What Europe Gets Right, America Gets Wrong

Is Europe better than America? Obviously, a lot of people have asked this question over the years, and I just got back from a trip to Italy and France. So, David, maybe I'll have the answer. Oh, you saw how we do things. You saw the difference. And now you are jealous of how we recycle. You know, contrary to what we think, David, actually, French people don't talk quite like that. But Pepe Le Pew does. Bonjour, bonjour, merci, merci. But anyways, David, I just got back from a trip to Italy and France. With my boo. But anyways, I noticed some things that were different about Europe, some that were better and some that were just different that I don't understand. Do you want me to tell you about it? Tell me about it, because I've been to Brussels. That's the time that I've spent in Europe. But I have yet to go to, you know, France or Italy. Yeah, well, let me just tell you about some of these details, guys. I have a list. Here are 11 things that I noticed about Europe. And some of them are pretty cool. And I would say, like, I'm kind of wondering, can America adopt some of these things or not? You are Americans. You come for like a little vacation. You think you know everything, huh? You think you are an expert now? No, that is exactly what I'm doing. So, number one, guys, recycling is big here. It is way bigger than it is in America. In America, we kind of have this pseudo recycling culture, right? Well, isn't it because it got discovered that recycling in America is actually fake? Yeah. So, guys, I cannot speak on how real it is in Europe, but I will tell you this. They think about it a lot more. So first off, let me talk to you about these bottle caps. Anybody who's been in Europe knows they got these flip caps that use less plastic and the cap is connected to it. You mean like a sauce cap? Yes. So that the cap does not separate from the bottle. It's easier to recycle. You don't lose the cap. Although I will say the spout of it is a lot shorter and smaller, therefore making a little bit harder to drink. Well, you know, that's why I'm glad we don't do that, because it would make it more difficult for me. Right. But that's one of the things that's different. And sometimes I'm not going to lie. The flip cap does kind of scratch the top of your mouth. But in a convenience aspect, I understand. What is this machine that looks like it's out of Fallout? Like it looks almost post-apocalyptic steampunk. Oh, well, David, that's just a recycling bin that they have on the street of Paris. So in Paris, they have these big recycling bins with these holes that you throw bottles into. But it only fits a bottle. Yeah, it's like a plastic bottle glory hole. Yes. Yeah, dude. In America, these things would get violated so quickly, guys. I don't even want to get graphic, but let me just tell you they are noticeable. So what I notice in Europe is that these things, they kind of look ugly, but then like they'll just have it. So Paris is a beautiful city, but then they kind of have these weird, ugly things sitting around, which I'm going to get to. But anyways, this big recycling bin, they would just not have this in America. This hole would totally get just abused, dude. In America, you can't even get people to throw the trash in the regular trash can. Yes. Let alone separate it out. Oh, interestingly enough, Andrew, in East Asia, you have to separate your plastics, your trash, food disposables and your paper. Yes. In Japan, Taiwan, you have to be hyper. I mean, you know, in America we have recycling bins away from the trash, but, you know, people don't really care. But anyways, yeah, there's just a lot of different things that I saw for recycling guys. So they're really trying to minimize plastic. One thing that did annoy me, though, David, is this picture here at McDonald's or Starbucks or pretty much anything that you're going to get a fountain cup of drink. There is no plastic top. You know, that plastic lid that you snap on. It's paper. And so everything being paper, the straws, paper, I'm not going to lie. Things get soggy. So that's not something I love. Like, you know, the experience isn't as good, but I'm not going to lie. But you know, that is how we run our society. Like you must give up some personal enjoyment or personal convenience, obviously for the good of the ecosystem. And look at this little picture of this turtle that's like getting killed by this plastic cup. I thought that's hilarious. They just wouldn't have that cartoon in America. Right. Oh, by the way, guys, don't make me talk to you and show you a picture of the cigarette packs. Oh, they're gruesome. Did you know how they show like the the bat, like the dead baby? They show like a depleted atrophied fetus, right? Yeah. Moving on, Andrew, what's next? All right. Number two, David, something that you'll very notice at the grocery stores, the Fran Pre, the Mono Pre, the Le Lurk or the Carrefour. They do not refrigerate a lot of their produce. This is weird to me. The eggs just sit out there at room temperature. So this is shocking because in America I grew up. Just everything's refrigerated. The eggs are refrigerated. Obviously, yogurt has to be refrigerated. But like the eggs are just sitting out there. And I guess, David, scientifically speaking, it's OK because in Europe they have very strict standards. They do not wash the outside of the eggs, therefore remove removing removing this cuticle that actually allows the shell to be at room temperature and not get spoiled. Yeah. So you're saying the eggs still got the chicken butt juice on it. So I don't know if it's the placenta or whatever it is, but the eggs still have a covering on it, therefore allowing it to sit at room temperature and it doesn't spoil, which is interesting because in America we refrigerate. That is interesting, because I guess I never even thought of that because in that in nature, the eggs, they just sit at room temperature, too. Like obviously animals, they don't have access to refrigeration. Yeah, but they don't go put the eggs in the snow afterwards. Yeah, exactly. So and then also the vegetables, guys, they do not sit under these big like misty like sprays, like you don't spray a lot of water on it because actually in America, I learned after going to Europe, I had to Google this that actually America does that more for marketing reasons to make the veggies look fresh. It's actually not good for the veggies. Veggies will rot quicker if they're wet all the time. That makes sense, right? We know that from sitting in the fridge. And I do think that there's a push on the Internet and YouTube right now or TikTok, et cetera, where I see a lot of people criticize American industrialized, commercialized food practices. Yes. And they have a lot less of those, even in from what I could tell in Canada, even less than America. Yeah. And I'll say it is more French Europe, man. They definitely use less. I don't want to say zero, but less pesticides and hormones in their fruits and veggies, for sure. That's probably why you guys are so violent. You