What’s one thing you could never give up about living in the U.S. for another country?

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RavenRead@reddit

Air conditioning and heating. Living at an optimal temperature at all times.

Water and bread for free in restaurants. Free refills.

Dryers. No hanging clothes outside and getting bugs and dirt on your clothes.

Screens on the windows and doors.

Talking about anything and not being thought of as “oversharing” or “too open”.

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Adept_Carpet@reddit

Water and bread for free in restaurants. Free refills.

It's so weird when you go to a nice place in some countries and they charge $0.05 for sugar in your coffee and $0.25 for an extra napkin. The waiters inevitably make a big deal about it.

You are obviously a bored child acting as a troll but in case anyone else is interested….

Here ya go!

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Oh btw they have never charged me so they must just not like your face or probably your personality which....no surprise honestly

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AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit

Your comment was removed as it violates Rule 9 which is “Treat the person you are replying to with respect and civility.” It means that your comment either contained an insult aimed at another user or it showed signs of causing incivility in the comments.

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

What does sun smell like? Lol

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ethnicman1971@reddit

It’s not that the sun itself smells like anything. I guess it is more an outdoorsy smell.

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Again. I do t know what that means.

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MissFabulina@reddit

On a nice, sunny, dry day...hang some clothes out to dry. Then you will learn what the commenter means. Because there is a specific smell...and it is a wonderful smell...when you hang your clothes to dry in the sun.

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rulanmooge@reddit

Yummy_Castoreum@reddit

Christ, I stayed at a shit guest house in Ireland and the linens were so damp that getting into bed may as well have been getting into bathwater.

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szayl@reddit

Things dry super quick and it keeps your clothes so crisp and nice.

Are you kidding? He went to Epstein's island more than any other politician, and she hasn't said a WORD about it other than to deny it.

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BakedBrie1993@reddit

So a reason to not vote for Hilary, someone who has worked in politics her entire life, is that her husband cavorted with Epstein, not her, her husband.

And so the better option was to vote for Epstein's bestie who held no prior political office? 🤡🤡🤡

The only way that makes sense is patriarchy.

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Honestly, the big issue for me was the bait and switch. Had there been a full, fair, primary and she won out, cool. But it just felt like a manipulative play to avoid her having to run much of a race and it didn't sit well with me. My state will go blue regardless, so I honestly didn't even vote for pres this time, but yeah. I'm a woman and am all for a strong, competent, woman in office, but I admit the whole thing sat wrong with me.

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Yourlilemogirl@reddit

I'm allowed to be an independent woman without a male chaperone in public. For now.

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RobinFarmwoman@reddit

But you're in Texas, you can expect that to change soon. Especially if you're pregnant.

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Incineroarerer@reddit

This is the case in most places in the world

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No_Walk_Town@reddit

I'm an American living overseas, and I was really surprised how much I missed pepperoni, breakfast sausage, and just seasoning in general.

Here in Japan, they have a phrase that doesn't translate to English very well, but you could call it their "ABC's of seasoning." And that's: sugar, salt, vinetar, soy sauce, and miso.

Which is fine at first - one thing I loved about living in rural Japan was getting my hands on some local soy sauce - it tasted completely different from any soy sauce I'd ever had.

But after a while...everything just starts to taste different shades of brown. Even the soy sauce, I've started craving the cheap Chinese takeout soy sauce from back home.

Fun fact: MSG was first produced in Japan, but it's called "chemical seasoning" in Japanese - cuz, y'know, that's what it is. And even MSG just gets boring after you've had enough of it.

Yes, some of the most common meds in the USA also aren't generally offered abroad. I recall having to switch from Albuterol to a local equivalent. It was fine, but I was surprised. Other allergy meds were also not really a common thing. People just suffered.

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My friends who traveled there loved it, I hope to go someday!

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1nfam0us@reddit

Even worse, because a lot of buildings are really old and made of stone, they often don't have proper ventilation.

