I admire Europeans. They’re not perfect but, after several centuries of warfare, they appear to have mastered a couple of good principles - that countries can prosper more by sharing the benefits of peaceful co-existence rather than by trying to conquer the most by war and that different groups can work together as long as they focus on the things they share in common rather than the things that seperate them. Hopefully other regions of the world will learn from their example.
I live in Arkansas right now and I don’t run into people spouting anti-evolutionist nonesense or talking about guns all that often. Oh well.
Marc
I think Europeans are just as ethnocentric, racist, and arrogant as Americans are.
Marc
I like Europe and would love to visit more. I have lived in one of the northern countries, and liked it very much. I would not want to relocate permanently, but would happily spend another year or two. I’m a history and literature person, so there’s lots for me to love.
I’m starting to think I’d better save my pennies and visit while I still can; the current situations in several countries worries me very much.
I’m not crazy about the common assumptions: that we’re all gun-crazy, immature, and not particularly clever. A lot of people seem to get all their information from movies and the media without realizing that they don’t reflect real life. Having lived there, the odd idea that Europeans are much less racist than Americans just makes me laugh.
I know some Europeans here, mostly Brits. A Frenchie or two. They’re almost like real people.
More. Look at how America has integrated its Muslim populace vs how Europe has. Hell, look at any immigrant population in Europe vs America.
I see Europe as trying to come to grips with diversity in their populations and having a hard time of it. So far their tolerance of the “other” in their midst is restricted to others that try hard to not act like others; they, in general, have little tolerance for those who embrace their other identity even while embracing their Frenchness or their Europeaness. This is a major difference from the land of the hyphenated American.
I really love Europeans and travelling in Europe.
These are my sweeping generalizations:
Paris is one huge work of art that you can walk around in. I don’t know how anyone gets used to that. And the Parisiens were lovely to me! I think a lot of it is a matter of what you are looking for and what you expect. If you are enthusiastic about their country, they will embrace you.
By the way, the French women looked well-groomed to me. I had been told that they might not be.
The Scandanavians were very friendly and loved to have parties and good times. They were very peace-loving and supportive of liberal politics. They loved work and family. The work was very much a matter of pride for them. They are enormously proud of their sports and their beer.
The Northern countries are very clean. People are practical too. Even wealthy older people ride bicycles and drive small cars.
In Germany I felt uncomfortable, but I did not have enough exposure to form a valid opinion. I only travelled through on the train and everything was solely in my head. The train stations were gloriously beautiful with multi-colored flowers. The announcements made me uncomfortable just from the word Achtung! I felt uncomfortable around the men who were of such an age as to have been in World War II. I jabbered nonsense phrases with German young people and we laughed and shared food.
I saw some beautiful places in Austria, but didn’t get to know Austrians very well except for shy Wolfgang who didn’t speak English. Vienna seemed a little cold to me. I would like to have spent time in other parts of Austria that I saw from the train.
Amsterdam had very warm people, tons of art and interesting food. I liked their Indian rice tables and the herring that you could get on the street. Everyone seemed to live in a boat and smoke dope when I was there. Most non-meddlesome people I think I’ve ever seen. Such good attitudes! Live and let live! And art was everywhere. I had trouble with those steep stairs though.
Europeans do know more about other countries than we do, but that’s natural since their own countries are small.
When all is said and done, it still comes down to the individual person and her or his personality. There may be some national trends, but this post isn’t intended to stereotype any country or the people who live there. These are just off-the-cuff general impressions.
I can’t for the life of me understand what this is reffering to. Did I miss some bit of news? (Just really curious, BTW. No implication intended.)
Another version:
In Heaven, the chefs are French, the cars are German, the lovers are Italian, the police are English and the Swiss organise everything.
In Hell, the cars are French, the police are German, the lovers are Swiss, the chefs are English and the Italians organise everything.[/
It could be the value of the dollar. A Swiss will spend less money and get better weather going to and staying in Southern California than going to London.
So for U.S. people, going to and living in Europe has been, and probably will be–for a long time–very expensive.
