There's a lot to unpack in this simple video. My parents are Brits, I was born in the USA. I moved to France when I turned 21. While living there I went around neighboring countries often. The first few years were amazing. I felt like I found a place where I belonged. After 10 years, I am back in the USA and I feel more at home now here than I did in Europe. Maybe in the future, I will end up somewhere else. In my opinion, it's all about where you are at the time of your life. People both in Europe and the USA get so caught up in what is better, what is declining. Just live your life, without putting down other countries and cultures...that it. I love what you said at the end "there is wisdom everywhere"...but most people are too proud to admit this
Only if you have already lived and lived in Europe then you should realize that you had more freedom here than you do now in the USA. How can you feel comfortable in a country where financial exploitation and labor oppression border on slavery? Where the food industry is allowed to sell chemicals and other additives without any scruples for people's health. Where the cost of living is 2/3 higher than in Europe. Where health costs have become unaffordable for many people. In a country where human rights are trampled underfoot, you feel at home. It seems to me that you have been totally brainwashed by advertising propaganda so that you can no longer think clearly. I am happy to be a European and enjoy my freedoms, but I doubt whether you can enjoy them too.
The fundamental difference between Europe and the US is that in the US everything evolves around money and the amount of money one has is a measure of a persons value and success.
Some Germans love roadtrips with no specific agenda where to. Personally, I did that often. Example: There wasn't any snow in my metropolitain area, but I knew form the weather forecast that in a certain region of the Black Forest, there is snow in masses. We just wanted to have a snowball fight, so we, some buddies and me, hopped in the car, drove there and had a blast. After that we drove back home. Another time we just went to Alsace for eating at a restaurant we picked by driving by it. This was before smartphones, the internet and Tripadvisor. It was delicious and at a quaint 450 year old place. I also did that by deciding on a friday night that going clubbing in town was boring, so we drove to Zeeland in the Netherlands for a beach day. 7 hour ride one way, but we didn't care. This was a memorable day. We smoked weed on the beach and there was this inflatable castle for kids. The beach itself was filled with people, mostly families with kids. In the evening the guy selling the tickets for the castle came over to us with the biggest joint I have ever seen. We smoked with him, and then he told us calmly and friendly: "In Holland roken is verboten!" In Holland smoking is not allowed. We messed up, because we weren't aware of weed in public is not allowed, just in the coffee shops. Not one person scolded us that day. The Dutch are so chill. As you said, you get experience from experiencing things in other places...
Same I do in my Summer holidays. If I haven´t planned other trips I normally hopp into my car and drive to Berlin (from Düsseldorf) where I used to live for a while in the mid 90ties. As I know much about the city I don´t make to much plans. This year I visited Albert Einsteins Summerholiday house somewhere near to Potsdam. Or I Hopp on my eBike and Cycle around in the city (you see so much more of the city live driving a bike) I love Holdidays without haveing to much or stressful plans. Ok when vistiting my GF on Long Island/NY I have to make some plans. Because she doesn´t have that much holidays that we have in germany (30days/Year !!) 😞
John is correct the U.S. is in terrible shape. What other country, developed or underdeveloped, has the level of gun violence found in the U.S.? None. Just a few days ago, there was another school shooting bad enough to make national news. The smaller school shootings don't, and they occur almost daily. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children and teens. It accounts for more than car accidents, overdoses, and cancer. No other country is facing this kind of horrifc crisis. If they were, they'd do something about it. The U.S. is doing absolutely nothing legislatively. Americans are now very clear that they value firearms over their children. With the deterioration of women's reproductive rights in the U.S. the data that's now emerging is horrific for a supposedly developed nation. Maternal mortality numbers and rates are going in the wrong direction, particularly in the 14 states in the midWest and South. Women are dying at higher rates because of the lack of access to or withholding of reproductive healthcare. Women are literally bleeding out in parking lots or public bathrooms. It's obscene. I am not exaggerating. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, medical professionals are afraid of being charged and sendtenced to prison if they perform an abortion that politicians determine to be medically unnecessary. Incidents of overt racism are increasing, reflecting Donald Trump's overt racism. People now feel they have permission to say and do racist things that they were reluctant to express in prior years. This isn't just a simple matter of taste, one person's trash is a nother person's treasure. Facism is truly (and finally) on the doorstep of the U.S. and knowledgeable citizens are sounding the alarm as are officials of other countries that are looking at the U.S. is horror. DJT winning the election along with the House, Senate, and the Supreme Court firmly in the hands of the Republican party is a disaster that will likely change the U.S. and by extension the world and not for the better.
