universe and obv
iously I know that's not the case but the relationship between the US and Europe doesn't work the same way both ways here in Europe there's a steady stream of news coming from the U.S but when I'm over there it feels like there isn't much talk about what's going on in the rest of the world unless something really big happens like a war most mainstream media barely covers what's going on internationally and unless you're a worldly American and there definitely are some of those out there you don'
t have a very much of an idea of what's going on out there in many ways the U.S does feel geographically isolated and maybe that's because the distance between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is bigger than the distance between Paris and London it does feel like Europe is closer to a lot of the rest of the world and because the distance is smaller you can't pretend that there aren't neighbors all around you France cannot pretend Germany isn't like right there I personally believe this is a major facto
r in how we ended up with The Stereotype that Americans are terrible at geography World Geography maybe also The Stereotype that a lot of Americans are uncultured and speaking of that actually culture is a confusing word there's something extremely interesting to me about the whole conversation about culture [Music] according to a lot of Europeans the U.S is a place that lacks culture but that doesn't make a lot of sense because the U.S is actually one of if not the biggest exporters of culture
in the whole world that's one of those things that really shocked me when I moved abroad everyone is exposed to the aforementioned American Media and therefore American politics and current events American music is everywhere it's ubiquitous honestly you could say I'm an export of the United States and I'm not sure I could argue with that the US is like always the loudest kid in the room and even just cities like New York are an explosion of Art and it's one city in a giant country so what are w
e saying here really what are Europeans referring to I don't think these big mainstream exports are what Europeans are referring to I think they're talking about what you do on a day-to-day basis and how much that can change from region to region I'm talking about the customs and traditions that have been passed down for Generations the different Regional dishes that come from centuries ago I'm talking about the superstitions or the different card games or the celebrations that take place that c
ommemorate something that happened before modern day France or Austria or Italy even existed bizarre linguistic Works beyond the fact that there's a different language every direction you look architecture the changes every few hundred kilometers or miles am I suggesting that the US does not have customs and traditions no it does I think about Thanksgiving and Halloween and hot dogs and baseball the Super Bowl there are a lot of things it's a big country but one thing all of these things have in
common is that they stretch across the entire expanse of the country the U.S for better for worse is associated with uniformity and scale maybe that's just a facet of being such a young Country For Better or For Worse Europeans see the KFCs and the Starbucks that are dotted across all of their major cities and they see that as the mark of the U.S and how it operates now a lot of Americans know this and some even criticize this right but it's still happening I just personally have a sinking feel
ing when I see the same exact strip mall in any state that I might go and it does feel like the only way I can see the same thing in Hungary and Spain is if I go to a major chain a lot of which are American again maybe this is because of size you know a four-hour train ride can take you to any one of like seven countries in Europe and you're lucky if a four-hour flight will take you outside of the U.S and I think a lot of Europeans take pride in this cultural richness the density of different th
ings things going on you know being able to go to a different place so easily and not understand the word one major difference for me between the Europe and U.S is the language element and I know I care about this more than most people but I do think it has an impact on your experience of each place it's one of the main reasons why I moved to Europe yes you have all kinds of language diversity in places like Miami and New York which is really cool but overall English would do the job in the US t
hat's really not the case in Europe yes English is the most international language but still to this day not being able to speak French when you're in France means you are not having the full French experience that's just how it is and honestly I love living in a world where there are many different languages and many different ways to say things and that we don't all necessarily understand each other for me it's very stimulating seeing or hearing the different sounds and different ways that peo
ple can communicate with each other it adds a lot of color to the world yes I speak Spanish but if I go to Barcelona or spend time in Catalunya I you know don't understand Catalan I speak Italian but Southern Italians are difficult for me to to understand partially because the accent partially because of the dialects it's just awesome richness that I appreciate so much and kind of counterintuitively it is precisely because there is that barrier there that it's difficult to learn a language that'
s difficult to decode how people are communicating that when you do unlock that door it's like that much more incredible that is what makes languages so amazing to me the world expanding tools I fell in love with France and with Europe when I did my Exchange in France because I was forced to learn the language I just had to it's like learning how to think in a new way there's something so exciting about that to me without that I would have never immersed myself in France I would have never creat
