How is life in western Europe compare to the United States?

Question

Thinking of moving over there instead of the US.

I'm mainly talking about ireland, the UK, france, and spain.

Are there more strict laws in europe(they call america the free country but arnt you free in europe too?)

But since i'm an american would I get a lot of people hating me?

Answer 1

Most of the rest of the answers thus far present a pretty accurate view of what you'd find in western Europe; I'd say Moose's account of conditions are fairly accurate for Britain, at least... certainly London and other cosmopolitan areas. There's something else no one else has yet pointed out: there are already LOTS of Americans living here. I'm one, and I live here in Germany. Many of the Americans living in western Europe--at least, in Spain, the UK, German, Belgium and Italy are military. There are Army, Air Force, and Naval bases all over the place. You'll likely find that the attitude towards American varies greatly in places where many Americans already live, as well as in big tourist destinations. There's no one reaction you can expect; but as long as you're polite, do the research for whatever place you're living or visiting, don't make yourself conspicuous or make an *** of yourself, you'll find most Europeans to be quite warm and friendly. Very rarely will you get harrassed by one, and nine times out of ten it's probably because you're in a bar or club or something and the guy bugging you is drunk. Not that different from the US, in that sense.

There are countless other differences, ranging from political leanings to strength of economy to cost of living to cultural ticks, and all will differ vastly depending on where you end up living. Doing your homework will answer 99% of those questions, of course. If you have more specific points you're wondering about, bring them up! :)

Answer 2

To give a conflicting view of what "moose" wrote a few posts above me, I guess that Europe is different that way from the USA that in Europe the laws on being armed is very much based on the fact you can't always tell the good guys from the bad guys. Giving people weapons to use doesn't always end up being used for self-defense, and the sum of violence is bound to remain the same. It's of course just my opinion but I also believe that European laws are based on the same ground. Yes, there is violence and vandalism, as in any place, but it's much depending on what place you're going, your own tolerance and what social groups you get in contact with.

Also, blaming experience of bad service in restaurants etc on socialism is just low. Someone needs to go home and study a book on ideologies.

Oh, good. That's my vent. To answer your question a bit, yes Europe is free, very much depending on what you put into the concept of freedom, but if America is free, so are we and I believe that some of our laws are even more liberal. I guess you should look more into detail on specific laws that interest you the most, the only thing to tell is that the laws in a lot of areas are the same throughout Europe, the most difference would be religious laws, since southern Europe is more catholic, Northern and western is more protestant and Eastern is more Orthodox.

And no, no one will hate you for being American.

Answer 3

You not going to find common people hating American in western Europe. Most people are very sensible.

Life in western Europe could be kind of nice. You might find some services "primitive". For example, you wouldn't find as many choices for mobile phone services. Shops do not have no operating hours as do in US.

It is also cheaper to live in western Europe compare to UK and France. However, EU and the recent US foreign policies are changing that. US dollars has been loosing value steadily in the last 5 years.

Antrop and Brussels (Belgium) are good places to consider.

Best wishes.

Answer 4

I'll say that's a good move, considering the crime rates and the terrorist attacks over in America.

You're about to move to some place that are more civilised, and NO you're not gonna have people hating you there, not unless you like to provoke someone with no reasons....then you'll get people hating you.

Answer 5

The things that bug me about Europe over the US is that the ciminals seem to have more legal rights than the law abiding citizens. You can't own a gun (even a knife now in the UK), and the crooks know it and use it to their full advantage. I know someone who was arrested after someone tried to mug him. He managed to fend the attacker off with a Swiss Army Knife. He was booked for carrying a deadly weapon sent to jail!

Yeah... Murder rates are lower, but alcoholism is higher. Drug abuse is higher (in some places)... Violent crimes like muggings, beatings and vandalism are rampant.

One of the reasons London is stopping the double decker bus is because the second floor is difficult to police and is commonly littered with graffiti and trash.

The hooligan behavior at Football matches is to the point where it's just not safe to go.

Police are commonly unarmed.

Socialism has turned the service industry into crap. Try to get the level of service in a UK or European restaraunt like you would in an American establishment and you'll soon find out what I mean.

If you're wondering if you have freedoms... yes. If you think Sheep are free when they can wander anywhere they want within view of the Shepherd or away from the wolves.

Gas is on average around 7 bucks a gallon... Thanks to socialist taxes...

Medicine is free, but see how difficult it is to get a gall bladder removed... You often wait for weeks!

90 percent of the land is owned by people who think they are closer by right of birth to God than you are. As a result, 99% of the population is crowded on top of one another. A 2500 square foot house on a third of an acre would cost you millions in the UK.

Cameras are all over the highways.. You spend more time looking down at your speedometer than you do avoiding the car in front of you.

Answer 6

UK guys would like you, not the French and Spanish as there is a lot of anti american sentiment in these places, specially Spain.

Answer 7

Reading the other answers I feel like I have to say that there are good and bad people everywhere. What you see on the news isn't the entire picture, it's just the bad stuff that they show you! Don't let it mislead you!