I’ve lived all across Europe but I felt like most countries were quite similar (as opposed to countries outside of Europe that I lived in) but I was always surprised by some small difference that I would have never thought about before moving. Has anyone else experienced this?
If you’ve lived in two or more countries in Europe, what were the biggest differences you noticed?
28 comments
I’m from the UK, and grew up in Northern Ireland, but have also lived in Scotland and England. I now live in the Netherlands, and I have to admit that the biggest difference I have seen between the UK and the Netherlands is the arrangements for social/health care. But on a lighter point they drive on the other side of the road in the Netherlands, than in the UK.
I lived in Slovakia, France, and Czech Republic.
The differences between Slovakia and Czech Republic weren’t that huge apart from the fact that in Slovakia I lived in a smaller city than in Czech Republic where I lived in Prague so I feel like all the differences were related to the difference of the city size.
And then France, I would say the biggest difference is probably the amount of food options – groceries available. You have SO MANY options of everything. I used to shop at a huge Carrefour and sometimes it took me 1-2 hours to do my groceries lol especially in the beginning. Two aisls full with just cheese or yogurt or cereal, pre-made / frozen food, always fresh fruit available, etc. Easily the biggest difference for me.
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I’m from Poland and I haven’t lived abroad for a long time, but compared to Germany the biggest difference were payments – in Poland you pay absolutely everywhere by card, even in the smallest grocery stores, I still haven’t used cash this year except for some tips; it’s very convenient. Some years ago a Sunday shopping ban was introduced in here as well (which is quite irritating), but other than that most of the stores stay open until very late – buying freshly baked bread after 8 pm in Biedronka is also not a problem. Seems like a very small thing but it’s really helpful.
PL vs IE
Here’s a few from me, lot of them apply to whole angosphare
Food:
– Ireland has super underdeveloped bread/pastries culture, it will make anyone from countries like Poland, Germany, France or Austria really sad
– food is bland, everything needs chips (even Chinese takeaways), hard to find proper good kebabs
– cheddar overshadows all other cheeses. There are days i got an impression that 70% of cheeses aviable are various kinds of cheddar
Alcohol:
– there’s no pub culture in Poland; in Ireland it seems to be the way of life with the amount of pubs everywhere. I’m amazed that they all are able to stay afloat. There’s a huge age difference between the countries as well – in Poland clubs/pubs are for young people mostly, it’s hard to find people outside 18-40 age range, while in Ireland it’s an all age community center. Very often there’s live music in pubs as well. Closest vibe you can get in Poland is some bars in tourist towns during season (eg. Mikołajki, Augustów, 3city etc)
– there’s way bigger variety of beer in Poland (very hard to find my fav my go to weisse and dark beers in Ireland) on the other hand stouts are rare in Poland
– no shots culture in Ireland /edit: we got places that serve only shots in Poland, and your average pubs/bars offer range of shots similar or larger than cocktails. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNoIUrWfzI4) a promo vid of one of the shot bars from Gdańsk or [a vlog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk0jRrmh-SE) with some people trying different shots in Poland
Infrastructure:
– Ireland seems to be using american suburbs philosophy, which i hate since it makes the country super car focused
– there seem to be no communal heating in Ireland (dunno about bigger cities), everything runs on electricity
– dubble taps & chlorine tasting tap water are just evil
– banking/payment system is around 5 to 10 years behind polish one
– irish EIR code system was weird at first, but i grown to like it
– very few trees in cities in Ireland, or in general there’s very few forests. On a flip side due to climate lot of people got amazing gardens in Ireland
Interpersonal:
– people are smiling and talking to strangers in Ireland
– irish are more superficial, but fun as well
– irish men don’t handshake (i still cannot get over it) and stuff like opening doors for women is seen as a nice thing as oppose to requirement as it is in Poland
/edit: also crossing the road outside zebra crossing and red light – standard in Ireland, no big deal. In Poland you will find drunk people standing at the crossing waiting for green light at 3am and completely deserted road
/edit: if you want i can add more (will sound a bit like whining though:) )
Germany, Swizerland, UK
🇨🇭 Swizerland: I was born here and lived near Lugano as a child. We moved away to 🇩🇪 when I was in elementary school. But I still visit family there every year. Imo swiss people are on the more reserved and quiet side. They can also seem a bit arrogant and condescending to outsiders but once you get to know them better you realize it’s mostly just confidence. Swiss people also have a high amount of national pride without being loud about it, which I always liked. The biggest differences to germany and the UK were that everything is more expwnsive and people speak even more languages due to the divided language areas of the country
🇬🇧 UK: I lived in Brighton for a while due to my work. Since it’s a very tourist-y area I can’t quite speak on more rural or typical british areas. But from my experience the food wasnt as great as I was used to in germany/swizerland. However the people were a lot nicer and more open to strangers. Their hospitality reminded me of how my canadian friends behave whenever I visit them, which makes sense.