Agree. Also, I'm from California and have been 18 years in Poland (lived for a year in Berlin in the 80s) and, while I have a car, I feel a similar sense of freedom and ability to improvise travel here without a car as the public transport is so comprehensive (there are 10,000 villages in Poland and, so far as I know, they can all be reached by public transportation - granted some of those are a once a day bus) and also freedom to go just about anywhere; I never realized just how restricted land access was in the US until experiencing the contrast here (largely thanks to the culture and ubiquity of mushroom foraging, one can go just about anywhere other than military installations, businesses and people's yards). And no need to worry about getting shot which is a kind of freedom of its own, though that's a whole other subject.
@@Altair4314 I don't know what Americans call freedom, only in Europe there are freedoms that Americans haven't even heard of, but on the other hand they are forbidden and/or punishable by law. Strange freedoms in the USA
My late husband and I relocated from South Africa to Cyprus - he was English... there is NO comparison between the cultures! RSA is very American-orientated for work and leisure; Cyprus is Mediterranean through and through - laid back and tomorrow is another day. Having lived here now for 23 years I still get annoyed when things don't move as fast as I want! We are not where we are; we are who we are... anywhere in the world. 😊
Hustle culture, "the grind", and the encroachment of work into personal lives in America can be traced to several systemic factors: at-will employment, which allows employers to terminate workers without cause; employer-provided healthcare, tying access to essential medical care to one's job; and a Constitution that limits government actions but offers little protection from the actions of individuals or corporations (legally considered "people" too). As a result, many Americans live perpetually a hair's breadth away from financial destitution, with homelessness lurking just around the corner for those who lose their jobs or fall through the cracks of an insufficient safety net.
The evolution of the world over the last 20/30 years has changed the perception of the USA. Before, seen from Europe, USA was a place without constraints, which allowed a much better life, with a mentality that allowed everything. But recently, people want security, social values, a culture to rely on. The USA has become an unstable place in the eyes of Europeans where the efforts seem greater and more expensive to obtain what we already have here.
There's one huuuuuge flaw with this reasoning. The myopic perception that the suffering US people are put through by the hustle culture leads to innovation. It absolutely does not, US innovation is just like US freedom, an empty ideal that doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny. Using any kind of metric other than "I think we're more innovative because saying that flatters my ego." the US does not rank well in innovation.
Thank for your Content. Interesting your view of things and I think you're right. There are pros and cons everywhere, good and bad. It's a privilege to be able to commute in two worlds. It opens your eyes.
Thanks that was a reassuring video about that what i always hoped for, that things have not changed so much as represented in the media and the USA is still the country i have learned to love when i stayed there for 2 years as a German
Again great video!! I absolutely LOVE the Southwest of the USA....CA, NV, AZ......even Southern Utah is so awesome!! Nothing like it....and I have been to the Swiss alps many times which is amazing. Great nature everywhere but I love the southwestern USA :)
Na ja, wenn man nachts oder sonntags arbeitet, dann halt für entsprechende Zuschläge, als Angestellte relativ freiwillig. Ich hab Schicht auch Nachtschicht und Sonn- und Feiertags gearbeitet und deshalb gut verdient, bei 35 Wochenstunden. Die Selbständigen die ich kenne arbeiten so lange und zu Zeiten die sie für notwendig halten. Das was du beschreibst ist meines Erachtens so wahr wie Gesundheitswesen und Universitätsausbildung ist "for free" in Deutschland.
Don’t know what is beautiful driving from Colorado through Texas,I am a German/American and I live in Berlin and in Arizona and I can’t find any beauty,my opinion only.Greetings from🇩🇪🇩🇪
@@monikadale6563 Agreed, originally from Romania and in US for the last 23.6 years (leaving next week back to Europe somewhere), lived in 3 states and you cannot compare driving in US and driving around Europe 🤷♀️
Very fine spoken. You SEE life. I have relatives in the US, so it touches me even more. Greetings from rural Germany :) By the way, do you have a relation to INDIA ?
On the whole, you're right about what you say about work-life balance in Germany. But you mustn't forget that Germany is not Europe and that in small companies, where people work close to the minimum wage, without union protection, overtime is often expected.
Wholeheartedly agree with your fair evaluations. Generalisations are so dangerous and narrow-minded. Every country is more than its problems and that goes for both countries.
There's a lot to unpack in this simple video. My parents are Brits, I was born in the USA. I moved to France when I turned 21. While living there I went around neighboring countries often. The first few years were amazing. I felt like I found a place where I belonged. After 10 years, I am back in the USA and I feel more at home now here than I did in Europe. Maybe in the future, I will end up somewhere else. In my opinion, it's all about where you are at the time of your life. People both in Europe and the USA get so caught up in what is better, what is declining. Just live your life, without putting down other countries and cultures...that it. I love what you said at the end "there is wisdom everywhere"...but most people are too proud to admit this
Only if you have already lived and lived in Europe then you should realize that you had more freedom here than you do now in the USA.
