European countries offer social systems that prioritize human well-being over productivity, including universal healthcare, guaranteed paid vacation days (20-40 per year by law), job security with sick leave protections, affordable education, subsidized childcare, and a culture that values work-life balance over constant hustle. These systems provide citizens with genuine freedom from financial anxiety, medical debt, and the pressure to work excessively, creating a different concept of freedom compared to American culture.
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EUROPE BRAINWASHED Me… I Don’t Feel AMERICAN AnymoreAjouté :
You're an American currently living abroad. What is one time that made you realize that America?
>> So, I moved to the UK about 10 years ago for university. And literally my very first night there, I was fresh off the plane, it was freshers night, which is like the whole first week of university in the UK. You like go out drinking at like different bars or whatever. And we went out drinking and this one girl that I was with got so drunk that on the way back home to our student accommodation, she was like, "Oh, I need to sit down."
And she sat down and she just like passed out and we could not wake her up.
like the girl was just like dead to the world it seemed like. And immediately the people I was with I was like, "We need to call an ambulance." And being an American, I was like, "We cannot call an ambulance." Like I had just met this girl. I had no idea if she could afford an ambulance. So I was like begging them not to call an ambulance. And they were looking at me like, "Do you want this person to die? Like what is wrong with you?" So they called an ambulance. The ambulance came. They like checked her out like she was, you know, alive or whatever. And they took her to the hospital. And I was like hysterical cuz I was like, "Oh my god, I've like just moved here and I've like potentially ruined this person's life by like putting them in medical debt for the next god knows how long by calling them an ambulance." And like they brought me home, they sat me down and they were like, "What are you freaking out about?"
And I explained what I was so worried about. And they were like, "Ambulances are free. Hospitals are free. What is wrong with you?" And like I hadn't realized until that point that healthcare in the UK was completely free. And I still to this day like get nervous every time I have to call an ambulance. But yeah, no, ambulances are free. It's amazing.
>> Countries in Europe do not have more differences than >> yelling doesn't make you right. State your facts calmly, please. For the people that did not watch her video, she was saying that countries in Europe have as much or less cultural differences than the states in America because the US is bigger. And I'm not here to deny cultural diversity in the US or like cultural differences within the US because it's not true. There is cultural differences. However, it's not comparable. I'm sick of seeing Americans complaining about Europeans not liking them when they say stuff like this. You guys do not care about our history. You do not care about the political state of our countries. You do not care about the actual country. You guys just want to take cute pictures.
The reason why I'm bringing up the pictures is because as proof to what she was saying, she took pictures of different places in Europe and they looked similar. So she was like, "Yeah, I've seen it all. There's no difference.
It's absolutely the same." He also said, "Let's assume every country in Europe has a totally different history, totally different culture, totally different political background.
We don't have to assume. We do." And the political thing was a terrible argument because we do not have the same political systems. That should be enough to tell you that we'd have different histories or else we would work the same. Every state has different laws, but still works the same. As a French person, I can confidently say that we do not have the same culture as Romania. We do not have the same culture as Sweden.
And even a country that's neighboring us like Italy, we do not have the same culture as Italians.
When I go visit Spain, when I go visit Germany, when I go visit Norway, I still don't feel like I'm in my country because it's a different country. It's a different history. It's a different culture. I still experience culture shocks even if I'm in Spain because it's a different country. Voila.
No hate to this creator though, but that was that was stupid to say.
>> I live and work in Spain making roughly a thousand a month, which so my friend sent me this and was asking me if it's true because I'm also living in Spain currently. And it's 100% true. So much to the point that I'm going to break down all of my costs a month to show you how absolutely ridiculously livable it is. Rent €325. Utilities €30. Food for one month €150. And I kind of spent a lot on food compared to my friends, so that's saying something. Phone bill plus Wi-Fi €27 a month. Gym €30 a month. One singular bus ride is 40. I also get breakfast out every single day, and it's literally affordable to do that. I get like a sandwich with tomato and tuna.
Don't knock it until you try it. It's really good. And then I get a cafe k leche which is practically like a latte.