🇩🇪 Germany: I’ve lived here for 15 years now (Frankfurt a.M.) and while, when it comes to country politics I still prefer swizerland, I’ve learned to love the country. A big difference compared to the rest of europe is the low level of national pride. You’ll almost never see a german flag anywhere and people are quick to criticize their own country, even in front of strangers from other countries. I wish it was different but alas, it is how it is. Another thing I noticed is that germans tend to be distand and cold towards strangers – similar to the swiss. But once you’re in a friend group and have made some actual friendships, they’re some of the most loyal and honest people I’ve met. And by honest I mean brutally honest; but in a good way.
I lived in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I will omit the last two as I lived there as a teen and maybe my POV isn’t the most accurate.
Germany: Bigger. There’s just more of everything. The demographic is less diverse than the other two. Prices are generally lower, and housing is generally more available. Food ranking: 2
Belgium: Love the food!! Food ranking is 1, beer ranking is off the charts. Even the food in the supermarket is higher quality and variety. Belgian people are very bound to where they are, people hardly move anywhere and do their best to stay in one place. Generally they buy houses/get married/settle earlier. The demographic is very diverse. There’s even a lot of difference between Wallonia and Flanders.
The Netherlands: Finding housing and going to the doctor is a pain in the ass. The roads are the best among the three countries. English speaking is near-ubiquitous, which is again a difference to the others. The universities have many foreign students and scientists. It’s the cleanest and orderliest of the three. The trains are almost never late. The people I have met were rather conservative… It’s hard to explain. I could never understand how all my colleagues had two slices of bread and a slice of cheese every day for lunch all their lives. Food ranking is 3.
Grew up in Ireland, have lived in Germany the last six years.
A major difference I’ve found between Irish people and Germans is their directness. Irish people aren’t very confrontational, dance around the question, etc. Germans however will call a spade a spade with absolutely no hesitation.
Finland and Sweden. One of the most notable differences imo is attitude towards climate change. I mean Finns do care about it but Swedes are on a whole other level. Restaurants tell you what’s the carbon footprint of the food, plastic bags are more enviromentally friendly and a lot more people are vegan/vegetarian. Overall they’re quite similar
France and the discipline in the French school system was completely different from Germany, at least when I was still at school in France.
My mother had a job in France for a long time and that’s why I went to French schools.
I have no idea how the French could convey the image of themselves as a kind of “bon vivant people”.
The French education system has a completely different idea of achievement than the system in Germany and disciplines the pupils much harder than in Germany.
For example, if I had been late for class in France, I would have been stopped at the school entrance by a pion, students who were supervisors there, and taken to the conseillère principale d’éducation, or CPE for short. She is responsible for administration and discipline.
Being late, even for 5 minutes, resulted in a note from the CPE which my mother had to sign that she had seen it and after 3 notes there was detention.
