After spending the first 20 years of my life living in the US, I have had the pleasure of spending the last 3 months living in Europe. Aside from a few visits to the UK throughout my life, it was my first real chance to live in a completely different culture and to experience some of the subtle differences that set it apart from the United States.

When Americans think about the differences between Europe and the United States, the first thing most people talk about is the deep history that Europe has when compared to the relatively short history of the United States. Beyond that, most Americans don’t seem to have a distinct image of what life is like on a day-to-day basis as compared to life in the United States. With that being said, here are a few differences that I did not expect when I moved to Europe.

To start with, different cultures in Europe are distinct from one another as most Americans would expect; there are a lot of different countries packed into an area that is roughly the same size as the continental United States. But what I certainly didn’t expect when I moved to Europe was the amount of conversation that surrounded each culture. Similar to how anyone would talk about the weather to start a conversation, it is just as easy to start a conversation based on someone’s nationality and the things that that place is known for. I saw this happening on countless occasions when it came to interactions between people of different cultures within Europe and it is something that simply doesn’t happen in the United States because everyone is from the same country.

Secondly, and on a far less serious note, grocery stores not only look completely different but are also laid out in a completely different way. Supermarkets in the United States are huge and laid out in a structured way that makes sense only because that is what Americans are used to. Supermarkets in Europe are structured in a similar way to other supermarkets throughout Europe, but in a way that is different to American supermarkets. The differences are hard to describe and must be experienced first-hand. When visiting any European city, a worthwhile experience is to simply browse around the local grocery store. Not only does it provide an interesting selection of foods that are eaten in the country, but if you are in a touristy city, it’s more than likely that it could be the only place you go to that is just full of locals.

Thirdly, for most people, it really isn’t necessary to have a car. This concept is something that some Americans may be unfamiliar with. Unless you find yourself living in New York or Chicago, it is very likely that you will need a car every day of your life in the United States. The same cannot be said about Europe. In most cases, in order to get to most places, a car is not necessary to travel. Flights to other places throughout Europe can be found for prices that are far more affordable than domestic American flights and trains are considerably more prevalent and reliable. Public transportation within each city is always usable at the very least and every city’s airport has options for traveling to the nearest city.

These are just a few of the vast number of differences between the United States and Europe. Most differences are things that must be experienced to be understood. These differences are the things that set each part of the world apart, but by learning the differences and experiencing them first-hand it’s possible to get a greater understanding of the perspective that others have in this world.