Life in the USA vs Europe (Differences and Similarities)

Is life in the USA better or worse than life in Europe? In this video, we explore the differences and similarities when it comes to life in the USA and life in Europe.

Welcome to our journey! We are Max & Sid, and we decided to take this year to travel to a new continent and see what life is like in a new environment!

This is Chapter 128 of our story. Watch them all by visiting our channel! Likes and subscriptions are extremely appreciated and help our growth on YouTube.

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[constantin]

I lived some 12 years in NYC. To me there is no comparison. NY was far more exciting, but the quality of life is so so much better in Europe. Thanks for the video!

[hassanbin]

The man that inspired me to have a love adventure to travel Europe

[carrstone]

Let it be said that, as far as culture is concerned, the bottom rung is 'entertainment'; 'culture' involves more than that, ranging from the exertions of the physical body to the workings of the mind.

[Dreyno]

Being drunk at the end of the night is one thing. Slamming shots to get drunk at the start of the night is weird. Everyone is a mess and people end up ruining their own night and/or blacking out.

[UncleDaver]

Great video! We’ve been to Europe many times and I think you’ve summarized the cultural differences with the US very well. Found your channel yesterday as we plan our 2025 Scandinavia trip. Specifically, it was your Tallinn video. Good delivery, great info. We are also in Wisconsin, and huge Packers fans! What city are you in?

[SusanTemplin-ixur]

Great video. I love all your comparisons and appreciate your fair approach to understanding that there are so many reasons for the differences. Love your honesty and respectful analysis of two great continents!!

[iPhonesuechtler]

Dude I’ve been looking for cool content like this! Love your channel ❤ None of that unnecessary youtube hyping

I think you’re absolutely right about us Europeans on the travel thing in the beginning of the video!

Love from Austria 🇦🇹

[coffeetostay]

"DB is at its troubles" 😀 Yes, definitely! This comment made my day! We still travel by train in Germany, still the best choice often times (since the mythical autobahn often is pretty crowded, too). Just make sure you don't have to change trains. Even if your one train is late, you'll get there eventually. If you need to change trains, you are probably doomed... Love your content by the way, very nice, calm, infomative and smart.

[sasse]

I am not too sure if the phrase "don´t have culture" refers to the things you descriped it is more of a snappy comment about how "young" the history of the USA ist compared to euope, asia or afrika. Especially in relation to the sentiment, that the "true, old history" of the American continent got wiped out by the setlers and colonists. It can often be used in bad faith.

[Belaziraf]

Organic and mass production farms get subsidies but not small producers on the markets. Sometimes, and now more often, it comes from the garden of the market booth owner.

[janisliepins]

Also in Latvia when after kid is born mother or father ( you can choose ) can take 2 years off the work.. and to come back to that work is guaranteed.. and in that time you are getting almost the same of your salary .. many are doing it for 4 - 6 years because planing 2nd child close to 1st one..

[stefanmaier]

On Public transportation. One of the reasons that might hamper expansion in the US is the separation of school busses. In Europe, the normal public bus is the go to way for most kids aged 10 and above (or even younger in some cases) to go from their home to school and back again after school. That creates a base demand for public transportation that others can use as well. If there are a few dozen kids that have to go from a small village to the next town for school, you can use that same bus line to ferry commuters to that train station that is in the same town as the school. So demand reinforces each other. One of the main factors for good local public transport is the integration of different systems. The larger commuter train lines need feeder systems to bring people to that station. What we are currently strugling with to get more people into public transport is the last mile. Getting people to the next station in a convenient way without them having to use a car - because once they are in a car, they will go the whole distance most of the time.

[mindscraper]

You are wrong about friendships, in germany we have two different words, Bekannte, what USAmericans would consider friends, people you know but have no deep connection, and Freunde, what we call friends, you might have 2 or 3 friends, but they will be forever with a really deep connection. And traveling isn't a big thing, it might be easier to travel to other countries but we aren't travelling that often to make new friends every day.

[GdzieJestNemo]

re public transport - US cities did have same public transport as Europe. It was removed by car companies lobby that bought up transport companies, lobbied for laws that would make public transport cost ineffective and urban planning to be car centered. As for urban planing aspect US started using super low density suburbs as the main urban unit which is incapable with public transport and forces people to use cars.
As for architecture kind of yes, but not always - you can take a look at business centers like Canary Wharf in London, La Defense in Paris, Bankenviertel in Frankfurt or center of Warsaw (example of recent vid: /watch?v=AxFeTwgFfHE )

[Wykreowany]

When it comes to lifestyle - as a Polish citizen I get like 26 days off per year plus when you get sick you are paid 80% of your daily wage per sick day. What is happening now among young adults (20-30s y.o) especially here in central/eastern Europe is that people are now working to live their lives instead of living just to work. Career development is important but it's a side effect.

[GiantHaystack]

Really interesting comparison - I hope your 12 months in Europe provided you with positive life-affirming and changing knowledge that you can utilise in the future. The commercialisation and consumerism of some cultures vs the lifestyle that a more relaxed approach is quite an interesting comparison; most (not all) Europeans are content with what they have and buy what they need, not what they see advertised or trying to compete with their neighbours, whereas some (not all) Americans I've spent time with seem to live to work, to buy things which then requires more work to afford.

[hannakerr]

I think another component of lifestyle and work-life balance is the work schedules and amount of hours in a typical work week. Obviously the standard work week in the U.S. is 40 hours but there are several professions that work significantly more than that on average. I will say that some of the larger employers in the U.S. are being more generous with paid time off than in the past. For example, my former employer introduced "unlimited" time off in 2020. My friend's employer has "responsible time off" which is similar - no set number of hours or days. Thanks for video! Looking forward to hearing your comparison to the places you traveled in 2023!

[Mischnikvideos]

Smoking is coming under increasing pressure in Europe. But in some countries it is part of the culture and is only changing slowly. Hand-rolled cigarettes are cheaper and it is also a question of culture. Some people define their group membership through cigarette consumption.

Clothing and behavior are a thing all over the world. Only in the USA is it less important. What the Americans lack is the nobility as a role model. They created complicated systems and some of them have survived to this day. These systems and the variety of cultural epochs make American culture seem boring. In every European village you can discover something about local warlike conflicts and kingdoms. Even if something only happened once in 2000 years. But some places have existed for that long or longer. In most US villages you only find gossip because they are very young compared to European villages. American Indians had these stories, but they were killed.

[janisliepins]

ps In Europe we are taking off shoes when going into house .. it is not normal that you stamping on poops and salive all day and then walking into your house.. when your kids are playing on floor

[agn]

Isn’t that stereotypical _"I have to excuse myself once every 10 secs for finding something that is more exciting than in the US"_ (then otherwise my fellow aMuricans will immediately start a sh*t storm) not getting kinda exhausting?