After that, you had to go to a special room for latecomers and you were not allowed into your class until the next lesson, so not disturb the other students.
And yes, even though the French cuisine is fantastic, the school food makes you suffer every day at school…
U.K and Spain
U.K – greyer and colder weather, more rain and feels damp, extremely long summer days and extremely short winter days, seemingly more issues with severe congestion and traffic on the roads and overcrowding and a stressful, too fast-paced lifestyle(admittedly mostly in the southeast rather in the north or southwest, but still). Roads feel safer and drivers seem more careful. More environmental consciousness.
Drinking culture, feels like there’s more unstable and unwell people, more crime or antisocial behaviour as a result, diets are comparatively much worse. On the flip side, the sweets and snacks are of far higher quality in the U.K., traditional food is heartier and bulkier, a better vegan/vegetarian/international food scene, the country is filled with lush green landscapes that give a vibrant energy, lots of pretty gardens everywhere, more technology use in day-to-day life, more noticeable diversity of cultures/people/lifestyles. It also generally feels like a more ancient or quaint fairy tale land, mostly in the rural parts, and I don’t get that same vibe from Spain. People are also generally quieter (when not drunk lol) and eat, go to bed and wake up earlier.
Spain: more of an outdoorsy “Al fresco” dining culture that I really appreciate, more vibrant streets as a result, people wake up/eat/stay awake much later, rail infrastructure is better, people are generally louder and more passionate in day-to-day interactions, feels like a safer country or as if there’s less “dodgy” people wandering around in cities and towns, feels overall less crowded, congested and stressed no matter where you go (even Madrid). Overall more relaxed way of life where the moment is appreciated. Food and diets seem fresher and healthier overall but the snacks, sweets and vegetarian/vegan/international food scene is bad. Feels like people really love kids in Spain- not to say that Brits don’t, but Spain is very noticeably kid-friendly to me. Much more sun obviously, daylight hours are more regular throughout the year. Less of a drinking culture but more consistently extroverted people nevertheless. Less environmental consciousness – people don’t seem to care about stuff like recycling or vegetarian diets etc. in my experience.
Netherlands and Switzerland
Netherlands:
* Flat
* People drown in the Rhine
* Everybody cycles, swims and skates from a young age
* Has no Holländertorte or Dutch equivalent.
* 40 hour work week and many work 36 hours.
Switzerland:
* Not flat
* People swim in the Rhine
* Everybody skis from a young age
* Has Holländertorte (Netherlands cake)
* 42 hour work week (at least in the 1990’s)
France and Spain. In both cases in the capital. Some differences I saw
France has (Spain between)
– more variety in cheeses and in shower gels & shampoos than Spain. Waaay more options. Wonderful ones btw
(We’re ok in cheese but sorely lacking in showergels)
– welfare assistance/financial help is more structured (rent help for students or low incomes, family financial aid etc) and widespread. (Spain has some but not the same ones in every region, and tricky to get)
– more diversity but more ghettos. This creates tensions that governments are failing to address since the 60s. (Spain has a different spread, mostly people from Latin America, China and India/Bangladesh/pakistan. Way less ghettos, different issues but not so much related to religion or skin color)
– hyper centralized government. (Welcome to the land of regions wanting independence)
– a complicated (in my eyes) healthcare system with regards to la carte vitale and copayments (I love my seguridad social even with the regions lack of sharing records)
– bizarre weekly school schedules with wednesdays off. (School mo-fri, in big cities mirroring 9-5 working schedules)
– taxes not deducted from paychecks unless specifically asked (taxes always deducted)
– 35h work weeks. (37,5 or 40,depending on industry)
– more separation between Catholic Church & state and a very solid aconfesional public school system (don’t get me started on this…)
– butter. (Olive oil)
English and spent a few months in Poland
* Poland is a lot more family-oriented and small-C conservative. This is probably a substantial difference between the British and ‘Catholic Europe’ as a whole in terms of attitudes to extended family and the like.
