Since I have been in the USA for the last couple of months I noticed that there are a few major and minor differences between the USA and Europe (and especially Holland off course). In my point of view those cultural differences are really interesting and I am feeling like writing a sort of a summary about the differences I recognized in my time here in America.
Firstly I hope that Americans who are reading this will not be too insulted by the opninion that Americans are lazy in some ways. They use their car as there only transport option. This is in contrast with Holland were litterally everybody cycles. All the Americans I who went to Holland which I spoke too found it stunning that everybody is cycling all the time. Most Americans think that it is a really good thing and would like it in their country too. In my point of view the reasons why people don't really cycle in America are that firstly the distances are usually bigger, the infrastructure is not built on cyclers. In The Netherlands for example there are cycle lanes everywere and all the roads around towns and in centres of cities are practically free of much traffic which makes cycling safer. At last bycycles are expensive here, they are usually seen as uncool and the climate in the winter (at least in this part) is not too good to make the use of bycycles attractive.
Also another "lazy" aspect of America is that there are drive-thru's for everything here. In the time I have been here I have seen drive thru : fastfood restaurants, pharmacies,movie rental, ATM's and even a drive thru-bar !! In contrast to this beautiful country we only have a few drive thru MacDonalds' in my country.
Furthermore here is a quick minor difference in between. Americans eat their French Fries with ketchup!! Europeans always eat them with mayonaise and when me and some english boys ate our french fries with mayonaise , some American people were "shocked".
Another major difference is the enormous fastfood-society in this country. Since I have been here I recognized : MacDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Wendy's, Arby's, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns and some more places as fastfood-branches. In Holland we only have Macdonalds and Burger King and no Starbucks either. In the time I have been here I ate the unhealthiest food in all my life. Here in America it is really hard to find healthy food, because the society is overwhelmed by fastfood-branches and restaurants with assumly better quality of food are usually expensive. In Europe we mostly go to restaurants to get food and we have way more little specific restaurant with their own advantages and qualities. Or we just cook our own food at home, which is always a healthy dish with vegetables. Ordering food is an exception which usually happens once per 3 weeks. This fastfood-culture combined with the car-culture causes an increase in people with overweight. Although underestimated the consequences of overweight is the number 1 death cause in America.
Furthermore almost all American cars are automatic in stead of manual.
At last I recognized an enormous difference in autocracy compared to Europe. There are a loooooot more police cars and officer patrolling around and still the criminality rate is higher. I think this is because of the weapon legalisation in the US.
Also everything you do or everything what happens is strictly registered with help from Social Security numbers and personal records which schools, clubs and organization register all time. Escaping from bad things which happened in the past is impossible in this society where everything is registered. Autocracy also means that everything is supposed to be really safe and you are required to sign waivers all the time to prevent the chance of people "sue-ing".
Furthermore it may sound awkard but (waiting) lines are really long here and it seems like Americans won't mind to wait for an hour to get informed about their bank account, phone costs, food or anything. Also the atmosphere is really strict in some areas. Especially on the airports after 9/11. My personal experience is that I was standing in a line at the airport and i moved 2 steps to the right to look how long the line would take me. The next second there were 2 policemen just running to me to loudly yell at me that I was not "supposed" to do strange things like that.
I can talk for hours about examples of autocracy I noticed and heard, but I think I made my point about the differences on this point. America is said and supposed to be the country of freedom, but in my opinion the freedom is strongly restricted here compared to Europe. In America you always everything is registered and you always have to be "right" because the punishments for some things (which could be described as an expression of freedom) are hard and may affect your future really bad.
I hope I did not offended any Americans with this blog, I just wanted to show an insight in the Dutch/European brains. Some people find this blog probably really negative, but I think America is a great country and I really enjoy m time here. I am tired now and I could be continuing this topic on my next blog, where I could describe some differences between America and Europe where I find the American choice more positive because I already know some.
lazy, fastfood, lines, ketchup, social, autocracy
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3 comments:
I found your Dutch/American comparison quite interesting. Especially the part about 'autocracy'. I am American myself and have spent a little bit of time in Holland and absolutely loved the country. I was wondering what your thoughts were on relationship differences? Do you that because of the liberal environment, men do not take as much of traditional role in pursuing a girl and asking her out as might be expected in America?
I'm doing a report on the cultural differences between America and Europe, and I must say that this was very interesting! I wish America had some more of the qualities that they have there such as cycling, fast food, etc. so I'm not in the least offended. Thank you for this!
I am an American and was in Holland this exact time a year ago. I am in love with the Netherlands. I can't believe such laid back place exists. And it's not because Cannabis is legalized. The vibe is much different there. There's not much of a hustle and bustle as their is in the US. People don't seem to take themselves so seriously, once again, it has nothing to do with Cannabis. It is nothing like the American conservatives claim it to be. There aren't crazy high drunken folk all over the streets. I was extremely shocked that most of the city shuts down at 12:00am. I'm in love with the country and am feeling extremely nostalgic now. I wish it wasn't so hard to become a permanent resident.
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