Kate

There's probably been a question like this before, but I was reading another thread that brought up the eternal ice-in-your-drinks dilemma, and I was wondering. What are the quirky little habits you find so strange about the folks on the other side of the pond? What do you find hard to adapt to?

For me, as a Brit/European (and yes, there's plenty strange things we Europeans think about each other's habits), I do find the ice drama strange. I find too much ice in my drink means it all hits me in the face when I take a drink and gives my lips ice-burn! (I figured I'm too old for straws). And it waters down my drink - I'm obviously not drinking fast enough.

So, what about you? All nationalities' comments welcome!

Lorac1127

The lack of tissues. For a three-night stay at a fairly nice hotel in Venice we were given three tissues!

And for the rest of our trip, even in relatives homes, we never saw a box of tissues.

Don't know if it is cultural or not. But I always carry tissues with me now.

radiofanatic

when I lived in Toulon, France, my host mother couldn't believe how much milk I drank. She said I drank like a cat. I guess they don't drink much milk there, especially as adults.

Grasshopper

This might be bigger than what you had in mind, but I would say the whole approach to work. Europeans have so much vacation time and they do more of the "work to live" than "live to work" thing. Also, it's nearly impossible (or at least dreadfully expensive) to fire people in Europe. And when you do, separation packages are determined by factors like age (which is completely discriminatory in the US).

miguelgcuadra

How well unkept and dirty are bathrooms in major department stores in Europe.
Corte Ingles in Madrid and Barcelona, what a mess and smelly.
Gallerias Lafayette in Paris...what a mess.
Last experience was in a Burger King in London...what a pig hole, the discusting smell of old urine.
Walk into any bathroom in a Bloomingdales, Macy's, Saks store in the USA, they are so clean and smell fresh...even Walmart has cleaner bathrooms than best stores in Europe.
Napkins, why are you Europeans so cheap with them, and toilet paper feels like sand paper. ooch

Kate

Lorac- it would never have occurred to me. I'm now trying to think about where I get tissues. Guess I carry my own too.

At home, I keep mine in the bedroom. Some people keep them in the bathroom. I can't think of anyone who'd keep them anywhere else like the living room, perhaps because it's a private, personal hygiene thing.

radiofanatic - that's because the French drink wine! Even the babies.

Grasshopper, yes you're right, and that's certainly been commented on here a few times. I think our British work practices are somewhere in between - long hours like the US, longer vacation time than the US, but nowhere NEAR southern Europe. I think we're a bit more mercenary/capitalist than some Europeans too.

lindilindi

Approach to food. The average European prefers a small amount of good quality food, while the average American prefers a large amount of food at a good price. Now; I know there are many many exceptions, this is just an impression. Many of us are going over to Europe "for the food".

Grasshopper

Which reminds me! Degas was contemplating a job in London and hasn't been heard from since. Is he hanging out with M-K and the Queen now? Degas, where are you?

USNR

Try to find a drinking fountain in Europe. Pay through the nose for bottled water over there, too.

Having to ask for a wash cloth in a European hotel.

In America, it's common to be offered and served a free refill for one's cup of coffee. The first cup costs too much, but that's the way it is.

Having cleaning women come in and out of the men's room in European toilets. Once, in Japan, a cleaning lady actually insisted on giving the urinal I was using a quick scrub with a long-handled brush! Yes, I was using it! At the same time!

miguelgcuadra

Funny, my first trip to Europe, people looked weird at me when I requested extra ice on my drink.

I praise the employment laws in Europe (Latin America is same) because in the USA it SUCKS...specially in Florida, employees could be fired at any time with no compensation and no recourse to go legal. The age descrimination thing in the USA is just written in paper and bunch of BS...It does exists and later is happening more than ever.

crefloors

No shower curtain or door on the showers in many of the bathrooms. I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a plexiglass deflector in the shower at my hotel in Paris the last trip, and the hotel in London did actually have a curtain. In Switzerland we had no curtain and the shower head was the hand held kind so that was a lot of fun. My brother dropped the head while taking a shower and I heard this blood curdling scream from the bathroom and of course with the water coming through the shower head it was like a snake and was flying all over the place with water everywhere, including the ceiling. I'm not sure this would be classified as a major cultural difference but it did make for some "interesing" moments. Oh I almost forgot, 50 zillion different ways to flush a toilet.