How can you feel comfortable in a country where financial exploitation and labor oppression border on slavery? Where the food industry is allowed to sell chemicals and other additives without any scruples for people's health. Where the cost of living is 2/3 higher than in Europe. Where health costs have become unaffordable for many people. In a country where human rights are trampled underfoot, you feel at home. It seems to me that you have been totally brainwashed by advertising propaganda so that you can no longer think clearly.
I am happy to be a European and enjoy my freedoms, but I doubt whether you can enjoy them too.
The fundamental difference between Europe and the US is that in the US everything evolves around money and the amount of money one has is a measure of a persons value and success.
Some Germans love roadtrips with no specific agenda where to.
Personally, I did that often.
Example: There wasn't any snow in my metropolitain area, but I knew form the weather forecast that in a certain region of the Black Forest, there is snow in masses.
We just wanted to have a snowball fight, so we, some buddies and me, hopped in the car, drove there and had a blast.
After that we drove back home.
Another time we just went to Alsace for eating at a restaurant we picked by driving by it. This was before smartphones, the internet and Tripadvisor.
It was delicious and at a quaint 450 year old place.
I also did that by deciding on a friday night that going clubbing in town was boring, so we drove to Zeeland in the Netherlands for a beach day.
7 hour ride one way, but we didn't care.
This was a memorable day.
We smoked weed on the beach and there was this inflatable castle for kids. The beach itself was filled with people, mostly families with kids.
In the evening the guy selling the tickets for the castle came over to us with the biggest joint I have ever seen.
We smoked with him, and then he told us calmly and friendly: "In Holland roken is verboten!" In Holland smoking is not allowed.
We messed up, because we weren't aware of weed in public is not allowed, just in the coffee shops.
Not one person scolded us that day.
The Dutch are so chill.
As you said, you get experience from experiencing things in other places...
Same I do in my Summer holidays. If I haven´t planned other trips I normally hopp into my car and drive to Berlin (from Düsseldorf) where I used to live for a while in the mid 90ties. As I know much about the city I don´t make to much plans. This year I visited Albert Einsteins Summerholiday house somewhere near to Potsdam. Or I Hopp on my eBike and Cycle around in the city (you see so much more of the city live driving a bike) I love Holdidays without haveing to much or stressful plans. Ok when vistiting my GF on Long Island/NY I have to make some plans. Because she doesn´t have that much holidays that we have in germany (30days/Year !!) 😞
I’ve experienced the USA for 26 years. It’s ghetto. Everything the person at dinner said is accurate. The problems are enormous and many.
One's man's "ghetto" could be another man's paradise. It's perception that we sometimes lose sight of. 🙏
John is correct the U.S. is in terrible shape. What other country, developed or underdeveloped, has the level of gun violence found in the U.S.?
None.
Just a few days ago, there was another school shooting bad enough to make national news. The smaller school shootings don't, and they occur almost daily. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children and teens. It accounts for more than car accidents, overdoses, and cancer.
No other country is facing this kind of horrifc crisis. If they were, they'd do something about it. The U.S. is doing absolutely nothing legislatively. Americans are now very clear that they value firearms over their children.
With the deterioration of women's reproductive rights in the U.S. the data that's now emerging is horrific for a supposedly developed nation. Maternal mortality numbers and rates are going in the wrong direction, particularly in the 14 states in the midWest and South. Women are dying at higher rates because of the lack of access to or withholding of reproductive healthcare. Women are literally bleeding out in parking lots or public bathrooms. It's obscene. I am not exaggerating. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, medical professionals are afraid of being charged and sendtenced to prison if they perform an abortion that politicians determine to be medically unnecessary.
Incidents of overt racism are increasing, reflecting Donald Trump's overt racism. People now feel they have permission to say and do racist things that they were reluctant to express in prior years.
This isn't just a simple matter of taste, one person's trash is a nother person's treasure. Facism is truly (and finally) on the doorstep of the U.S. and knowledgeable citizens are sounding the alarm as are officials of other countries that are looking at the U.S. is horror.
DJT winning the election along with the House, Senate, and the Supreme Court firmly in the hands of the Republican party is a disaster that will likely change the U.S. and by extension the world and not for the better.