Every morning the total is 330.
330. You can't even get a coffee. You can't even get half a coffee for that in the United States. I'm in Granada and a glass of wine is costing me like €3. And the thing about Granada is you get a tapa with it for free. So what my friends and I will do whenever we want to go out is we'll get three glasses of wine and that comes with three tapas which pretty much is dinner. And then you're literally spending €9 on three drinks and dinner. And the wine doesn't make you as hung over because it doesn't have all these additives that the United States has. I also only work 14 hours a week. Yeah. Now, that's not normal to Spain. Uh is just like with the program I'm with. I'm walking everywhere. Like it's always sunny outside. Not to mention, everyone's literally so friendly. The party life is so much better. Not to mention they got siestas.
Come on. Like the best way I would describe living in this country is you feel like a human being. Everything shuts from 2:00 to 5:00, 5:30ish every single day. So everyone can go home and relax, eat a meal, take a nap. Most things are shut on Sundays, so you always have that day off to just rest.
There's fruas on every single corner where you're getting like I literally get all my fruits and vegetables for the whole week for like €6 from the freria and they're like amazing quality. I cannot stress enough if you have the opportunity to come to Spain and just experience life here, whether it's just like short-term, long term, do it because it will change your life and your perspective.
>> What if the American dream was never built for you and the rest of the world already knows it. Every year, tens of thousands of Americans, a disproportionate number of them, black and brown, are quietly packing up their lives, leaving behind the the hustle, the medical date, the gun anxiety, the 40hour weeks with zero paid vacation, and learning in countries where the government actually gives a damn if you live or die. They are working less, sleeping better, seeing doctors for free. And for the first time in their adult lives, they feel free. Not the freedom they sold us in school. Real freedom. The kind where an ambulance doesn't bankrupt you. The kind where you can get sick without losing your job.
The kind where you sit at a cafe for 4 hours on Tuesday and nobody rushes you out. So the question is not why are they leaving. The question is, why did it take us this long to ask why they had to? Stay with me because by the end of this video, you will never see the American dream the same way again.
>> American things Europeans think are weird. Paying at restaurants. At most restaurants in the USA, the waiter brings you a bill and you hand off your credit card and they go in the back to process the payment. In Europe, you pay at the table. They would never go off with your card. Also, at American restaurants, they bring the check when they think you're finished eating. While in Europe, that's often considered rude, and they won't bring you the check until you ask for it.
>> Really, really, really great point. Not only is the food poison, though, but I would say so is the culture. Right now, it's 2 I think it's like 2:22 here in Spain, and everyone's getting on a break to get off to come eat with their families. People are picking their kids up from school. We're getting off work just to have a meal together. Isn't that nuts? But the crazy thing about that is nothing's going to change until at least everyone notices. For example, if you have a boss that wants you in the building every day at 6:00 a.m. and you're leaving the office around 10:00 or 11:00, that's how my last job was.
You don't have time for four meals a day. You don't have time for a nap. You don't have time for anything outside of working and figuring out what food you're going to eat until it's time to work again. I woke up this morning at about 8:15. I went to bed at 11 and I didn't log into work until around 11:00 a.m. And believe me when I say this, I'm already done with work at 2:00 p.m. I'm on the way to the grocery store to get more food and then I still have time for lunch and a nap. This video is for Belgium people and more specifically the ones who leave hate comments on my videos whenever I compliment living here this country or living in Brussels. You have no idea how privileged you are to live in Belgium. You have no idea how lucky you are to live in a country where your government gives a [ __ ] about you.
You are so privileged and lucky to live in a country where your taxpayer dollars, which are high but go towards good causes, cover some of the best healthcare, universal health care that will give paid maternity leave before and after birth. Paid paternal leave.
some of the best education, little to free basically for higher education, paid study abroad, a Rasmus program where they government literally pays you to go study in another country and gain another cultural experience. You have no idea how lucky you are to live in a country where at your job you have a high amount of paid time off so that you can enjoy time with your friends and family and not let work rule your life and your world. You have no idea how lucky you are to live in a country where, god forbid, you have children, that the child care is affordable and does not put you into debt and take out of your savings. You have no idea how lucky you are to live in a country where medical debt is not a thing, where one bad trip in the ambulance will put you $10,000 into debt. You are protected. No idea how lucky you are to live in a country where, god forbid, you get sick.