Theyre not as common in old buildings, but ones built in the last 75 years almost always have them. Especially if they have replacement windows.

It sounds like your landlord is a cheap bastard.

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

No dude my building is less than 50 years old.also your logic neatly explains why many European buildings dont have them so...and also my building is great and I am not obsessed with bug screens like you are. Lol

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BullsOnParadeFloats@reddit

Bud, where im at, we are dealing with more than mosquitoes and fruit flies. I don't really want to let wasps or hornets into my house when they are active in the middle of summer, and building a nest up in my loft attic. Its just basic common sense, not an "obsession".

I would probably include birds in there as well, as metro Detroit has a far larger variety and population of fauna than NYC.

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Ok you live in some kind of insect ridden hell.dirsnt mean European cities are similar.

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BullsOnParadeFloats@reddit

Well the area has a lot of water and hasnt completely replaced the marshland with cement and steel, like NYC has

Also, we have deer and other (somewhat) larger mammals who carry ticks that can spread Lyme disease

Slith_81@reddit

Now that I think about it, my parents lived in Florida before they passed and they always left the doors and patio wide open and I don't really recall any bugs.

Here in Indiana though I'd be swarmed with bugs for just opening my front door at night.

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Jdevers77@reddit

They may have had a lania and you are forgetting it or something, but there isn’t a single place in Florida that isn’t absolutely crawling with mosquitos and gnats (no-see-ums). Even mid winter you get inundated instantly.

The volume of insects drops dramatically even 10 feet off the ground. By the time you get to where you’re at they’re pretty minimal.

My mom was born in 1925. Her family was one hair above going to the poor house poor.

Ice was a luxury back then. The grubby Poors drank room temp beverages. If you had any kind of refrigeration, you were living pretty high up on the hog. Iced tea was a luxury item.

Mom didn’t get a proper refrigerator until the early 1960s. The type that you could make your own ice with trays. Even then, people bought big bags of ice for parties because you’d never serve drinks without some ice.

Having ice meant you had money. Either to buy it or make it. You had money to buy an appliance that goes down to freezing and the electricity to run it to keep it that cold. Ice was a status symbol in a sense.

delta_nu@reddit

Ok I guess we disagree on what “sparkling water” is. I am not European. I order it literally every time I go anywhere. You’re correct that mineral water is not as widely available. I typically end up with club soda and tbh I prefer it over mineral water. It does not have a unique taste, I drink it all the time. You are correct it is not seltzer, but I do not give a shit. I just want sparkling water and the minute differences between these three options are not worth stressing about, unless you are European, I guess.

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jtet93@reddit

Well if you prefer it over mineral water, clearly it tastes different, I’m just saying…

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

is everywhere. everywhere.

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delta_nu@reddit

It comes out of the soda gun behind the bar or the soda tap at fast food places. Literally every restaurant has it.

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NyxPetalSpike@reddit

That’s not sparkling water like Perrier. Club soda is a different beast. I’ll get club soda when my friends are drinking, because I don’t drink, and it looks like a vodka and soda. That’s what’s in the soda gun.

Brands would be Perrier, S. Pelligrino, Topo Chico or Saratoga in the US.

SuspiciousPriority@reddit

Maybe you’d be less ornery if you had some ice in your drink 🥰

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They ain't wrong, either!

If it was simply hot here, that would be one thing. But here in the Mid-Atlantic/DMV it's a goddamn swamp. It's a thick, wet, claustrophobic heat punctuated with violent storms. All. Summer. Long.

LobsterNo3435@reddit

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ComeSeptember@reddit

Can second this a million times. It was so easy for me to make friends in Australia. As you said, if you're kind, people will respond. As soon as anyone found out that I wasn't an asshole-type Anerican, I was wholeheartedly welcomed, introduced to more friends, etc. It was amazing!

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FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

I think it can be a bit harder for people who move to Australia long term though, like international students or immigrants, especially when it comes to connecting with locals.

