If you’re an American who has traveled to Europe, you’ve probably noticed some major differences in how things are done. Redditor blinkz_221B asked, “People from America, what’s something Europeans do that seems weird to you?” Here are some European norms that Americans find strange.
1.
“There are no regular plugs in bathrooms in the UK. Just these low-voltage plugs for men’s shavers. It’s so hard trying to blow dry and curl my hair in the hallway.”
2.
“I’m not sure if this is just Germany, but the lack of bug screens on windows was strange. It’s often a requirement to crack open the windows, but nothing stops the bugs. Ironically, I mentioned this, and someone said that bugs are never really an issue. Not long after, a wasp started flying around the room.”
3.
“The fact that the caps don’t fully detach from your plastic water bottles (though I’ve come to appreciate this!)”
4.
“Airing cupboards. I was baffled when I was staying at my grandma-in-law’s house in England, and she insisted that clothes that had been washed and dried also needed to be ‘aired,’ and there was a cupboard for this.”
5.
“The fact that eggs aren’t refrigerated. It seemed so off to me when I lived in France for six years that I eventually just stuck the eggs in the fridge anyway, even if there was no reason to (much to my French mother-in-law’s shock & horror).”
6.
“It makes sense to me, but it still seems marvelous to me that in France (other places, I’m sure, but I learned this in French class) it is common to buy groceries every day. You may wake up and go to the bakery for fresh baked bread or stop by for fresh produce on the way home to make dinner. Yes, having walkable grocery stores nearby makes it easier, it seems so much easier to buy three or four days or a week’s worth of groceries at a time.”
7.
“When I went to Europe, you had to pay to use public restrooms in many places. As an American, that seemed so strange. Here, the closest thing we have is a business saying only paying customers can use their restrooms, but I’ve never encountered a bathroom you literally had to use money to access.”
8.
“They serve jams, jellies, and cold cuts of thinly sliced meats on untoasted breads and call it a breakfast. It’s not bad, but it’s definitely a bit weird.”
9.
“OMG the toilets. In the US, every toilet I’ve ever come across has a flush lever on the left of the tank or (in public restrooms) a sensor or a button on the top. In Europe, every single toilet has a different flush mechanism. Every. Single. One. It’s like an escape room challenge. Foot pedals. Cranks. Pull knobs. Things attached to the sink. I was once stuck in a bathroom for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to flush the toilet, it turned out to be a pulley on the other side of the room.”
10.
“They smoke EVERYWHERE. All the time. There are a lot of smokers in America, but it’s not even comparable. You can’t escape the smell no matter where you go in the city! Once when I was in Paris, I counted nearly 200 smokers in a few hours”
11.
“Taking all of August off for vacation. The company I work for is headquartered in a European country where this is the norm. When August comes around, all of my projects just stall, and I get to spend the whole month on personal projects instead.”
12.
“How close together everything is, a small road trip to Europe is probably a good 30-minute drive, but you can drive for five hours straight in my home state (Texas) and barely make any progress.”
13.
“The fact that you’ll find many washers and dryers in the kitchen.”
14.
“Based on the countries I’ve been to, what is with the open showers? Where are the shower curtains? All of the heat escapes, and the water gets all over the floor. There are enclosed showers in some places, of course, but the prevalence of open ones is so confusing.”
15.
“The fact you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don’t mean just like in a paper cup. I’m talking about a glass of beer, And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald’s.”
16.
“I noticed that mostly in the UK, people have two separate faucets for hot and cold water. What the hell? Washing my hands was the worst.”
17.
“The history. Can’t wrap my brain around that. I live in a farmhouse built in the 1920s, and that is considered old in the states.”
18.
“I was just in southern Italy, and it was hot as heck, but everybody acted like they hated AC. We’d go out for the day, and when we returned, housekeeping turned off all the AC units. The driver wore a full suit, but every time we got in the car, the AC was off. We’d ask him to turn it on, and he would, but only on low. It’s like they’re reptiles or something.”
19.
“In Germany, many apartment rentals don’t have any kitchen at all. You have to build your own kitchen. There will be pipes and drains and stuff but nothing else. No shelves, oven, cabinets etc…”
Do you have one to add? What is something considered normal or common in a country you’ve visited that seemed strange compared to the norm back home? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.