You are protected from your job, from getting in trouble, from getting fired.
You have to go to the doctor and get a doctor's note. But you are protected. In the US, it's not like that. They can quite literally deny you missing work.
Even if you have a doctor's note, you have no idea how lucky you are to live in a country where your your taxpayer dollars, where the the hard-earned money that you put in go towards something good. because mine currently are funding a genocide in Gaza. They're going towards bombs and weapons sent straight to Israel and God else knows where because in the US we don't have any protections. When I think about it like there's no protections there's not we don't have healthcare uh maternity leave there's none. Women are literally working up until birth are we go into tens of thousands of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt to get a higher education. you guys get extra PTO. The list goes on and on. And I understand that, you know, comparison is the thief of joy. I think that you really need to get out of your comfort zone. I think you need to leave Belgium and then come back. And I think you will be appreciative and realize how privileged and blessed you are to live here because not every place has that.
And that's coming from someone who's from the US who had an incredible life in the US. But I can still reflect on how privileged you guys are, including me. Thank you.
>> Hi, I'm an American here, first time in the UK, here to try out the famous grates.
Okay, so before he tries a sausage, beans, and cheese, he's getting a taste of So they don't come off.
>> They stay on. This is UK Fanta.
>> Wow. It's a lot different.
>> It's got a real orange taste.
>> Good bite.
>> An orange citrus bite.
>> Yeah.
>> Don't get that in the US. I'm glad I'm in the UK. Okay. So, you're trying out a sausage, beans, and cheese. This one doesn't look like it's super fresh, but still good. So, go ahead. Give it a whirl. I've already had these. I'm just eating them cuz I enjoy eating them.
There's a plane.
Smells like a pastry.
Love the texture.
That's one thing I notic in all the foods I've been tested with from the UK.
They focus a lot on texture.
Oh, so you've had cheesy beans before?
Love that. But you got cheesy beans and the sausage that you had in the sausage roll. So when these things are piping hot fresh, it's really hard to beat.
Growing up in Hawaii, we ate pork and beans and bread.
Not toast like the UK bread.
And uh I like this better. I love pork and beans, but this rivals >> and when it's packaged nicely, like it's all built into this nice square heavenly packet of goodness.
What do you rate it?
The question is, can I get it in the US?
Does it taste good?
Will I am I willing to spend my hard earned American dollars for this?
And the answer is yes.
And you know what I say? It's a 10.
>> I'm an American that lives in the UK and I wanted to share some of the biggest culture shocks that I've had since living here cuz I don't know, you might find them interesting. First one is definitely this took me by surprise so much the first time it happened. Like I I was like, what is going on? But it's at 11:00 a.m. every day when the national tea alarm goes off and you have to stop everything you're doing and just relax and have a cup of tea. It's like it's really really nice and chill, but like it's quite a shocking sound that just blares across the entire country.
It's kind of crazy. Number two is the fact that you have to eat a certain number of beans on toast per year. If you don't hit that minimum, you actually have to pay a fine. So, like every time you have beans on toast for lunch, there's a dedicated government app. Um, simil they have an NHS app, too. It's similar to that. You take a snapshot of it and it sends it to the government.
They know that you've eaten it. They know you're good. And if by December 31st you haven't had the number, it changes every year. I think I can't remember what it is this year, but if you haven't had that many, you have to pay a fine. Number three is the fact that when it's nice out, which to be fair is not very often here, but when it is nice out, sort of anything above 20° and sunny, men are just required to take their shirts off um and just walk around town, do whatever they're doing, but without their shirts. And when I first heard about this, I was like, that's kind of sexist. Like, you can't just force the men to do that. But unfortunately, it's just the way it is. It's the rules.