* Far stronger gender norms. I wouldn’t give my seat up to a woman in Britain unless they were disabled in which case I’d do it regardless of gender. This is more normal in Poland.
* Religion. Britain is one of the least overtly religious societies in the world, Poland is one of the most religious countries in Europe. Churches are packed for Mass and you see nuns and priests out and about fairly often.
* Poland has less visible socioeconomic inequality. Poland is somewhat less developed than Britain in terms of standard of living on the whole, but what you don’t get in major cities is big visible differences. London and Glasgow in particular can be quite staggering in terms of walking through a wealthy middle class area, going around a corner, and it suddenly becoming seriously deprived. Polish cities can have better off and more deprived areas but the differences are generally less stark.
* More trams and metros in Poland. My home city in Britain has a tram, but it’s not like Poland where basically every city of note has some sort of tram or light rail network, a lot of major British cities like Leeds or Bristol just don’t.
* Official business is more paper-based and less transparent. In Britain I can do most administration online and fees are easily paid through online portals. In Poland if I wanted something it usually involved stamped and countersigned paper forms with processing fees paid by cheque or similar.
* Police are much firmer. British police are very soft and light-touch, in Poland they’re a bit more intimidating.
* Greater collective interest in history. Brits can be profoundly ignorant of where they come from, Poles have a much stronger sense of place and time. Conversely Poland has far more mainstream sets of historical grievances and (to an extent) conspiracy theories which influence politics.
* Better range of cold meats (ie ham and cold sausage) and more brown bread. Conversely I would say that fish and vegetables tended to have less range/quality than Britain. Sticking to food, definitely far less spice as well.
* No pub culture as I would recognise it. Plenty of bars and places to socialise, but usually aimed at young men and in town/city centres rather than the more age and gender neutral community vibe pubs often have.
* Far fewer visible minority groups. Even the major cosmopolitan centres in Poland are very homogenous, far more so than even a lot of smaller British cities.
* A lot more overtly nationalistic. More national flags, far stronger sense (for better or worse) of ethnicity and culture in politics.
* Poles drive like lunatics. No nuance here.
I lived in Cyprus, France, Germany and Switzerland. And been to multiple others a few times.
In my experience you can put countries into three categories:
– Northwestern Europe (Scandinavia, BeNeLux, Britain, Germany and France)
– Eastern Europe (basically the slavic countries)
– Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal etc.)
Every country has its own niche cultural differences from their neighbors, but if they fall into the same category they are very similar compared to countries in another category.
The bigggest difference in my experience is how the laws are followed/enforced:
NW europeans will wait at pedestrian crossing if the light is red, because the police will fine them for jaywalking even if there is no cars on the road.
Southern eruropeans will jaywalk in front of the eyes of police, because police will only intervene if you actually make someone step on the breaks.
In eastern europe, you didn’t jaywalk, but police will threaten to fine you anyway, unless you give them a bribe.
I’ve lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, Zwitserland Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom over the last 35 years.
Clear positives:
– Zwitserland, Austria and the Netherlands have ridiculously good roads, are clean and child/family friendly.
– Germany has fantastic business and life morals built into the people somehow, no cheats. Also rent is affordable.
– Belgium has kind respectful people, lovely beers and great food options.
– The United Kingdom has pubs and you can live tax free. I love pubs.
– All these countries (except for the United Kingdom) have excellent social and healthcare systems. The world’s best possibly.
Clear negatives:
In Zwitserland and Austria it is harder to make local friends if you don’t speak the language.
In the Netherlands and Belgium the winters are dark and wet. Not enough pubs.
In the United Kingdom 1 in 5 people live in poverty (20%) and it has the highest rate of child poverty in Europe. It’s very polluted, the buildings have single glazing and infrastructure is crap.
Germany and Finland (my biased experience):
People:
Germans are more into political discourse and feel more (strongly) opinionated about almost everything.
