Five things that surprised me as an American on my first trip to Europe
Hello everyone and welcome back :) There are always cultural differences when we travel to new countries, so today I am going to cover five things that surprised me as an American on my first trip to Europe. My husband, Andrew, is half Hungarian and he has been all over Hungary since he was a child. He warned me on a few of these, but I guess I didn’t totally believe him until I saw it for myself! If you want to read the full story of our trip to Croatia, you can find that here.
Graffiti
I have lived in the Southeast United States my whole life, so graffiti is something I would briefly see before it was quickly painted over. In both Croatia and Bosnia (Andrew says Hungary too), there was graffiti everywhere! I was shocked by the amount of it, especially around some historical places. We were walking around in Split, Croatia and came across one of our favorite quotes graffitied on a concrete wall, only to look closer to see the phallic symbol also mixed in with it. We laughed pretty hard at that one, and obviously, we took a picture.
Nothing is free (most importantly, water and bathrooms)
I knew this one going into it, but I didn’t realize what a hassle it would be. I think we’re going to have to have a water/bathroom budget for our future travels :) I drink a lot of water and therefore have to use the bathroom frequently, so we got pretty strategic by the end of our trip. No matter what, use the bathroom before you leave the restaurant and when you see a bathroom with no line, take advantage of it!
Lack of trash cans
The lack of trash cans was hard for me because I cannot bring myself to litter. I would wait until we got to a tiny, already overflowing trash can before attempting to get rid of anything. There were not that many of those tiny trash cans either. Somehow when we got up every morning all the trash was gone and the streets would be sparkling clean. I’m not sure if this is how it is in all of Europe, but Croatia/Bosnia and Hungary were like that.
Well behaved dogs
In the United States, I am used to seeing dogs on leashes, barking at each other until their owners drag them away, kids screaming and running up to dogs every time they see one, people stopping and asking to pet someone’s dog, etc. In Europe, I didn’t see any of that! Most people with dogs had their dogs off-leash, the dogs ignored each other, and people ignored dogs that weren’t their own. I honestly didn’t notice many at first because of how well behaved they were. I actually looked it up, and dog ownership in Europe is lower than it is here, and most European countries have a very different culture around dogs than Americans do.
The number of people that speak English (and well!)
This is another that I knew going into it thanks to Andrew, but I think is a common misconception among many Americans. Most people around my age (20-30s) speak English, and they speak it very well. We had no trouble communicating with any of our tour guides, anyone at our hotel, or in most restaurants. I am allergic to beef, so I had written in my phone In Croatian how to tell someone I had that allergy, but never actually had to use it because our waiters/waitresses spoke English so well. I still like to learn a few words of the local language before I go places because I think it is respectful to their culture to at least attempt to say yes/no/please/thank you in their language.
So now you have the list of five things that surprised me as an American on my first trip to Europe. Not all European countries are the same, so this may not be applicable everywhere you go. I am excited to get back to Europe and explore more countries. What else would you add to this list?
Until next time,
Lacey