Are we on number four? I think we're on number four. Number four is the fact that every room in your house is required to have a picture of the current monarch in it. Um, I don't know if you've seen the new painting that just came out of the king, but that is the one that's going to be required to be in every house starting I think in a few months time. That's all for now. Let me know if you'd like to hear any more and follow me on my journey of >> if you're an American that has moved abroad.
>> Yes.
>> How has your concept of freedom changed?
>> Well, I've got a few thousand things to say. Do you prefer the freedom of knowing that you won't get unexpected medical bills?
>> Abso [ __ ] lutely. This insurance card in Germany feels to me literally like a magic card. Every time I use it, I literally think to myself, I I don't have to pay anything. As a teenager living in the US, whenever I went to the doctor or dentist, my mom always gave me the insurance card and a credit card.
Hey, Mom. I'm headed to the doctors. I got your Mastercard with me. Why in the world are you taking that? Take the American Express. We get rewards points.
Do you prefer the freedom um of knowing that the government has minimum employment standards uh like guaranteed paid time off of between uh 20 and 40 paid days off a year depending on which country you've moved to?
>> In the US, I worked as a waiter for several years. And in those several years, I did not get one single day of paid time off. No vacation days, no paid holidays. We actually had to work on holidays cuz that's when people go out to eat. And if you're sick, you're [ __ ] And all that work for $2.35 an hour. You live off of tips of course and the German word for tip is actually trink or drinking money which is funny but in the US it would actually be leans or living money but I would actually call it ubel surviving money.
>> Do you prefer the freedom of knowing that if you hear fireworks uh you can encourage your children to look out the window rather than questioning whether it's something else you should be afraid of.
>> Freedom from the [ __ ] up gun culture in the US is a huge freedom for me.
Friends of mine in separate incidents have been murdered by guns. And the college that I had the privilege of going to, Virginia Tech, had the deadliest school shooting in US history.
One of the 32 victims was a Holocaust survivor. He heroically held the door closed with his body as his students escaped through the window and he was shot through the door. He survived the Holocaust, but did not survive gun violence in the US. In Germany, the fear of being threatened with a gun or getting shot is not a fear that I have.
And if something were to happen though, I've got my magic garden.
>> So yeah, how has your concept of freedom changed?
>> I love the freedom of not having to drive a car everywhere. Just look at this beautiful map of Berlin's public transportation system. Going to work, I get angry if I have to wait more than 5 minutes for the next train. Whereas in the US, I literally waited 18 years to ride my very first train. I love the freedom of being able to sit down at a cafe and not have someone approach you and talk to you about Jesus. Even worse than that, in the US, both my eye doctor and the nurse at the dentist office both talk to me about Jesus. Oh, sweetheart.
I sure do hope Jesus in your heart, too.
When I found Jesus, or when he found me, I put the Bible down. I felt as free as a bird. I didn't >> tell you that Jesus work.
>> I love the freedom of being able to study here and not have to pay thousands and thousands per semester for a football stadium. I love the freedom of not having to constantly hear all the freedom propaganda despite the lack of various freedoms. And I'm going to end by quoting the most brilliant comment from your video. My freedom went from a concept to reality. So, I moved out of America for the first time in my life 7 months ago, and all my friends from home now would say I've gotten really liberal since moving to Europe. But the truth is, I've just left America for the first time in my life and started seeing [ __ ] reality. And the truth is, we're being lied to our entire life. Amsterdam is where I live now. Everyone thinks it's like the drug capital of the world.
There are no crackheads in Amsterdam.
Zero crackheads. You got some alcoholics, but no crackheads. You know why? There's no crack. Another thing, prices in the supermarket are like less than half of what I was used to in New York. I don't mean to sound so like negative and like [ __ ] America. I'm very proud to have been born and raised in New York, but my message today is the propaganda machine you were fed is so much louder than you realize. And the world is so much bigger than your hometown and what the media [ __ ] tells you.
>> American things Europeans think are weird. Americans wear their shoes in the house. Yep. The same ones we walked around in all day. Many Europeans in other countries take their shoes off at home. And in Germany, they have special house shua, aka house shoes, that they wear around the house. Do you take your shoes off?