Finns feel a bit more laid back and low key.
Cities and transportation:
Everything is sprawling in Finland. Public transportation is usually better in Germany. There is also a wider slow train network all around the country (unfortunately you also encounter more issues with trains in Germany). Still, both countries feel rather car centric though. Finnish cities feel closer to nature.
Overall “progress”:
Not sure how to title this, everyone describes progress differently. Germany’s internet access is famously bad. Card payment is still sometimes an issue in Germany. Education facilities are better equipped in Finland.
Bars:
Germany has cheaper alcohol, however Finland has a surprising amount of karaoke in their bars, which I love.
Climate:
Finland seems to only have winter and a mild summer. Germany only has a hot summer and a rainy autumn.
Germany and Spain for me. Biggest difference to get used to was that Spanish people are so incredibly touchy-feely. There’s stuff like the besos of course, but I knew about those and was prepared for it. What I wasn’t prepared for was people constantly having their hands all over me all the time. Like you’ll have a chat with someone you just met and they already have their hands on your arms or shoulders.
Finnish coffee tastes horrible compared to italian. In Italy, it’s super nice to have a doctor’s office nearby but kinda useless when they don’t speak one word of english or know what is the european health insurance card. Everything requires tons of paper-work and is a bit slow conpared to the finnish system ,fill-a-form bush a button-type of efficiency🤧 everything can be done online and english is understood and spoken. Biggest difference is the social culture and drinking culture. In Italy I absolutely looove the fact that kids are welcone everywhere, and babies are admired on the streets by random ppl. Finnish ppl get weird around kids and like to keep them out of bars and restaurants
I lived in Ireland for a while plus my native The Netherlands. I must say, I never visit Ireland before but I liked it very much. There are so many differences although I found it easy to adapt. I felt welcome and at home although I never thought about Ireland before I arrived there.
Some differences, The Netherlands is well organized. Everything works, like our infrastructure is top notch. In Ireland it’s a bit different, it’s fine but not so great.
On the other hand, the Irish are far more relaxed. Like at the train station they wait people exit the train before they enter. All in all, the Dutch sometimes are too organized. Planning things well ahead and sometimes lack bring spontaneous. We could learn to sometimes let it go. The Irish having more an attitude of ‘if I won’t happen today, there is also tomorrow’.
Of course the landscape is totally different as well. The Netherlands is densely populated. Like every corner of the country you will find large cities. In Ireland, there is Dublin, a few smaller cities and lots of country side.
Another major difference, in Ireland you feel and see the history much more. There is much more attention of Irish culture. The Irish have a rich history of course, but from a distant past as well as the recent history. In The Netherlands you won’t be exposed to history in daily life. However, this might be more something just me being a foreigner.
UK (home country) and Germany (lived for 1.5 years and partner is from there).
• Notably the weather (of course as a Brit I’d focus on this) but Germany definitely got better summers, and I found it generally to be more dry (Berlin region). Winters were harsher but again less rainy than the UK, plus seeing actual snow was nice!)
• Bureaucracy. I am still utterly dumbfounded by how comparatively difficult it is in Germany to set up bills, utilities, deal with authorities, immigration etc than what my partner experienced in the UK at least. So much is still done on paper, through the mail, need physical copies of everything, and just takes so long. Most if not all of my dealings with this at home are done entirely digitally – everything from a passport renewal to setting up a gas bill.
• Language accessibility. This one is touchy, but this is our experience as a couple. My partner, while incredibly proficient in English, can always access German language services if requested in the UK, mostly online but also often in person. It’s either a case of clicking a little flag button on the webpage, or asking for a translator to be present such as when he was renewing his BRP. Sometimes he gets asked to come back later or bring someone in, but more often than not it’s not a problem if needs be. Whereas when I was dealing with my immigration appointments and documents in Germany, if he didn’t come with me it would have never happened. I came to find out that it’s actually official policy to only conduct government services in German, which I of course understand as a default, but for a country that is screaming out for foreign workers yet won’t even allow for English translation on some very basic web pages or allow for English (or literally anything else) to be spoken at an appointment it doesn’t make for an efficient process.
