What’s the capital of Europe again? I forgot. I know the national language is European.
I thought national language was shrugs and smiles. Must’ve been a miscommunication.
the language is Europanto (does work!)
as for the capital it changes every 6 months!
we have also everchanging capitals that are not political capitals (for instance “cultural” capital).
except for grumpy naysayers the money is the Euro (and frankly that IS really a good thing to buy things or travel!).
the only thing we do not know is “where are the borders?” (is Georgia supposed to join?)
So now if you live in Rome you can have a German boss, a French doctor, a Czech member of parliament, a Polish priest (of course), an Irish publican (of course!), and a Romanian scapegoat :o
And how often does the city where the seat of parliament is based change?
If you come to germany remember that we have this law which doesnt allow us to wear clothes if it is warmer than 25° (dont know how much that is in Farenheit).
My favorite culture shock story is the “snail cart” I came across in Belgium. Looked like a hot-dog cart, but instead they sold steamed snails, sans shell, in butter sauce. Funny thing (to me) was the kids eagerly lining up to get a snack from the cart! Ewww!
I was a little scared of the fast food in some places. There were storefronts that were nothing but vending machines with hot food in them. No one knows how long that battered-deep-fried-something-or-other had been sitting in its case, but people still plunked down their coins for the goods. When in doubt, I went for the falafel and pizza restaurants… always a safe bet, and always no more than a couple blocks away in most major cities.
One culture pleasantry (what’s the opposite of shock?) was seeing how clean some of the cities were. I ate breakfast while watching some elderly couples out scrubbing the sidewalk in front of their house in northern Holland. The street looked like a postcard: picture perfect!
Many Europeans see right through that facade. I took a bike tour in Munich, and as each tourist introduced themselves, the tour guides singled out the “Canadians” with the maple-leaf flags on their packs and said “we know you’re from America”. Everyone was joking with them for the entire tour.
IMHO, if you’re an American flying a Canadian flag while on travel, you shouldn’t be allowed back into the US. Wanna be Canadian? Move there!
I’ve been through predominantly Arab neighborhoods in Germany and France, and didn’t experience one bit of hostility. I didn’t go in waving a US flag, but I did admit my nationality when asked, and it often resulted in a friendly conversation.
If there’s rabid anti-Americanism in Europe, it’d be hard to find. They love our money, our clothes, our music and movies. It’s a shame the media hypes the hatred and not the love.
I thought Europe WAS a single country. Isn’t that why the good ol’ USA had to go over there and whip Hitler’s ass, to reunite Europe? Maybe I’m missing something… Wasn’t it America that stopped the European Civil War by crushing the rebel states, like Germany and Italy?
Canada? I’ve heard that word somewhere…hmmm…OH I know
This site was suprizingly easy to understand, probably helps that as a kid my first language was franglais
wah, spell check didn’t flag “franglais”, apparently it is a real word and not one that I had made up, I have the same definition as the dictionary
This is the world today
This is the world in the 80s
This video covers much of Europe’s greatest work.
+1