Shocking Things About Europe (Part 2)
Shocking Things About Europe (Part 2)
What I've Learned in the "Real" World
Last week, I wrote about the most shocking things I observed in Europe. I grouped those findings into Food and City Life. Here’s a three of my favorite takeaways:
People barely spoke English
Milk and eggs aren’t in the fridge
I met people my age who didn’t own driver’s licenses
For Part 2, we’ll continue City Life and expand into two more categories:
Family and People
School and the Economy
🌆 City Life
They Dress Well
I once met a Croatian guy who lived in the US. I asked him what things surprised him about America.
He told me that one day at Walmart, he was astonished to see people wearing pajamas. People dress like that in public, he thought. I’m on his side here. I remember meeting a few girls in a hostel in Sevilla who wore dresses and possessed that natural-and-almost-exotic western European beauty.
I was in awe. Not just by the beauty, but by bringing nice dresses while traveling on the road. Even in 90 degree humid heat, local Spanish and Italian men wore suits. Women wore dresses. Even if just going out for a coffee, Europeans took pride in their presentation.
Nothing like seeing pajamas in public in the US. I only saw spandex leggings if I was at the gym. People wore jeans. People took pride in having clean sneakers, dressing well, and smelling good. The two smells that instantly transport me back are perfume and cigarettes. Everything felt more traditional, as if I traveled back in time.
It’s also worth pointing out that a European’s definition of cold is much warmer than an American’s. Summers in Western Europe get up to from 40-50 Celcius, which is above 110 Fahrenheit. Yet they still dress nice. When I traveled in the Spring, it was “only” in the high 20’s and low 30s, which, of course, was scorching hot for a Coloradan and Canadian by blood.
Beautiful Buildings: Tradition over Profit
An Australian man once traveled to Italy. At a restaurant, he tried to order one type of pasta with another type of sauce. He wanted to customize his order. As a picky eater, I could relate. The Italian waiter’s response?
“NOOOOOOOO! No.”
This reminded me of a stroll in Prague one afternoon. In awe at the colors of the buildings, I came across a group of guys painting a vintage apartment building. They were painting it a creamy orange color. And in Lisbon, a building outlined in green square tiles had me in awe. So did the stunning cathedrals and hand-crafted buildings all over Europe.
All of these small details made me think that not everything is meant to scale. By scale, I’m talking in the context of business. Scaling means to grow over time. To make a business more efficient and generate more profits.
If there’s anything I learned in Europe, not everything is about efficiency. As we saw with the Australian man, Europe safeguards history, tradition, and culture over the possibility of growing businesses. Tradition supersedes profit. That’s a long winded way of saying that the buildings were pieces of art.
People Walk So Slow
When I was in Malaga, Spain, I couldn’t get over how slow people were walking. It was painfully slow. They looked like they were walking in slow motion.
I asked some of my new Spanish friends what they hell was going on. They told me that people are on vacation and that there’s really no rush. They’re enjoying the sun and breeze walking next to the ocean. They’re actually living in the moment.
When was the last time you listened to different bird calls? Observed the pattern on a butterfly? Felt the warmth of the sun?
Slow down. Something I constantly reminded myself of: the point of going for a walk is to walk. Not to finish the walk. The Spaniard and Italians are professionals at separating work from leisure.
👨👨👦 Family and People
Close Family Ties in Spain
I was luck to meet a middle–aged Spanish woman who could've passed as my mom in an alternate universe. She told me in Spain, that it’s common to have mothers who really take care of their kids. They do lots of cooking and cleaning, and she told me that it’s common for me to live with their parents until they get married.
Of course it’s not the rule, but commonly kids will go to college locally and live with their family. Nothing like out of state college. The family unit is a close-knit group. You’ll commonly see mothers and daughters walking down the street with the linked arms you usually only see couples do.
Many kids also won’t travel outside of Spain for a long time. For school, work, and especially family reasons, they stay close to home for a long time and may not get married and have kids until their mid 30s.
More Direct, But Not Rude
I remember walking into my first coffee shop, and the lady working the bar smiles and says “dime.”That means “tell me.” I was astounded.
There was no, “hey good morning, how are you,” it was straight to the point. But It wasn’t rude, either. The culture seemed is more direct, but not in a bad way. I probably also looked like a foreigner with my blue eyes and baseball cap, so that could've been it too.
People are Open, Expressive, and More Free in a Way
I once talked to someone who said they can only speak in Spanish when they truly want to express themselves. If you listen, people honestly and openly express themselves in Spanish and Italian. Small intonations in language reveal everything.