I'm an American living in Ireland and let me tell you, I am fed up with how Americans are discussing global politics. It's actually insane how self-centered and ignorant we are. And this is coming from someone that can openly admit that it took me living abroad to fully understand and digest how much of an impact the United States have on the rest of the world. The thing about the United States public education system is that they teach as if America is the center of the world versus teaching us about the world. That is why we are so bad at geography. It's also another reason why a lot of Americans do not travel outside of the country because we are taught that it doesn't get better than there. And obviously there's a bunch of Americans right now and we're all waking up and we're like, "Dang, like America [ __ ] sucks." And we always [ __ ] sucked. News flash.
But what's triggering me to talk about this conversation is that in my last video I was talking about Irish politics and how Irish people are very political.
An American commented and said, "How does American politics like affect the rest of the world? How is it affecting Ireland specifically?" A bunch of Irish people commented and gave her multiple reasons why. And instead of sitting and listening and being like, "Dang, wow, I just got educated on something new."
They instead said, "Well, Americans are affected more." Americans are affected more by what's going on when we get to live in the comfort of our homes, not being worried about being bombed. When our actions in Iran currently is the reason why gas prices are rising globally and not just in our country.
Have you lost your mind? This is why people in other countries do not like us because we are so self-centered with our issues. We sit with this high horse thinking that, "Oh, everyone just cares and everyone just wants to tune in on us." Do you think other countries want to keep hearing about what Trump is doing? Do you think other countries even give a [ __ ] about Americans? No, they don't. But their news stations have no choice but to tune in because his decisions is what's impacting the world.
We are losing allies left and right. And I don't just mean government allies in those types of partnerships. I'm talking about people who actually have sympathy for us in other countries because the more that they hear that we don't care how our tax dollars are being used to affect their country, the more they're going to say that they don't care about us needing to escape the current fascism that's happening. Moving to the UK has completely redefined my idea of ambition and wealth and success and a happy life because the way that I grew up, especially like the culture of North America, it is all about the reverence of wealth and upward mobility, you know, like the American dream. But since being here in the UK, I think that the way that British people view money and neuvo ree and old money is actually, and I've been told this as well, a little bit disdainful. People don't rever the same way that Americans and Canadians do. I think that here because like the salaries in Europe are so [ __ ] people are not even incentivized to work so hard, you know? Like I moved here and was so shocked by how little people are paid. The cost of living in London genuinely is crazy. And like I think like the only way you can survive in the city is by like disassociating. But at least you know you're having like a pint at lunch and you get off at work, you know, pretty much like on time. And even when it comes to ambition, I've noticed a really interesting difference between my North American friends and then my British/European friends, which is like ambition is something that I think everyone really adores in North America in terms of the kind of um hunger that people have around building themselves up. For instance, I was talking to my friend about this. So, we have some friends in fashion both here in London and in New York. And the New York girls, they are busting their asses. They are hustling.
They are extremely burnt out. And then here in London, again, same industry, same kind of role. When I ask them about what they're doing, it's like, oh yeah, you know, just this and that or whatever. They're not like making this their entire identity the same way that I think we do in North America where your whole sense of self is genuinely anchored by your career. You're here in London most of the time like opening conversations are how how are things in North America. What do you do?
What do you do? And that will inform how this person views you and and you know shapes the conversation. One of the things that really changed for me the most is I don't carry the same guilt for just relaxing and doing nothing and enjoying my weekend the same way that I did growing up. When people are clocking out of work on time, they are seeing their friends after work and spending time with their families on the weekends in a way that like I just am so not used to. just like a fasile reflection of what we have been influenced by which are industries and capitalism. In the end, especially like as a Korean where we come from a hyper competitive economic society, sometimes the most elite thing that you can do is to refuse to be a slave to your own ambition.
>> Good people, welcome back. And allow me to tell you something they don't teach in civics classes. There is a whole generation of diaspora kids, children of immigrants who came to America chasing a dream who have now left America not in protest, not romantically, quietly with one-way ticket storage units and a WhatsApp group. They message at 2 a.m.
that says things like, "Bro, I haven't paid a medical bill in 2 years and I left the office at 5:00 p.m. Nobody cared."
