"The fact that so much American cheese is coloured orange surprised me."

[bluemagicrose]

So instead of doing some schoolwork due Tuesday I decided to spend my night reading this.

Oh dear lord.

Some of my favorites:

"I cannot imagine why nobody yet mentioned root beer. From a German perspective, that is the single weirdest thing to learn about, tightly followed by the taste of "grape" juice."

"4700 kinds of toothpaste."

"I was startled to

Comments

[moerlin]

And in general, I don't think many things surprised me (I watch too much American tv) so much as I just think they're weird. Off the top of my head with some skimming of your links:

- American flags everywhere
- houses made of wood, even in Northern states...
- squirrels!!!
- traffic lights on the other side of the street
- paying for parking almost everywhere and parking meters in general
- street cleaning days
- looooooooow speed limits (so annoying) and passing on the right, as well as some exits being on the left
- carpool lanes, and on that note: traffic jams on 8-lane-highways
- four-way stops
- no roundabouts
- very few walkable cities
- but on the other hand: ridiculously cheap gas
- drive-through ATMs and pharmacies
- no good candy :(((
- toilet seat covers
- no privacy in public restrooms - what's with the gap?
- billboard ads for universities, law firms etc.
- religion, or more accurately apparent lack of separation of church and state
- frequency of commercials on tv is so high that it makes me turn off the whole thing
- bars/clubs closing at 2 am in some states and people still only going out around 11 pm
- and on that note, lots of drunk driving going on
- different use of cutlery
- no change given on buses; very annoying
- also, having to use quarters everywhere. another also: all bills are the same size, which I always find very inconvenient
- text book prices *cries*
- "you are what you do" - and the prevalence of the American Dream in general
- disposable everything
- pharmacies that are really glorified grocery stores that happen to sell some medicine
- tipping 20% of the bill, whaa?
- using credit cards for everything
- having greeters and bag-boys (well, if it keeps the unemployment rate down...)
- lack of acceptable social security and healthcare options
- ads for medicine and on tv, with the ads being 10 seconds long and followed by a minute of "side effects may include"
- lack of detachable shower heads and no saving water when flushing toilets either
- bigger/supersized everything, plus people being weirdly okay with paying $6 for a coffee

I think I'll stop here because the list would be three times as long of I actually really started on the differences in mentalities and stuff like that, so I'll just say you guys are a weird bunch to us sometimes. ;)

[moerlin]

Heh, now I'm reading the whole discussion anyway, look what you've done. ;) And wow, so much stuff I forgot, like shoes in the house, sales tax, unsweetened iced tea, loudness and/or talking to strangers about very private things sometimes, free refills (and free tap water in general), fluorides in your drinking water, volunteering, PB&J sandwiches, unions, ACs set to freezing cold...

- People will often say "we should get together" or "you should come over sometime for dinner" but don't actually mean it, they just say it to be polite.

One of my friends swears that there was an American English phrasebook where "you should come over sometime for dinner" was translated as "goodbye."

:D
Yeah, stuff like that is seriously an experience. ;)

5. Everyone speaks English. More so than in the States!

LOL! Although possibly true if you go to, say, the Netherlands.

And now I'll stop spamming your comments, sorry.

[bluemagicrose]

LOL, I'm an enabler!

I'm so curious now. Like, shoes aren't kept in the house? There aren't free refills? THERE AREN'T PB&Js? I had one of those thing morning for breakfast. And no volunteering?

I love the "you should come over" stuff. Such an easy way to end a conversation. Another one if you ever come to the South. "bless your heart" typically means the person who says it is looking down at you.

I'm loving this topic. So much. :D

[moerlin]

You should be ashamed of yourself! :P

Ah no, we do keep our shoes inside, but we don't wear them inside. I know that's a regional thing in the US too though. Nope, no free refills here, and you can very rarely buy peanut butter. But that's okay because we kinda don't like that and would rather eat Nutella instead. < /overgeneralizing >. Volunteering happens here too, but there's no phony I-need-to-volunteer-to-put-this-on-my-college-application stuff, I guess? And in general, volunteers at homes for the elderly or at museums would take away "real" jobs (and social workers are underpaid anyway), so our politicians are trying to counteract that. I think the one sector where tons of volunteering goes on is sports, i.e. teaching youth teams and such.

LOL, yeah!