English, on the other hand, is a bit more robotic of a language in a way. This is a good metaphor for people and life in general, especially in Spain and Italy.
People are more open, relaxed, comfortable being themselves, and just more lax with everything. PDA (ie kissing in a cafe) is also quite common. It’s just more free flowing and laissez faire over there.
People don’t care what other people think, and in some way maybe people seem less judgmental overall. I might be off here, but this is just an intuition. People are passionate, speak loud, and it’s impossible for them not to use their hands while talking. They don’t worry about being judged or being too loud. There’s almost less shame, if shame even exists.
They’re just more expressive of their feelings and they don’t care as much if they hurt others’ feelings because in a way, repressing their true feelings would be disrespectful to themselves.
Because what the Spaniards and Italians understand is that the experience of family and good food is priceless.
Social Media and Communication
They use Instagram a lot to communicate. And if it’s not Insta, it’s WhatsApp, an encrypted texting app. I was shocked how nearly everyone was using voice messages to communicate.
Even on the metro and in public, people speak into their phones to “text” their friends. I personally enjoy this and will use this more because not only is it more efficient, but it’s also more personable than texts. You’re speaking to someone, so you put more effort in, and it also boosts your speaking skills. I prefer WhatsApp because it’s easier to keep, manage, and even bookmark voice messages for later. Interesting to observe this trend in transitioning back to verbal communication.
📚 School and the Economy
College is Way Different
School overseas is cheap: I’ve met a Australian girl in architecture school paying 200 Euros a semester and a French guy paying 2,000 Euros. For the Swedes, college is completely free.
But it’s not just cheap. The entire university system is different, depending on your career. It’s not four years for everyone, like here in America. Let’s say you want to be a doctor. You go to medical school at university for around seven years, then become a doctor. If you’re a lawyer, it’s similar. You go to law school for a similar amount of time. I even met a guy in a business and marketing program that lasts five years.
What’s even crazier is that in the Netherlands, high school can be four, five, or six years, depending on your past schooling, intellect, and career ambitions. School isn’t cookie cutter.
It’s worth asking, why is college in the US so expensive? Why is there a four year university for everyone instead of career-dependent programs? Of course the latter exists, but it’s probably not as common.
The Economy: Cheap for Us, Not for Them
If there’s anything I learned, it’s a privilege to be able to earn in United States Dollars. The USD is strong: an espresso in Italy costs just over one Euro, and a sandwich in Spain maybe costs 3 Euros. For us in America, it’s cheap, but for Spaniards and Italians, it’s not.
I once met a waiter from Greece. He asked what I made (around $18 an hour), and he was startled. He told me that he’d be lucky to make 1300 Euros in a single month. That averages out to 42 Euros a day, which is 7.22€ per hour. A Portuguese music lover told me that the minimum wage in Portugal is 700€ a month.
So that coffee or meal out is quite expensive for them. But the interesting thing is that they still go out and spend their money. Same with clothes: nice sneakers and jeans aren’t cheap, especially for them, yet they take immense care in their appearance.
Same with travel: I met the Greek and Portuguese guy in Granada and Barcelona, respectively. This reminds me of the work to live perspective, which is the idea that you make enough money to support your lifestyle, and then once you run out of money, you head back to work.
It seems like Europeans have less of a focus on saving than on spending. Maybe I’m off though. Let’s apply it back to America. Even though coffee is 3x the price and clothes and restaurants are more expensive, we also have a higher cost of living (and make more money).
So maybe we should consider going out to restaurants more often. Even if it’s “expensive.” Because what the Spaniards and Italians understand is that the experience of family and good food is priceless.
iPhones are Rare
Pretty soon into my trip, I realized that the majority of people used Androids in Europe. At first, I thought maybe they had some negative views about Apple and preferred Android.
But I still saw Apple stores and even used one for free wifi to get out of a serious bind. Over time, I realized something: iPhones are really expensive. Obviously, they're expensive for us, so they’re damn expensive for Europeans.
Androids are much cheaper and get similar jobs done, so why not use them is probably their logic. Same with airpods and headphones: actual Apple AirPods were much less common to see rather than plug in headphones or other brands of wireless headphones. I never seen so many plug-in headphoebs since 7th grade. Makes you appreciate Apple and the technology we can more easily afford here.
Last thing: if you liked this, you’ll enjoy my daily short-form writing on Twitter. It’s where I share most of my ideas, stories, and thoughts.