Other than work or uni, it’s not always easy to find people who are actively looking for new friends, and building or maintaining new friendships isn’t really that easy here.

A lot of people already have their friendship groups from high school, so it can feel a bit closed off sometimes.

I feel like it’s different when you’re travelling though, people are more open and in that mindset, so it’s easier!

Right but where the U.S. is different is you can move 2,000 miles away and still be in the same country with a similar culture.

You can move from London to Italy or something but it's harder to fully integrate into a new space like that without learning the local language.

You generally don't HAVE to learn a new language moving across a continent in the U.S. (although it would be very beneficial to learn Spanish if you're in the southwest for example)

Nothing about the DMV (for that new license) is painless!!

Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Yeah you said the US dude.not north america.also. not sure what size has to do with it Are you routinely running through the whole length of Yosemite so you would miss it? Pleaee.

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Farro_is_Good@reddit

Yeah you know what, there’s no point in trying explain scale and solitude to you. Happy trails, dude.

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Oh poor baby can't feel solitude ina forest? You areridiculiys.also do not explain scale to a canadian..whose whole country you dismissed in talkingabout national parks.typical American

Hilarious

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gobblegobblechumps@reddit

Are we all just ignoring that each park is ... different? Grand Canyon is 1/1 unique and you're not getting it anywhere else at all

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Well fine to say they would miss grand canyon. That's not what they said.

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gobblegobblechumps@reddit

Or acadia or yellowstone or mt ranier or everglades or denali or haleakala or saguaro or big bend or voyagers or shenandoah

You're not getting all of that varied nature with domestic travel anywhere else

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

Um.ypu are in Canada and somewild variety in Australia and newzealand and south africa actually but go off with your obnoxious jingoism

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annaxdee@reddit

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GenericUsername19892@reddit

I’m doing this now for a move!

Do you seriously think thermostats only work in Fahrenheit ? The rest of the world says otherwise.

The increments shown on your Thermostat controller are an artefact of Manufacturers' decisions and not an inviolable law of physics.

It's sad you think Celsius is less "specific" or less precise than Fahrenheit and that it even matters. I guess it matters when you still rely on analogue devices to control things.

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JohnnyOneLung@reddit

Why does using a system where water freezes at 32 and boils at 212 make more sense than 0 and 100?

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GoldfishDude@reddit

Because the temperatures that humans live in (between 0 and 100 F) makes more sense than measuring it from -18c to 38c

A system has failed if it relies on decimalization in common usage? That’s not even coherent. Money, cooking measurements, fuel prices, weight, distances, all use decimals in every day use. Is the mile broken? The dollar? The gallon? The cup? The oz? The teaspoon?

You’re making an arbitrary user interface argument, not an actual argument about the merits of metric versus imperial temperatures. Using Celsius does not add costs to anything. How do you think the rest of the world operates?

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Vandal_A@reddit

You're young, aren't you?

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FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

Most AC units here adjust by 1°C at a time, and it’s simply not a problem in practice. People don’t feel the need for smaller increments, we’re used to it and it works fine.

Weather apps like Apple Weather don’t even show decimals, and no one really has an issue with it, so I doubt it’s a problem.

My AC is set to 21.5 usually, it’s pretty unproblematic to use half a degree if you want to.

The fun thing with the metric system is 21.5 degrees is also 215 deci-degrees. So you can have a measurement that’s 18 times more precise that Fahrenheit if you like.

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No-Perspective872@reddit

But much of the world is not using AC

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Sovereign2142@reddit

Electronic thermostats go up by half degrees all across Europe (you can even switch many to Fahrenheit if you want).

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Adept_Carpet@reddit

Fahrenheit is much better for air temperature.

Across most of the earth the temperature is between 0 and 100, anything above or below is quite extreme. Having the human body be quite close to 100 is a convenient landmark.

You hardly ever use the temperatures between 40 and 99 in Celsius. In my day to day life I'm never interested in anything that's three quarters of the way to boiling water.