• Smoking. As a smoker I felt a lot more… ‘comfortable’(?) in Germany. More people seemed to smoke than I perhaps saw in the UK, it was also a lot cheaper and a lot of bars and restaurants always had ashtrays around. Not to say that smoking in the UK (by my experience) has been the complete opposite, it just surprised me.
• Social services / GPs. This is a tricky one for me. I am very lucky that I rarely had to visit a hospital or GP, but when I did I’ve always had a pretty decent experience in getting appointments and generally accessing what I need (NHS Scotland at least). I did find it a bit harder in Germany, perhaps because of course I was in a very big city, but also it seems that they operated more with a specialised approach for your issues rather than visiting one person for everything. But that’s just my experience having only needed to go twice in 1.5 years.
• Driving. UK drivers are a lot more cautious than Germans, but Germans are generally better.
• Bread. Enough said.
• TV shows. We tend to get mostly Anglosphere tv here from the US and AU / NZ so for me anyways I never encountered dubbing. Everything in Germany is dubbed if it’s not in german. No subtitles, only dubbed. So it was a bit surreal to watch a Swedish drama in German dubs while trying to translate it in my brain to english.
• Recycling and waste in general. Germany has Pfand, we have what looks like landfills beside the motorway.
UK, France, Belgium, Poland and Ireland
With the caveat that there are obviously often large differences *within* countries, so comparing Paris or Warsaw to rural Ireland or Shropshire will bring it’s own challenges.
The weather is obviously a big difference between these countries but the knock-on effects are interesting -e.g. in Poland it could be -25°C and the roads/flights etc are all completely functional. In the UK there’s a running joke that the whole rail system collapses as soon as a few leaves fall on the line.
Growing up with the NHS I found the shift to more privatised healthcare systems jarring – the level of care in Ireland is excellent if you’re lucky to have good private cover, but there is so much more of an onus on the patient to manage their own care, make key decisions etc.
I’ll go against the grain a bit as I’ve loved the food and drink cultures in each of these countries, though they’re obviously all very different. Especially for special occasions like Christmas or a wedding.
I lament the awful public transport infrastructure in Ireland and miss being able to jump on a train like I could in the UK or France. Outside the main cities there’s a big reliance on cars in Ireland – which means for a large number of people given the very significant rural community.
I loved how diverse London is and how, on the whole, it “works” – there are strong and vibrant ethnic communities but everyone is still a Londoner. Despite still being very diverse you get that less in Paris or Brussels (Belgium has a particular challenge with national identity) – but the British class system is still all-pervasive there in a way I’ve not found elsewhere.
Favourite difference – piwo sokiem or Guinness and black are fine in Poland or UK, but try something like that in Ireland or Belgium and you’ll likely be deported.
I have lived in
– Greece (most of my life)
– UK (5 months)
– Spain (5 months)
– Germany (6 months)
– Ireland (1 year)
– Belgium (8 months and counting).
Biggest differences:
– Ireland has much more in common with the UK than with Spain or Germany or Belgium. Which kind of makes sense geographically and linguistically, but it’s something many Irish people don’t like hearing, that they have so much in common with the UK when it comes to food, entertainment, schedule, way of doing stuff.
– Ireland has much less bureaucracy than all the other countries. UK is not bad too – for the British. For expats, they didn’t care to optimize the procedures, even before Brexit. Belgium-Spain-Germany on the other side love a) paper, b) not having public servants speak English. Greece is its own level because it a maze of inefficiency in every sense of life.