And the wild part, they are not going back. Now I need you to understand who we are talking about. We ain't talking about wealthy experts on remote worker visas living in Lisbon pen houses. We talking about regular people, nurses, teachers, graphic designers, accountants, people who grew up on the American soil or whose parents busted the box to get to the American soil and who looked around and one day and thought this mother as an Arab like the mother is not ming. They going they're going to Germany, Spain, Portugal, the UK, Belgium, others are even coming to Africa. And when they get there, something strange happens. The anxiety lifts, the chest tightens. That thing you thought was just you, just your personality disappears because they walk into doctor's office and hand over an insurance card and then they walk out.
No bill, no collections. Called 6 weeks later, no $10,000 ambulance invoice waiting in their mailbox like a threat.
One expert described Jan's healthcare system as a magic card. You seek, you show it, you get treated, you go home. That's it.
That's the whole story. No deductible, no co-ay, no choosing between your insulin and your rent. Meanwhile, in the US, a single ambulance strike can cost $10,000, not a year visit, no surgery. The ride only. So now, here's what nobody uh in American media wants to say it plainly.
The system that grind people down in this country, the health care date, the zero paid time off, there are no job security, no parental leave. These ain't bugs. They are features. They're designed to keep you dependent, exhausted, and too broke to imagine other way. In Belgium, you legally cannot be fired for getting sick. You call your doctor, get a note, recover, come back. That's the law. In Spain, businesses shut down from 2 to 5:30 in the afternoon so people can eat with their families and nap. Mandatory national nap culture. In Portugal, you sit at a cafe for for hours and the waiter doesn't hustle you out because there is no tipping economy pressuring him to flip your table. Meanwhile, in the US, 20% of workers get zero paid vacation days. Not a few zero. And we call that freedom.
European countries guarantee between 20 and 40 paid vacation days a year by law.
Some governments actually pay students to study abroad. High education is in many places free or nearly free. Child care subsidized. Public transit is funded. The architecture of daily life is designed around humans. No productivity metrics. And here's where it gets personal for the diaspora.
Our parents came here. Let's say from Kenya, Nigeria, from India, Jamaica, Pakistan, from Mexico. And they sacrificed. They worked the double shifts. They didn't complain. They said head down, work hard. This is the land of opportunity. And we believed them. We had to. Their sacrifice demanded it. But what happens when you grow up and realize the contract was fraudulent?
That the hassle they sold you requires you to sacrifice your health, your time, your relationships, your peace. And in return, you get the possibility of wealth, not the thing itself, just the possibility. And the possibility is mostly available to people who don't look like us. That's the that's the disillusionment. no one prepares you for. When you realize the propaganda was thick and it was targeted. When you realize that freedom in America means the freedom to go broke getting cancer.
The freedom to work yourself into an early grave and call it ambition. In Europe, there is a different idea gaining ground. The most elite thing you can do genuinely elite is refuse to be a slave for your I mean to your own ambition. The experts living a arame.
Most of them love where they are from.
They love their families, their food, the music, their culture.
They're not fleeing America. They're fleeing exhaustion. They're fleeing the the feeling that their life is a series of financial emergencies dark together with gig work and credit card debt. They are fleeing the fact that they have been trying to feel guilty for sitting still. And when they land in Lisbon or Berlin or Valencia and some ask them what do you do and then immediately moves on to asking what they enjoy something breaks up open in them because for the first time they they are more than their job title. They are a person and that feels like a revelation when it should just feel normal. So the uncomfortable truth is the American dream is not just dead. It it just relocated. It's in universal health care and guaranteed vacation. It's not in fearing the hospital. It is in cafes where you can sit for hours and belong somewhere. It is in watching your kids grow up in a country where the school has never had a lockdown drink.
And the people who found it, they are not coming back to explain it to us.
They are sending voice notes to their cousins at midnight saying, "Come. Just come. You not know what stress feels like until you actually had it. So go out, go experience what life feels like.
Enjoy your life. Stop stressing yourself. stric and that was definitely my critic.
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