ed the life that I have now speaking the language is often the difference between having a superficial tourist experience and delving deeper into the culture I like to think of it as overcoming the moat around a castle so that you can actually storm the castle itself who doesn't want to see what's inside that castle you know what I mean now lingoda is the sponsor of this video and they offer a really powerful tool that can help you storm the castle if you will they offer live online classes with
professionals to help you learn foreign languages and to make it interesting they offer a variety of challenges and language Sprints if you actually complete the language Sprint you can get some or all of your money back so there's an additional incentive there which I think is a brilliant idea I've done my own language Sprints to great effect and sometimes you just need that extra oomph to get things rolling on top of it this has been designed to promote consistency which is huge to building t
he skill over the long term if you're interested in checking it out I'll leave a link in the description and you can use my code to get 20 euros or 25 off the registration for your Sprint thank you lingoda for sponsoring this video speed of life one of the things that really struck me the last time I went back to the US is the speed of things and the fact that there are less guard rails less people and things that are going to slow you down or get in your way and because of that many people go v
ery fast in the US for example it's perfectly so socially acceptable to Wolf down a sandwich in three minutes and get right back to work I'm not saying that's what always happens I'm just saying that it's okay people are not going to judge you it's like an acceptable thing to do and people will walk down the street eating or they'll eat in their car and in Europe you're never going to see those sorts of things or if you do it's it's like a extremely rare I don't know I can't remember ever seeing
it personally these things are not okay it's our looked down upon in exactly the same way that smoking is looked down upon in the U.S which goes to show you human beings are willing to draw different lines in the sand Europeans will tell you it's not healthy right to eat that fast it's rushed but it goes beyond that it feels almost morally wrong I think that's a good spot to pause and introduce A New Concept I have this running theory that there are two forces at play in shaping culture the fir
st is peer pressure there's always a certain kind of pressure that exists enforced by the people around you on how things should be how you should operate and the other idea is normalization it's it's seeing a certain kind of behavior that's very widespread around you to the point where you get desensitized to it and you find it normal so let's talk about some examples of this I want to talk about work here for a second which is very related to the speed of things in my mind the US is a super co
mpetitive Society there's a lot of peer pressure to work harder and longer and if you don't somebody will be there to replace you no guard rails no off switch so it leads to a more imbalanced way of living I find this leads to a dynamic where there's very little vacation time and not just that people don't take that vacation time you're lucky to get even a couple of weeks but it's been normalized to not even necessarily take that time that becomes a sort of like self-perpetuating cycle it does f
eel like there's a fear of stopping so there's the peer pressure and the normalization of work that's taking place in the U.S and the same is at work in Europe but just in a very different way in Europe I feel sort of peer pressure to not work at certain times like on Sunday because it's seen as insane and and unhealthy and because Europeans treasure their vacation time and really stick to it it has a normalizing effect I don't look at time off in the same way I used to I'm going to realize it's
good to unplug to recharge you know to not have everything revolve around work so there's pros and cons to both sides here because I think the US is a really incredible place for the ambitious if you want to advance your career and that feeling of ambition all around you can be infectious I felt it as like a fresh wave of energy the only thing is it doesn't feel conducive to a healthy Rhythm over the long term and the thing about grocery shopping you know I was seeing a lot of people order on i
nstacart or ubereats or whatever and it's not like those things don't exist in Europe but there's like an emphasis on efficiency in the U.S here in Europe a lot of people will shop for groceries on a very regular basis almost daily or every other day for fresh produce and they'll buy in season there's nothing really efficient about that but it is healthier and tastier now I wanted to talk a little bit more about acceptable behavior because it's related to this point I made about peer pressure an
d normalization there are clearly different ideas about work but also just what is acceptable behavior in general I find that there's a lot more than anything goes kind of attitude in the U.S than in Europe growing up each year there would be a pajama day which was this really fun day where you go to school in your pajamas I did this when I was like 11 12 years old and I'm not sure what happened maybe this has always been the case and I didn't realize it but it really struck me that I will see a