:D

[bluemagicrose]

Can I tell you something and you won't hate me?

I don't love Nutella.

I like it. But I'm not enamored by it. I don't get why people go on and on about it. It's okay but...eh.

I get the volunteering thing. That actually makes sense, having those as jobs instead of volunteering opportunities. And free refills are the greatest. I have no idea of teenagers still do this, but we used to go to a gas station, buy one of those large 42 oz. cups of coke, drink it all while hanging around the gas station, and then go back in and get a refill of it. Multiple times. Same thing at McDonald's and places like that. Buy the cheapest food we could get and hang out there just getting refill after refill. Ah, I get the shoe thing now. We don't wear shoes inside either. At least not in the South.

[moerlin]

Hey, more Nutella for me. ;) I feel the same way about peanut butter - I mean, I do have some at home (I always bring a jar back home when I go to the States), but a jar probably lasts me a year.

Though if you ever come to Germany/Switzerland/any country with "good" chocolate, I'd urge you to try Nutella again. I didn't really like the version they sell in the States either, ours is way less nutty and more chocolaty instead. ;)

Hee, fun times! Teens here hang out at gas stations too, only they buy beer. :D And there were some McDonald's that had free refills here for a while, but the German attitude of buying the smallest possible cup and then refilling it 20 times destroyed that concept, I think. ;)

[bluemagicrose]

So I need European nutella then? Okay. I still want to try candy from Europe. I hear American is either too sweet or not sweet enough.

Oh, totally forgot that whole little no legal purchase of alcohol until 21 thing. So so behind the rest of the world.

[moerlin]

I think so, yeah. Are they still making American candy with corn syrup instead of real sugar? I think that might be one of the reasons us Europeans think that is tastes weird. And as for chocolate, it might be about the milk, hmm.

Yeah, they let you drive at 16 and vote at 18 but you can't drink at those ages? It's just weird.

[roganrules]

I am a crazy person that doesn't like chocolate, and I like German and Swiss chocolate even less than American chocolate so I would probably hate European Nutella more than American Nutella. I just don't understand the obsession with Nutella because it is just too sweet for mealtime in my mind. I am obsessed with peanut butter though and sometimes will just eat a tablespoon of it for fun. Since I am allergic to grapes, I eat peanut butter and apple jelly sandwiches. I am also a fan of peanut butter and banana sandwiches (I ate those almost everyday for lunch in high school). I do think that food preferences have more to do with what you are used to than anything so it makes sense to me that you would like Nutella more than peanut butter and would like German candy and chocolate more than American candy and chocolate. I also wasn't a big fan of German gummy candy because it just took so long to chew and had less flavor, but you probably like it more than American gummy candy. (Also, I am just a really picky eater in general).
Question: since Europeans seem to like peanut butter less, does that mean that you guys aren't fans of peanut butter candy like Reese's?

All of our exchange students were obsessed with free refills; one of the German girls even had 7 refills at one meal, but the large amount of ice freaked them out. I always found that interesting.

[moerlin]

Well there you go, I guess chocolate just isn't your thing. ;) And hmm, I mostly eat Nutella straight out of the jar, or sometimes for breakfast, but yeah, it is to sweet for any other meals.

Hmm, what kind of gummy candy was that? Because I think Haribo is pretty popular worldwide? I know there's some English gummy stuff that's a little harder to chew and seems to be hit or miss with people here too, though.

Heh, I don't particularly like Reese's, but it's not like I had them often. Can't buy them here, and when I'm in the States, I don't really go out of my way to purchase them, I guess?

And yeah, the ice thing is also something that foreigners just don't get about America. ;) I actually try and order my drinks without ice, but 50% of the time they just forget...

[roganrules]

I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and most of the German and Swiss chocolate that I have tried was milk chocolate so that could be part of it. Maybe I would like German and Swiss dark chocolate. I really only like milk chocolate when it is part of a candy bar like Snickers, Almond Joy, Butterfinger, and Reeses.
Have you ever had biscotti spread (I can't remember what it is called, but it is made from briscotti)? I don't know what I would eat it on, but I like just eating it out of the jar. My dad buys it for bagels.
I am not really a breakfast eater, but I guess I could see how Nutella would work for breakfast since a lot of people like sweet breakfast foods. Personally, I only eat the sweet breakfast cereals and poptarts as snack food because I think they are too sweet first thing in the morning. Like I said, I am a crazy picky eater. ;)

One of our exchange students went to some Haribo store and brough us a bunch of gummy candy to try, but I didn't really like most of it because it isn't very soft. I do like Trolli and have had the American and German versions of the gummy worms. I like it better because it is softer. I think Trolli v Haribo is kind of like Coke v Pepsi in that some people like one kind more and other people like the other kind better. My favorite gummy candies are Trolli gummy worms and Sour Patch kids.