The feeling of freedom your friends experience is not because of the usa. You can feel it everywhere in the world. You call it vacation 😊
True 😂…don’t we all
Agree. Also, I'm from California and have been 18 years in Poland (lived for a year in Berlin in the 80s) and, while I have a car, I feel a similar sense of freedom and ability to improvise travel here without a car as the public transport is so comprehensive (there are 10,000 villages in Poland and, so far as I know, they can all be reached by public transportation - granted some of those are a once a day bus) and also freedom to go just about anywhere; I never realized just how restricted land access was in the US until experiencing the contrast here (largely thanks to the culture and ubiquity of mushroom foraging, one can go just about anywhere other than military installations, businesses and people's yards). And no need to worry about getting shot which is a kind of freedom of its own, though that's a whole other subject.
Vacation in Europe begins where American freedom ends
@@Altair4314 I don't know what Americans call freedom, only in Europe there are freedoms that Americans haven't even heard of, but on the other hand they are forbidden and/or punishable by law. Strange freedoms in the USA
That means you would get vacation. Not true for many Americans.
My late husband and I relocated from South Africa to Cyprus - he was English... there is NO comparison between the cultures! RSA is very American-orientated for work and leisure; Cyprus is Mediterranean through and through - laid back and tomorrow is another day. Having lived here now for 23 years I still get annoyed when things don't move as fast as I want! We are not where we are; we are who we are... anywhere in the world. 😊
Hustle culture, "the grind", and the encroachment of work into personal lives in America can be traced to several systemic factors: at-will employment, which allows employers to terminate workers without cause; employer-provided healthcare, tying access to essential medical care to one's job; and a Constitution that limits government actions but offers little protection from the actions of individuals or corporations (legally considered "people" too). As a result, many Americans live perpetually a hair's breadth away from financial destitution, with homelessness lurking just around the corner for those who lose their jobs or fall through the cracks of an insufficient safety net.
The evolution of the world over the last 20/30 years has changed the perception of the USA. Before, seen from Europe, USA was a place without constraints, which allowed a much better life, with a mentality that allowed everything. But recently, people want security, social values, a culture to rely on. The USA has become an unstable place in the eyes of Europeans where the efforts seem greater and more expensive to obtain what we already have here.
You have a very differentiated view on things. I like watching your videos.
Thank you 🙏
There's one huuuuuge flaw with this reasoning.
The myopic perception that the suffering US people are put through by the hustle culture leads to innovation. It absolutely does not, US innovation is just like US freedom, an empty ideal that doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny. Using any kind of metric other than "I think we're more innovative because saying that flatters my ego." the US does not rank well in innovation.
Excellent thoughts and many thanks for your insight.
Thank you 🙏
Thank for your Content. Interesting your view of things and I think you're right. There are pros and cons everywhere, good and bad. It's a privilege to be able to commute in two worlds. It opens your eyes.
Thanks that was a reassuring video about that what i always hoped for, that things have not changed so much as represented in the media and the USA is still the country i have learned to love when i stayed there for 2 years as a German
Again great video!! I absolutely LOVE the Southwest of the USA....CA, NV, AZ......even Southern Utah is so awesome!! Nothing like it....and I have been to the Swiss alps many times which is amazing. Great nature everywhere but I love the southwestern USA :)
Na ja, wenn man nachts oder sonntags arbeitet, dann halt für entsprechende Zuschläge, als Angestellte relativ freiwillig. Ich hab Schicht auch Nachtschicht und Sonn- und Feiertags gearbeitet und deshalb gut verdient, bei 35 Wochenstunden. Die Selbständigen die ich kenne arbeiten so lange und zu Zeiten die sie für notwendig halten. Das was du beschreibst ist meines Erachtens so wahr wie Gesundheitswesen und Universitätsausbildung ist "for free" in Deutschland.
Drive.....??? Haha , yeah working 2 or even 3 jobs to get bills paid cause starving wage is $ 8 an hour ..Hell with the U.S.
💯 agree, my friend had to get a second job because her oldest started college 🤦♀️
Don’t know what is beautiful driving from Colorado through Texas,I am a German/American and I live in Berlin and in Arizona and I can’t find any beauty,my opinion only.Greetings from🇩🇪🇩🇪
@@monikadale6563 Agreed, originally from Romania and in US for the last 23.6 years (leaving next week back to Europe somewhere), lived in 3 states and you cannot compare driving in US and driving around Europe 🤷♀️
Very fine spoken. You SEE life. I have relatives in the US, so it touches me even more. Greetings from rural Germany :)
By the way, do you have a relation to INDIA ?
On the whole, you're right about what you say about work-life balance in Germany. But you mustn't forget that Germany is not Europe and that in small companies, where people
work close to the minimum wage, without union protection, overtime is often expected.
Wholeheartedly agree with your fair evaluations. Generalisations are so dangerous and narrow-minded.
Every country is more than its problems and that goes for both countries.
Absolutely
@@JayStephan 💙🤍
I dream big, but not on material things.
He forgot education!