It's wasted space, and the result is that too many of the common day to day temperatures are jammed into that 0-40 range.

Fahrenheit is pragmatic.

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retroman73@reddit

Nah, celsius is pretty easy. I'm American but I've traveled enough to get the idea. 21 is comfortable room temp. 26 or 27 starts getting pretty warm, you want a T-shirt and shorts. If it gets to 30 that's hot, time to head to the swimming pool or beach. 35 or above is brutal.

16 or 17 degress and sunny is a nice spring day, so-called "sweater weather". Below that, you want a light coat. 10 or below and you NEED a fairly warm coat of some sort. Water freezes at 0. If the temp is negative you know it's pretty cold outside and you need to dress for winter tempteratures. Gets to -10 and it's misearably cold, need a parka, hat, and gloves.

Now for cooking...I don't have those memorized, have to use a converter chart which is attached to my fridge.

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szayl@reddit

I used to think the same thing, but by centering things about 20°C it makes sense.

-10°C - emergency
0°C - dangerously cold
10°C - cold
20°C - pleasant/balmy
30°C - hot
40°C - dangerously hot
50°C - emergency

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SomebodysGotToSayIt@reddit

You're missing the point. You can feel the difference between 20C and 20.5C. In the U.S., you can set a thermostat to 68, or if you want it just a little warmer, you can set it to 69. Elsewhere, you jump from 20 to 21, which would be like having thermostat that skips numbers, like 66 - 68 - 70.

A one degree change in centigrade is a lot.

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Incineroarerer@reddit

My thermostat is in Celsius and allows me to adjust by half a degree. Sounds like a hardware issue, not a unit of measurement issue

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FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

I get what you’re saying, but in practice most people who use Celsius don’t notice that difference.

Cthulwutang@reddit

my car temps are two degree jumps. and i agree with you that the gaps are too big.

at home it’s weird how i can be comfortable at 65 but brrr 64 (during the winter).

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blumieplume@reddit

Actually this is the one thing I have trouble with. Kilometers make more sense than miles cause I used to run track and I can picture 100 meters much better than I can a quarter mile or something but i have no idea how tall I am other than in feet and inches and idk how much I weigh in kilograms and whenever I talk to my friends in Europe about the weather I have to google Fahrenheit to Celsius. None of it makes sense. They train us from a young age to understand systems of measurement that no one else in the world uses and it’s very hard to relearn basic skills like that

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Waltz8@reddit

Spoiler alert: no one says "Centigrade" anymore.

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Former_Tangerine_735@reddit

We dont use decimals. What are you talking about. O os freezing. 100 is boiling. Lol

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molten_dragon@reddit

Celsius is the temperature according to water.

Fahrenheit is the temperature according to people.

Kelvin is the temperature according to atoms.

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Torkin@reddit

Great description

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Omg thank you for explaining that, it actually helped me wrap my head around it!

I think I’ll remember it now.

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endual@reddit

It takes no time to get used to.

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Team503@reddit

I’ve been living in Europe for several years now and I always get downvoted to hell for saying this.

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Well the fact I had to Google what tall poppy syndrome was....I guess that.

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Disastrous_Fault_511@reddit

The majority of people I've chatted to while on European vacations were Australians. Now I'm racking my brain trying to remember which one of us started the conversations. My guess is it was us.

I am with the person who said window screens.

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FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

let me know if you remember haha, I’m curious!

I feel like a lot of Australians don’t agree we have tall poppy syndrome, but i think it’s sadly and deeply ingrained in us

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Gyn-o-wine-o@reddit

I may get downvoted for this

The bootstraps. This is a place where you truly can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

It sucks for those who do not have the social or financial capital to do so.

But if you have the socia or financial capital, luck, and/ or grit, you can really make a killing.

My story would have ended differently in many countries. I didn’t do well in my courses in undergrad so I retook them at a later date. Then I applied for medical school. Got in!