– Germans adore their rules, it’s not just a stereotype. At least Swabians do. It doesn’t even need to be a law, just a convention between building tenants or something “everybody always did this way”. The concept “OK what’s gonna happen if we don’t follow the rule?” is so foreign to so many of them to the point it can get hilarious or very annoying.
– Ireland is a rich country whose people think it’s a poor country. Talk 10 minutes with the average Irish in Dublin and from their description you would think they live in Moldova. Everyone likes moaning about how shit their country is (except the Germans, who do the same but then if you compare with another country like Netherlands or Denmark they get defensive and say “this is how we always did it here” in response to e.g. why it is not digitized, why there is no adequate Internet coverage etc.) but the Irish take it to another level of exaggeration.
– Spain is by far the easiest environment to make new connections/friends. They are spontaneous, always down to go out, they don’t need to plan where to put you in an agenda with one free slot next Friday evening. Germany is the worst in this sense, Belgium following closely (though I live in Brussels thus you find a lot of non-Belgians).
– Food: if you’re a bad cook, Irish and British supermarket chains (they are the same) got you covered, they have a wide range of relatively cheap precooked food. Spain doesn’t unless you go to the very big supermarkets who are usually in the outskirts of the city – they assume you can cook. Belgium is more expensive food than both Germany and UK/Ireland, it’s insane.
– Spain is nothing like Greece. Greeks like thinking the country is like Italy and Spain (maybe like Southern Italy I don’t know), but it’s actually closer to Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey in many aspects of life. More Balkan than “Medditeranean”.
Romania and UK here.
A big one for me is public transport. While Romania is not great at this, at the very least buses are large, convenient and mostly on time. I have no idea how in the UK they got buses so wrong, buying tickets from the driver and waiting 15 minutes for every passeneger to get on is awful. Not to mention that they are cramped and seem to operate on no time schedule at all. On the other hand, trains are fantastic, extremelly reliable and most cities have multiple train stations, so they’re very accessible.
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Another big one is food. Romanians tend to mostly eat home-cooked food, so there’s not a lot of places that do deliveries, and ready-meals at supermarkets are basically non-exstent. On the other hand, everyone in the UK seems to live on takeaway and ready-meals, so there’s loads of choices for both. It’s not exactly a negative, but it does mean people spend more on food in the UK, and cheap fresh food is not as easy to find (I use Aldi for that).
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My biggest pet peeve though is the drinking culture. As someone whos been drinking quite heavily since the age of 14 (east-european stuff I guess), its quite wild seeing how enthusiastic and drunk British people get on the amount of alcohol I drink as an appetizer. And its annoying that most people don’t know anything else to do besides drinking at a pub, or house party, or whatever.
Ukraine, Russia, Estonia, Poland
The biggest differences are:
1. The attribute towards nature. My overall feeling is that Estonia is very good at that, Poland is catching somewhere, and unfortunately, Ukraine (talking about my hometown Odesa) needs to take a much bigger effort to at least compete.
2. Reaction to foreigners trying to speak in the local language. I like how Estonians are getting emotive and friendlier when you’re trying to speak Estonian, but Polish culture seems a bit more demanding on foreigners living in Poland and speaking only English.
3. Personal borders. I liked how Polish people (mostly older generations) just randomly come to my dog and start petting him, while Estonians (which I like a bit more) always ask is okay to touch a pet. Ukrainians are usually in the middle.
No need to explain life in Russia.
From Romania living in Czech Rep (Prague more exactly). The biggest difference is of course the language, this is usually one of the biggest differences between European countries and can have a very big impact on how close/familiar things seem. Other then that, in no particular order
– Beer is much better in Czech Republic then in Romania. You can find good beer in Romania as well, but the biggest difference is the lower level, even in “bad” places the beer in Czech Rep. is acceptable while in Romania it can be really bad.