I think she means that she thinks there may come a point where it becomes dangerous for a US citizen to travel to certain countries in Europe. More than for any equally-lost or equally-informed citizen of any-other-country, that is.
In the light of US foreign policy (Leave No Mass Murdering, Torturing Despot Behind) since 1945 - vietnam, south america, iran (along with the UK), iran-contra, Iraq etc etc etc etc I’m guessing this is a whoosh right?
Never been there, always wanted to go, and they always strike me as “the older sister” who is calmly watching her younger sister (America) running wild, and chuckling quietly under her breath.
There are many places I’d like to see in Europe, but unfortunately, that trip isn’t in the cards since Mr. K has no desire to go.
Permit me as an Englishman to chime in: These not in any specific order btw.
I’ll leave out the historic monuments as I’m sure you know there are many in all these places.
Germany: very clean, good food and fantastic beer. Great scenery especially Bavaria, buxom women 
Italy: Expensive, a bit mucky, motorists are fucking crazy, pasta is great, beer not so good.
Greece: Very cheap, friendliest peoples in Europe,fantastic old ruins,superb wines and decent food.
France: Excellent bread and coffee, very dirty streets,arrogant waiters,fairly cheap depending on location,great seafood restaurants and also beautiful farmhouse eateries, good wine.
Holland: Another nice place almost as nice as Germany for cleanliness, good food and drink and absolutely stunning women.
Denmark: See Holland and add really great beer,some decent wine.
Spain: Nice people very friendly,good food and drink and plenty of lovely countryside if you get off the touristy places.
England: I live here. Dirty streets,decent beer, palatable food,lousy weather, bigotry on a huge scale. I love it anyway
More fun to paint with a Borat brush. 
Generalizing about the people of Europe is as silly as generalizing about Americans.
some of us not so secretly: abolition of the death penalty, state-sponsored health care, relaxed morality… what I envy is that they’ve taken the trouble to learn important lessons from their history.
However, I don’t see it as a progressive’s paradise, but rather as a test case.
It could be post-WWII Socialism which, arguably, leaves less room for personal incentive than in US society; or it could be remnants of the old classist “villians you were born and villains you shall remain” mentality, but either way the results are too many young people at the bottom who don’t know what to do with themselves.
So someyoung native males become football rioters, while the someimmigrant young males become jihadhists. Not all, but more than US society, with our huge criminal (or criminally huge) justice system would allow.
Actually, no. Given how poorly the Europeans handled the Balkan crisis (which still isn’t really over), given such affairs as the Anglo-French-Israeli attempt to seize the Suez canal, given that they are perfectly willing to play footsy with plenty of dictators themselves, and given the oil-for-food scandal, I’d say the Euros have no business lecturing anyone else about how to be a world power.
First reaction: This is a silly question. I’ve been to Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as many places in between, and they didn’t have much in common with each other. But I’m guessing you knew that when you asked it
Second reaction: I like all of the parts of Europe I’ve seen, and I want to go back and see more of it. I would jump at the chance to live and work there, as long as it wasn’t in, say, Albania. In general, and I realize that I’m painting with a hugely broad brush here, Europeans seem to have their heads on straight in some ways that Americans often don’t; they seem to have worked out that excessive patriotism is Not A Good Thing, that working sixty hours a week with two weeks of vacation a year so you can have a McMansion is a poor trade-off, and that people shouldn’t be denied health care on the basis of their financial status. They are also very, very good at maintaining reliable and useful public transportation.
On the other hand, I think that Americans do some things better – specifically, higher education. (I make no claims for our elementary and secondary schools, but I do think our colleges and universities are some of the best in the world, and the well-rounded liberal arts education is a goal worth pursuing.) I also believe that, while Americans are often overly patriotic and painfully clueless about the rest of the world, they are seldom guilty of reflexively bashing another country to the extent that I’ve occasionally heard Europeans, Australians, and (especially) Canadians bash Americans; there is ignorance here, but there isn’t the same level of ugliness.
I always wondered if Europe’s destructive policy of discouraging assimilation of immigrants is based on some progressive idea of multiculturalism or racist ideas along along the lines of “only white natives can truly be British”.