DougP

My first impression is that Americans care " what you do" and Europeans care " who you are".
Of course generalizations are generally untrue!

LoriNY

Besides the one mentioned, the approach to art and culture. I often see class trips to museums and sites, where it appears that the children actually take an interest, unlike in the US.

cigalechanta

A French woman would never ask me how much I paid for something or how much I made for a living.

miguelgcuadra

Europeans are so open minded about new cultures, learning different languages, sexual preferences,people looks,race nudity.
Lots of Americans perceive learning a second language as being associated with minorities (so many hipanic americans in the USA do not speak Spanish, shame on them, just do not want to be considered minorities) . If something does not look like apple pie, it is inferior; so many taboos about nudity and sexual preferences. Race issue in big cities is becoming more liberal...but in small towns, run away.

LoveItaly

creefloors, oh yes, the showers in Europe. Italian showers in most cases are irritating. And it does not seem to matter what one pays for the hotel room.

One shower was so small when I dropped the soap it was impossible to lean over and pick it up. Had to step outside the shower.

And I too (more then once) have dropped the shower head and had it act like a wiggly snake. Understand your brothers screams. One time I soaked everything in the room including all the towels and my robe. Oh sigh. The maid was very nice about it though. Had the feeling it was a common occurrance.

And lack of shower curtain, why? I still do not know.

And other bathrooms were so fabulous, and again not always the real expensive hotels.

Maybe it has something to do with the age of the building. If building was built before indoor plumbing then bathrooms squeezed into closet space or whatever?

One thing I have always noticed is how Italian young ones are so much aware of classical music and operas even though of course they really like all the US music.

nukesafe

Bathroom doors in England.

Having been afflicted with an English "practice wife", I was exposed to life in the British home. What bothered me not a little, was the custom of keeping the bathroom door closed all of the time. In the States, one leaves the bathroom door ajar to politely indicate the facilities are free.

In England, I found the opposite to be true. One firmly closes the door on exiting. After several uncomfortable sessions of pacing the hallway, waiting for the (supposed) occupant to leave, I finally asked. The reason, I was told, was because it was the custom to leave the bathroom window open a bit for ventilation. If one left the door open, the heat in the house would escape.

Made for some desparate knocks on closed doors, and some damned cold bathrooms in the winter.

radiofanatic

the sharing of bathrooms b/w men and women.

Just the attitude towards alcohol - in Europe either there are no age limits or a lot lower. I lived over there when I was 20 and the french could not believe how drunk americans always got. I VERY rarely (I think maybe once) saw a french person openly drunk. Drinking is just not a big deal to them like it is with americans, especially college age ones.

I agree with work. As my host mother said to me. When you die, who do you want at your funeral - family or coworkers? The time should be spent with family and not always working.

smueller

My impression is that many Europeans tend to believe the one's life is a consequence of things that are beyond our control (the economy, lack of opportunity, poor educational system, circumstances of birth, etc.), whereas the majority of Americans tend to believe the one's life is a consequence of the choices we make (dropping out of school, unplanned pregnancies, multiple marriages, addictions, etc.). Both views have some validity. I suspect that if more Americans thought that everyone was out to get them we would have a more European-style welfare state.

It also seems that the social attitudes of the US and Europe are anti-correlated with historic excesses. For example, it is not surprising that the death penalty is less popular in Europe considering that it was so egregiously abused there, including well into the 20th century. Endless wars of religion and nationalism have made Europeans less religiously inclined and less comfortable with overt displays of patriotism. Socialism has never been popular in the US, in part, because our history does not include the violent upheavals of class structure, such as the French Revolution, common in European history.

harzer

Crefloors and Loveitaly!

My two-year-old son went one better in our room in France. He was crawling about unsupervised one morning while we were getting packed up ready to leave and he managed to turn on a valve on a pipe at floor level that conducted water away from the room's space heating appliance.

Before I could get to it, a stream of filthy water at high pressure had sprayed the walls and ceiling of pretty much the entire room.

Did we get out of there fast, all smiles of course as we farewelled the proprietors.

Harzer