14 years later and I can pinch myself. I feel lucky.

I once talked to a girl from Denmark or Switzerland. She was amazed that I had a second chance. She told me that because she didn’t do well on her courses earlier on, she could never be a physician ( her goal).

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FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

Bulocoo@reddit

Cultural and bio diversity.

From beaches to swamps to mountains to plains. Without a passport you can live and move to pretty much any biosphere you want.

Among that same geography you can live with Cajuns, cowboys, latin americans, lumberjacks and fishermen.

Mighty rivers, massive lakes and endless ocean.

I've lived a lot of places. Many would be fine but upon retirement I decided to stay. I can spend the rest of my life exploring the US and never run out of things to see and places to go.

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InvestigatorRemote58@reddit

Affordable and ample public hunting and fishing access. I could be wrong, but it seems like most other countries have a lot of hoops and costs for residents to hunt. Here, it's relatively cheap and public access in states is common.

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Danibear285@reddit

Freedom of speech

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AuntieFara@reddit

Oh, we get judged for it! One can more or less get away with it on the East and West Coasts, but as an expat New Yorker, I can tell you the middle of the country is very, very different.

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Potential_Fishing942@reddit

Biggest one is general size of living space. My wife and I have a 4 bedroom 2.5 b house with decent lawn, finished basement, garage and driveway.

We are fortunate to be able to afford it due to remote work and living in a medium cost of living town, it I'm pretty sure you'd have to be exceptionally wealthy in most European countries to come even close to that mush space. That's just not homes are built in most of the world.

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Ihateregistering6@reddit

Pointing out the obvious fact that I understand this isn't universal everywhere (since the usual Trolls are out).

-Lack of ice in drinks.

-Having to pay to use the bathroom.

-Having to pay for refills, condiments, bread, etc.

My husband and I were enjoying a Mediterranean meal in our town last week, and talked about how we have countless amazing world cuisine choices within 5 miles or so from our house.

It's truly a melting pot in many areas, and we get to benefit from wonderful culinary talents and flavors brought from other countries. These restaurants thrive.

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No_Cartographer5955@reddit

I could never give up air conditioning, free public restrooms at most businesses, free refills on most drinks, and the fact that we have access to a lot of different foods from around the world. I would assume Australia has all of that too, but I don’t know. It’s kind of funny about the socializing thing though, because as someone who struggles socially here, I can only imagine how much worse off I might be somewhere else. That said, I can assure you that trying to talk to random people can definitely come off as weird here too, trust me, haha!

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Okuri-Inu@reddit

Smiling at strangers. I’m a very smiley person, and I have heard that in some other countries smiling at random people will make them think you are crazy or weird. I can respect that that is just a cultural difference, but I think I’d have a hard time changing that.

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Robot_Alchemist@reddit

A/c

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CartoonistLive1738@reddit

Although not perfect the ability for those with disabilities to move around and the right to do so with ADA. Been to several countries and had major surgery in South Korea on my leg due to a disabilty where I had to use crutches for 6 months (lived there for 2 years). The inability to go to vast majority of places because the cities even newer areas not in any form accommodating to those with limited mobility.

Simply could not even get into or very difficult to enter eating areas or small doctors offices because of way streets were designed. Worked and lived in different countries as well and different jobs in the US. The attempt to accommodate those with physical, mental, invisible and others disabilities I can't think of I haven't personally experienced abroad. Especially when it comes to designing or updating areas to allow access for all. Also it"s been decades since I've been to certain countries so I'm assuming there has been changes for the better in this area.

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Extra_Shirt5843@reddit

Yes...we were just in London and remarking how difficult it would be to get around if you weren't able bodied. So many stairs! I had to go up two flights of winding stairs for a toilet in a pub. And maybe there was an accessible toilet hiding somewhere, but it certainly wasn't mentioned.

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gaokeai@reddit

Stores open for long hours! And open every day. For example, in Germany stores are closed on Sunday. If you need something from the grocery store real quick, too bad you have to wait until Monday.

