Does Europe suck or what? - Page 2

[quote]Originally posted by Xool:
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I agree with the first point... Italy is awesome, and the food's better too!

Now about France. I've met several people who were quite friendly and nice but also people who were incredibly rude. Now keep in mind that the US has rude people too, its just that our rude people are a different type of rude.

The moral of the story: Visit France and then take a train through the Alps to Italy. Travel as much as you can, but make sure to go to Rome and Venice. (I also love Switzerland, but that's another story.) And Amsterdam's "fun" too.

If you're in Rome or Venice I am more than happy to recommend some great restaurants.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I do not know if french foods is better or not than italian foods, the best cooking are a mixed of different tastes and cultures. I love the food coming from many country : i can appreciate many different tastes and i like to try new things (i am curious for the food).

You are entirely right, they are rude peoples everywhere (unfortunetaly or i will immigrate in this country immediatly



Venice is a very nice town (i love it), but you should not go to this place in summer : they are too much people. i went there in october, they where still many people but the number was correct. I was impressed by the Doges's palace : the rooms where geant (considering the age of the building) .
Unfortunetaly i never went in roma, perhaps in a couple of years.
Florence is a very nice country too : with good wines ..., city of art and fabulous paysages.

Hey, I am an American expat living in London.

Here is the basic attitude, which really shined after the Sept 11th attack.

General attitude was::
1. It was terrible act BUT you Americans deserved it because of your policies (Some Italians in the pub actually stood up and "high fived" after one of the buildings collapsed). There is always the qualified BUT here.

2. They, Europeans and liberal Brits, do not like US Government. In fact, it is always popular here to go against US. Its the Politically correct thing to do. They hate Bush for a) being a moron b) anti-kyoto env pact c) missle defense d) pervasive American culture e) many other things. Meanwhile, they watch loads of American TV programs, movies, music, and even visit McDonalds over here.
I suppose they would rather have China be the superpower...who knows. They took sides with afghans in popular opinion.

(To be fair, there are a lot of Brits who were right there for us and tony blair was fantastic-i'm talking the liberal general populous which is more pervasive than one thinks)

3. While they do not like the US Government for its "policies", they also stuff the same old moron stereotypes down our throats like Americans are a) too fat (true) but look at the Brits b) too loud c) too stupid about anything outside US (i.e. the world at large) d) geographical or historical knowledge e) too patriotic-(which we are). They think they are intellectually superior to Americans in many ways. Many have not even been to the States at all or for limited time. This "expert" info comes from the media they watch here.

Meanwhile, in Europe, they cant get their act together with euros, nato, eu, un, etc. For example, Germany, Italy and France all debated on when, how to support military action (when it was politically convienent). It almost toppled German government on this issue. By the time they decide what actions to take, the Afghan situation is mostly resolved in phase 1. All they do here is debate. No courage, little leadership.

In general, europeans make excellent armchair critics and pundits. It always easy to critise when you dont take the lead on your convictions and follow instead.....

I have to listen to a lot of crap all the time and get insulted. it makes me sick. when i live over here, i quietly listened to what people had to say but now i cannot take it anymore. it makes more happy to be American now for even with our bad qualities our good ones really shine through.

If you are American and read the UK Gaurdian, you are a glutten(sic) for punishment.

[
Did you guys knew New York was previously named Nieuw Amsterdam, don't you know that a lot of areas are named after dutch cities like Harlem, dutch city Haarlem etc etc...

Interestlingly enough, did you know that the Dutch sold/traded new york(new amsterdam) to the british in early 1600's. Want to know what the Dutch traded NY for? a tiny little island not far off from East Timor. It had nutmeg which was a popular spice for the Dutch East Indies company which was at near war with the Brits English East India Company. En route, the brits colonized india and Dutch, south africa. Now, that was the worst trade ever as the Dutch, who "discovered" new york/new amsterdam with a British sailor named Hudson (hence hudson river, etc), could have clonized the US. The USA could have become part of Holland.

In that time, the dutch were the most brutal colonialist, more so than the english, spanish, etc.

from an american here in london....