9 things Americans find Strange about Europe

I share my observations and experiences on what Americans find strange about Europe. During my time residing in the UK, France, and the Netherlands as well as traveling throughout the continent, these are some of the opinions I've gathered from other Americans who have lived or traveled here. I throw in my 2 cents too but please keep in mind that every country and culture has its own distinctive customs, norms, etc. What may be considered "strange" to you is just perhaps different from what you're accustomed to :)

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[Charmingmarie]

What do you find strange about Europe?

[hape]

The reason for the outside light switch (only for bathrooms, mind you) was that the steam from the shower might condense on / in the switch and produce a short circuit or a hazard. Also to prevent you from accidentally touch the switch with wet hands or splash it with shower water (remember: we have flexible shower heads).

[Joey-ctbm]

Toilet switches are on the inside btw. Which is not really consistent if you put them on the outside in the bathroom in Europe.

[exploringtheforeign]

Wow, I literally just filmed this video but in reverse about American culture haha. Looking forward to watching this, though!

[dikkiedik]

About the light switches. The voltage is 230V and that's more than double the 110V in the US. It doubles the danger too. The wires can be half of the size in the US for the same amount of power, but the isolation must be double thick. The light switch must be at a place you are unable to reach it from the shower, at least that was a couple of years ago. It was the reason I had to place the switch outside the bathroom too.
Nude beaches. I discovered them a few years ago. The social environment is totally different on those beaches. No body is hiding anything, not only physically but mentally too. Everybody is relaxed, no loud music. It makes me feel totally free with the sun on my skin and the wind around my body and no worry about a wet bathing suit. I often visit the public nude beaches around Amsterdam. There are quite a few. But enjoying the sun in the nude outside of a nude beach is allowed too in The Netherlands. It must be an appropriate location not on a public road, then it's allowed. So for instance a quiet public beach, a meadow in a forest etc, can be an appropriate location for nude recreation. Enjoy and feel free.

[Joey-ctbm]

We got it right with ground floor. Look at it like this. A elevator or lift starts at zero in Europe. In the US it starts at one. Now go down. You get -1, -2 or -3 in Europe. You get 0, -1, -2 or -3.

Zero can't be a lower floor. It doesn't make sense at all.

[Joey-ctbm]

All calculations in the US is weird. A imperial system is not as accurate as a Metric system for instance. Numbers are higher and it's much harder to predict short distance. They even use Latin for AM(Ante Meridiem) and PM(Post Meridiem) to make it more complicated.

[RogierYou]

AM / PM system is weird for the rest of the world ;-) And 220Volts is way more dangerous than the 110V