I love Reese's, especially Reese's pieces since they don't have any chocolate. Reese's pieces in birthday cake ice cream is delicious. Since you don't like peanut butter that much, it makes sense that you aren't crazy about Reese's.

Since you guys aren't big on ice, do you like your drinks at room temperature or do you keep drinks in the fridge so they will be super cold? I think the ice thing is about keeping our drinks super cold because we like them that way. *shrug*

[bluemagicrose]

Low speed limits? Dude, I freak out every time I'm in a car that goes faster than 60 mph.

Squirrels? There aren't squirrels in Europe? Some people find them cute. I don't, but hey, I'm not a squirrel girl myself.

Textbook prices and college in general is so overpriced here. It made me cry when I read about the riots in England over them having to pay up to $16,000 for their college. Everyone here would GLADLY pay that much.

So the bills thing, is money different sizes in Germany? You guys are with the Euro, right? So are euro bills different sizes, colors, etc.?

I loved your list. I think Europe has it right on almost all fronts. Silly America.

[moerlin]

Hee! For me, a comfortable traveling speed is 160 km/h (100 mph), anything lower than that actually makes me lose my concentration after a while and makes me feel less safe, go figure. Depends on what you're used to, I guess.

We have squirrels, but the reddish variety has seen to it that there are no other species anymore. And I think I've seen 2 or 3 of them in the past year, whereas I'd see as many in a week in the States easily. I will admit to thinking they're kinda cute, and may have taken a pic or two. ;)

Yeah, let's not start on the US educational system. :D Did I mention our unis are free? ;)

I actually posted a picture of most Euro bills in comparison with dollar bills here, so yeah, much more colorful. Our currency before the Euro had differently sized and colored bills too, and I like that we actually have coins of value (up to €2, which is ~$3,20).

Heh, I'm sure a lot of the stuff we do seems silly to you guys, too! :) And hey, if there's one thing I'm thankful for, it's American cities built on a grid system. Everywhere else in the world I just get lost - never happens in the States. ;)

[bluemagicrose]

Holy crap. I would go crazy being in a car driving that fast. I'd totally be the slowest car on the road. Everyone would be shaking their fists and flicking me off.

The Euro bills kicks the dollar bills ass.

See, college can't be free here. We'd have to pay higher taxes and we can't have that. Taxes are EVIL EVIL EVIIIIIIIL so we can't do something like being able to send everyone to college. Plus, I think that's socialism. (I really hate Americans sometimes.)

Grid system. We got one thing right! :D

[moerlin]

Hee, probably. ;) It's kinda funny, we have some highways (Autobahnen) that go from e.g. Denmark to Germany or Holland to Germany, so it's kinda funny to see the Germans speed away as soon as they're "back home" and everyone else keeps their lower speeds. ;)

Much prettier, right? Your bills could at least use some color. ;)

IKR? OMG, taxes? And maybe even universal healthcare? That's so... socialist. :D

Something to be proud of, heh. :D

[roganrules]

All of our exchange students were obsessed with squirrels and took lots of pics. Our Swiss student was even obsessed with the word "squirrel" and kept repeating it for 30 minutes straight while watching squirrels play in the backyard one time. Have you ever heard the sound that a squirrel makes? I see squirrels all the time, but I only recently heard a squirrel, thanks to a video that someone took and posted on Twitter a couple months ago (I think the video was postd by one of the Starkids, but I am not sure). The sound that the squirrel made makes me love them more. :D When I was a kid, I loved to feed squirrels french fries at the park because it was cute to watch them eat and they would get so close to you in order to get the fries.

I actually kind of like American currency, but I definitely get that it would be confusing for non-Americans. I just like the history aspect (the people on the bills) and the various symbols used. For instance, I am obsessed with the fact that there are spiders on the $5 dollar bill because it is so random.