dults full-grown adults walking around in pajamas in the US I saw it when I was there just a few weeks ago I have never seen that in Europe and in fact it's funny the Opposites taking place here in in Paris where women in my life in particular will come and visit and they feel they cannot go out without dressing well because Paris is such a capital of fashion and looking good I guess I do draw a link I don't know how related they are but in my mind they're connected between this casualness and t
he American dream you're allowed to dream about things that feel ridiculous or impossible maybe that contributes to the startup culture that exists in the US the entrepreneurial spirit and of course I should say there's Nuance there there are differences between the coasts of the United States and the middle of the country there are differences across the different countries in Europe on this particular issue and all issues but still I feel a different vibe when I'm here in Europe and I have fou
nd that this has had a positive effect in my life this is one thing I'm really grateful for from my time in the U.S it's this mindset of like going for it taking risks and figuring out a lot of the rest later on look I'm aware that there's a lot of psychoanalyzing going on here and maybe the way that I see the world says a lot more about me than the world I'm open to that possibility but what I love about making these cultural comparisons is the fact that it's always a reminder that there's more
than one way to live life I think a lot of life is shaped by our values and the things that we choose to stand by and a lot of it is based off of what resonates what feels right if you have the privilege to travel or to move to another place it can be a world expanding experience but even if you can't do that being aware of the biases inherent in living in a particular place because there are always biases can lead to a richer more well-rounded experience of life I think life is full of trade-o
ffs but I do believe in the power of picking and choosing what works for you you deciding what your trade-offs are to the extent that you can I really try my hardest to embody the best of all the places that I've ever lived in it's just fun I guess to see how different groups of humans operate I think we can better appreciate the world with contrast anyway I hope this gave you some food for thought and thanks for watching all right for those of you that have stuck around this long I just want to
mention a special project that I've been working on for a very long time that's called frame by frame it's a post-production master class where my lead editor my brother and I all share everything that we know about post-production creating videos and animations this is something I'm super passionate about it's a skill that I built my entire career on the way that I'm able to reach all of you and we're doing in a really special way by having a bunch of Highly curated core material alongside liv
e sessions so that I can interact directly with all of you as well as provide feedback and answer questions if you're interested I'll leave a link in the description below so you can keep an eye out for when it's available next alright I'll see you guys soon thank you [Music]
Comments
You, as an american, showing map of Europe with countries like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia is also a very subtle and comedic touch 😄😄😄
Europe is so diverse that we cannot speak of the European way of life as a whole, but of each individual, by country, by region and, sometimes, by town or village.
As a Swede who has visited most countries in Europe, as well as many countries outside of Europe (including for instance India and USA), and who is now living in Brazil since about 5 years, I can say that as long as you have money – it doesn't really matter where you live. At that point the weather probably becomes the most important point.
As a Dutch citizen, I genuinely think both the USA and Europe have very different but very interesting cultures with pros/cons depending on your preference of course, but living in the USA now for my exchange makes me realize how much I appreciate the relaxed life in Europe where (from eating food to working) everyone values and respects their time off. The same thing goes for food whereas in Europe we care about the quality and certain artificial ingredients are banned because they're unhealthy while in the USA they're still used simply to make the food look more appealing... I love the USA for so many reasons, but I appreciate Europe even more because of how seriously our health and time off is taken here
I grew up in the U.S. and I completely identify with what you said about the speed of life. In the U.S. I’m considered an extremely “slow” eater to the point that my friends will ditch me at a restaurant as I eat my meal because they finished half an hour before me. But when I went to Spain, I went out to eat and received comments about how quickly I ate as I finished my meal way before anyone else. People in Europe simply cherish the time they have and connect with the food as opposed to wolfing it down and getting back to work ASAP in the U.S.
I was raised in the US and moved to Spain when i was 27. Six years later when i came back to visit the homeland i noticed my friends would kind of brag to each other about how many hours they worked the last week. I was just quietly thinking 'that sounds like a horrible week' no time for anything at all. Life is short and you are only getting older. Nobody on their death bead ever said 'you know, i wish i had put in more 60+ hour weeks' 😂 I'm sitting there way more relaxed than anybody else, with way more stories to share and experiences lived just over those few years. All because of a cultural difference where Europeans feel that it's almost immoral and a dis-service to your valuable human life to waste it away by clocking hours whether it's for your own business, or for another person's business. I work to live vs I live to work is a real big difference between the USA and Europe.