Here my grocery store is open 6am until midnight every day! Used to be 24/7 before COVID. But still if it's 9pm and I'm like "ahh shit I need to get some tampons" I can run to the store and do it, any day of the week.

Also Mexican food. Jesus christ I don't think I could cope with not having access to good Mexican food. Pretty much anywhere in the country you can find at least decent Mexican food, although it's obviously better closer to the border.

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No-Mouse4800@reddit

Nothing. I moved from the US to Germany about 17 years ago, and miss nothing about the US, except for maybe Wendy's.

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ajababyhairs@reddit

I used to love Wendy’s back in the day. I would go all the time. Now I don’t even remember the last time I had it. Wendy’s has changed in the last 17 years. When was the last time you had it?

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No-Mouse4800@reddit

I was in Denver in 2022 and NY in 2023. I still found Wendy's to be quite qood.

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Ohh that’s really interesting to hear your perspective.

I was actually thinking about this because around the same time as the Bondi attack here, there was a school shooting in the U.S., and the difference in public response stood out to me.

In Australia, our gun laws are very strict and seem to work for us, so it can be a bit hard to fully understand the role guns play in everyday life in the U.S.

But hearing you explain it, I can see how it’s tied to things like protection, lifestyle, and just how society is set up.

I think from here it can sometimes feel more normalised in the U.S., whereas here it becomes a really big national moment, but that’s probably because our environments are so different.

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My Rights, firearms and the lawful ability to provide for our own protection.

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DPax_23@reddit

Nothing. 4 years til I'm out of here.

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OkAstronaut1562@reddit

I'm from the southern US, and I've lived in 3 countries outside the states at this point. Here's what I tend to miss:

Biscuits and gravy
The independence that you mentioned. I really noticed that when I lived in South Africa, how we (US) really do have a "be yourself" attitude that I didn't feel there. I kept noticing all the friend groups/families were extremely codependent on each other and if you're unique and not exactly like them....good luck lol.
I don't always agree with how women are treated in the US - but I have to admit it's better than many places I've been. So I would refuse to ever live in an overly misogynist place again, and I refuse to give up that freedom and respect.

Then buy and install one FFS https://www.climamarket.eu/en/multi-split

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SummitJunkie7@reddit

What is tall poppy syndrome?

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FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

Well, I don't think my guns would be allowed in Australia.

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SukunasStan@reddit

Being able to just walk around without being stared down and not being tutted at for not knowing Spanish (No, this was not Spain). Foreigners tend to assume I'm Hispanic and then get very pompous when I don't speak Spanish. IDK why. Like if I was Hispanic wouldn't not knowing it mean my parents neglected me? Are abused kids looked down on in Europe or something? England was the only European country that was normal about it.

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Quix66@reddit

I don’t know. I’ve lived abroad in Asia and the UK, the most recent being almost 20 years ago.

I managed to get along fine.

I guess I could say my dryer but my second apartment in Beijing, a new build, had a dryer.

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rolyfuckingdiscopoly@reddit

Eh I have lived plenty of places, and I am happy to be back in the US.

I think what I REALLY couldn’t give up is legal rights for myself in a marriage or in regard to property, kids, inheritance, etc. I’ve had short-term stays in places where those things were functionally irrelevant, but I wouldn’t live there- live there.

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ZaphodG@reddit

I don’t know about tall poppies but we’ve got heroin addiction. Heroin comes from poppies. j/k

FunSeesaw7089@reddit (OP)

The food. You can get world class food from any corner of the planet here. It’s fully possible to have a different cuisine for every meal of the month in some parts of the country.

Yeah I can travel to Italy and enjoy Italian food for a week or two, but I don’t think I can handle eating Italian every day for a lifetime.

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007-Blond@reddit

soda

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Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit

I'll defend America on most things, but soda and junk food in general is much better in other countries.

They mostly don't use HFCS, which is all the difference.