– Food is however much better in Romania then in Czech Republic. It’s part due to climate, with vegetables in Romania tasting much better then in Czech Republic, but also part of life priorities. Czechs seem to have more utilitarian view of food, food is just fuel for the body, more like in the North of Europe. You eat your lunch in 30 min, a large portion of something that gets you full. Taste and quality is not that important. Romanians are more close to the Mediterranean idea of enjoying food, longer lunches more importance given to taste and presentation.
– Czech complain about corruption but “visible” corruption is non-existent compared to Romania. By this I mean things like giving money to nurses/doctors, to police, to get some paper work faster and so on.
– Things work better in Czech Republic, there is more organization, there is a lot of bureaucracy but it’s more efficient and helpful.
– Czech Rep looks visible richer than Romania, you can see it has a longer history of being wealthy and stable.
– Both people are a little cowardly, which means not a lot of people will step up in case somebody is being aggressive in a bus, but also means that fights in general are rare. People drink a lot but there are almost no fights compared to the UK, for example.
– Czech are much more into sports and outdoor activities. The entire country is crossed by thousands of hiking trails. People of all ages and incomes go on hiking trips. There are no dangerous places or animals and you can find a pub/restaurant/beer garden every few km with very good beer. This does make Czechs a bit too sure of their skills which leads many of them to get lost/require assistance when faced with “real” mountains. There is nothing like this in Romania, most people outside a small part of the urban middle class are not involved in any sports activity. The infrastructure is lacking as well (my home town of almost 80,000 people did not have a single public swimming pool for 20 years). Hiking trails in Romania are only in the mountains and it’s less safe (bears, shepherd dogs). A lot of the other areas are much more interesting than in Czech Rep but there is no trails and there are not that safe (again mostly due to dogs).
– Both people are conservative but Czech are more “libertarian style”, a ” I will silently judge you but I don’t care what you do as long it’s not bothering me to much”. Romanians are a lot less tolerant. This is partially connected with the fact that Romanians are very religious, at least by European standards. Most Romanian redditors will claim that the statistics are fake and exaggerated it but then baptize their kid, get married in church, go to church for various celebrations, fast for lent. Czech Rep. is not as atheistic as it seems but for sure organized religion is mostly dead and has been for quite some time. Czech however can be more visibly xenophobic then Romanians.
– In regards to social life, Czech are Northern Europeans while Romanians are Balkanic. Czechs are not that open to new people, usually have the same friends from school, will not get out of their way to make you feel welcome, tend to appear cold, distant and a bit arrogant. They can be friendly once you get to know them but it’s hard to do that. Their social life is also much more organized, with a lot more tendency to plan everything and not allow a lot of spontaneity . There is a difference between regions though. If you ask your colleagues at 5 PM if they want to go for a beer after work, if there is a Czech that accepts then it’s very likely they are from Moravia. Moravians are much more open and more spontaneous.
Romanians are much more friendlier from the beginning, much less planning required for activities, a lot more time left for “nothing” and a lot less closed social circles.
I’ve only lived in two: Portugal and the UK (specifically Scotland). While there’s definitely differences, I actually didn’t think they were that different from each other? It’s more minor differences really, because at the end of the day they’re both Western, European countries.
Then again I don’t think any of us here are that different from each other. I tend to see the similarities more than I see the differences, but I’ve never experienced any huge culture shock anywhere in Europe.
From eastern part of Sweden (Stockholm) and lived full time in Finland and Norway and has a second home in Denmark.
In an global scale of things there are almost no differences between the Nordic countries. Just the fact that Sweden and Norway are often refereed to as the two most similar countries in the world and Sweden and Finland the second most similar countries.
But for me coming from the eastern part of Sweden i would say that Finland is more like Sweden as a country but the people in Norway are more similar to Swedes.
Also if you are standing in any Finnish city it is extremely hard to figure out if you are in Sweden or Finland. The only give away is the signs. In Norway and Denmark it is quite obvious that you are not in Sweden. I find that so amazing that the architecture are so similar between Sweden and Finland.