As an American living in the midwest, I find myself craving the kind of closeness and cultural diversity that you talk about with Europe... here, everyone has big houses and big yards but no one really comes over to visit... You have to drive 10 minutes to get to a store, everyone feels so isolated and it's honestly so lonely here...
It's really wonderful to come across people who freely share valuable information online. You never know what kind of knowledge you might stumble upon that could have a lasting impact on your life.
You kind of prove the American stereotype by speaking of Europe as a singular entity. Life in France can be drastically different from life in Poland or Czech, for example. This doesn't mean only different languages, but also different costs of living, different mentality, different cultures and references, often different ways of life.
Just to also mention that European countries can be wildly different to each other. Life in Italy or Spain is very, very different to life in the UK or Ireland. Each have their pros and cons, you just have to know what vibe you're looking for.
As an American who has lived four years in Poland and more than 25 in Germany, this was interesting to watch. It sounds like most of your experience is in France and Italy. I think the regional differences in the US are a lot bigger than you mention. I grew up in central Pennsylvania, which is quite different from NYC, Florida, Texas, Utah and California. I lived six years in the LA area and have spent some time in the other regions. The biggest differences in Europe are between the former socialist countries and the West and the Catholic south. I know a lot of multilingual Americans in the US and Europe. I try to go somewhere every summer to learn a language intensively for 2-4 weeks. I've done it in every country on the EU's eastern border from Finland to Bulgaria, most of them more than once. That is a great way to see the differences in mentality, culture, language and history. Great to see the Spanish subtitles, one of my favorite ways to learn a language.
I love the idea of incorporating in yourself the best of every culture. Feel like that's really good, like travelling, knowing other cultures and different people, and incorporating what works best for yourself.
culture not only means music cinema and media, it often means (for us europeans) general knowledge, history and geography, books, art, politics, social awareness of the world, and all those things. it's this kind of culture were we think usa lacks
When he said Europeans feel like eating that fast is almost morally wrong, I really felt it. Having lunch with other people or even by yourself has such a deep meaning for most of us, even if it's just for 20 or 30 minutes cause one day you just don't have time. I'm glad you mentioned it. Greetings from Spain
great video. I'm from Brazil and have moved to europe (Portugal) 2 years ago and man, there is a complete cultural shock between these two countries. The language is the same, but accent, way of living and things like these couldn't be more different.
30 years in Europe, 15 years in the US. You are right, traveling and living/visiting different places enriches you immensely. When I go back to Italy i feel there is a lot of time wasted not being "productive", but as you said life is very curbed. When I come back to the US, I still feel the freedom of the vast areas and the opportunities that lie therein. Good video.
I was born and raised in the United States and was fortunate to have lived in Germany for several years, many years ago. One thing that I have never forgotten was the time when several of us gathered at a Gasthaus for a few beers, and while there, was invited to join in the conversations that involved others from several different countries. What amazed me was the mutual respect shown by everyone, to everyone, regardless of their gender, nationality, or beliefs. This 'mutual acceptance' is becoming more and more difficult to find within the US these days.
Im from the US, but I went to pursue my masters degree in England and I loved it. I got to travel to Amsterdam, France, Spain and Italy. I lived in Spain for 6 months. Life in Europe is so stress free and calm, I love it there.
Absolutely loved your analysis! I have lived in Europe 20+ years (Sweden, UK, Germany, now Spain) and my sister spent almost as long in the US (we are Russian). When we meet it’s like this culture shock to both of us :) I remember her comment on inefficiency of shopping for eggs, butchers, vegetables and bread in all different shops and then carrying it all home on a bike 🤣 And me being shocked for a library drive through 🤯 (NY state). 2 planets with 2 very different sets of values. I am sticking to Europe for now ❤
I think you nailed it when you said that in America “You are allowed to dream about things that feel impossible”. As European I would love to see that here, and I think things are starting to change a bit. In Italy we had that too at some point but we lost it. I feel it is coming back in a second wing for the tech sector (we missed the first). I was adamant a few years ago to move to the US (or Canada/Australia) but now I am willing to give Italy a shot first. The US is fairly scary right now.