know, you always result of violence and pesticides and gets in your brain and they'll fix your patterns. Yeah. You know, America, they like to have war, you know, public bathrooms and water fountains. This is something I noticed. I mean, they kind of have some public restrooms in certain cities out here, but these are actually still well kept and they have public drinking fountains which is something that you just don't see in America anymore. I knew of them when we were growing up, but now nobody's going to touch them. But I'll tell you this crackheads drink out of them. Yeah, they do the birdbath, too. You know, people wash themselves, all that stuff. But ultimately, David, guess what? There's some drinking fountains that have sparkling water for real in Paris. Did you drink out of it? No, I miss those ones. But I read that there's about 50 of them around the city. Yo, free sparkling water that you got to pay because for Perrier at the because, you know, sparkling water. This is like where sparkling water comes from is like France. Like they love sparkling water. They love the bubbles. Yo, do you think that they would put sparkling water in their bidets? Dude, that moves that moves on to my next point. David bidets, bidets are everywhere and not just bidets. They look like an entirely separate little sink toilet next to your toilet. And at first I didn't really know how to use it. So I tried to use it. But the blast was so strong. I swear to God, it just sprayed little bits of poop everywhere. That's yo, that's hilarious. Did you Google it or what you do like? Well, I turned it down and then like I but then you're saying you think the Japanese version where it's like the Toto comes out of the bottom and then takes care of you. The advanced toilet seat is superior to this like separate. Yeah, superior for washing your butt, for sure. But because your butt doesn't need a strong blast. I guess people also wash their feet in this stuff and two. But then why would you want to wash your foot also in the same sink that you take a poop? Anyways, guys, it's confusing. I don't really understand this one. All right. Well, pop up a chart right here. Number five, Andrew, you said the facades during construction are well designed. No, because the facades of the buildings look like the buildings. So this is different that you don't really see in America, because when people put up a facade for construction, it's just like a green, like yellow, like construction. Maybe put a sign on it. Yeah, like well, maybe it's like green, dark green. It's like a dark green net. But here they put in the time because the buildings are so historical and, you know, so beautiful and architecturally designed from 1450 or whatever, they make the facade look like the building so that you don't miss out. Really, it doesn't look so. You're saying like even construction needs to be aesthetic. Yeah, aesthetics are important. But here's what's not aesthetic. Point number six are these clear trash bags that are everywhere in the city. So it's funny because Paris has such beautiful buildings. But on the street, they have these really ugly, clear trash bags. And even in the airport, which is different, David, because there's no trash can holding it. You just see the bag of trash and sometimes it looks like a bag of shat. Right. And is this designed to be against terrorism or is this just a cost saving measure? Because obviously this does look different. I did notice, I believe in Times Square, they use these clear trash cans. OK, so they're starting to do them in America. Well, guess what, guys? Apparently they do this partially because there was in 2015 they had some trash can bomb terrorism. So that was also part of the reason why they make it clear so that you can see, I guess, a bomb inside of the trash can. Right. I guess it's it's not very aesthetic, but honestly, it does keep everybody more safe. And it is interesting to see what other people threw away. It is interesting. I'm just saying those bags would get slit open and ripped open in America so quick and dragged across the street. Oh, no, people would go through it to try to get the cans to. Yeah. Yeah. But I guess for can collectors, you know, they'll be able to see how many cans are in the trash can so they don't have to pick through all. Got the eagle eye. Yeah. So point number seven, public transportation, man. Obviously, the Paris subway system is a lot newer than the New York one. So with no surprise, it's a lot better, a lot simpler. I heard, though, that actually Paris had the first one in the entire world before New York did just by a few years. And then they probably updated it. Yeah, they've done a better job of keeping up with the times. The New York one still looks like it's from 100 years ago. Yes. Yes. So this Paris one is fire. It's super easy. And then like these bus stops. So this picture is in France with the thirty nine, ninety five, ninety six. And then this other photo with the champagne bottle that someone left over, which is so Italian, I guess. They that's in Italy. And basically these little screens tell you how many minutes until the bus comes, David. Right. What do you think about these doors where you there's no way you can hop it without paying the fare, right? This makes it impossible for you to turnstile hop. Yeah, I don't know if it's impossible. You could jump over it, but it makes it hard. There's this big metal door that you have to open with your hand and break through. It's almost like you have to like like you have to like bulldoze through it after you go through the turnstile. So I think it's to stop fare jumpers because it's obvious you can't really jump through it. Right. And you said it's more expensive as well. Yeah. Yeah. It's about almost four euros a ride, which is a little bit more than four dollars. So I guess in your sense, like, is this better because it's a more secure system between the trash cans and the preventing people from stealing subway fares? This is better. Yeah, obviously it's a lot cleaner and there's a hell of policemen and soldiers everywhere, honestly. But yeah, I mean, I don't know about making the price all extra expensive, but I think obviously we all know New York could do a little bit better. Yeah. If you want to smash this window on this train out of emergency, you have to take this hammer and become like Thor and smash. I just think it's funny. Like in America, they would never have like a little someone would take this and use it as a weapon, man. Well, someone would smash that window out with so quick. Right. Just for fun. Surveillance cameras everywhere. And they're really not shy about it. They're super in your face and they even have a lot of signage that says you're being surveilled. And honestly, I think it is because of the threat of terrorism. Paris is always in threat because it's closer to where terrorists come from. So basically they have like more, I guess, like measures in place to stop terrorism or to point it out, you know, to deter terrorism. Right, right, right. Yeah, I think in America there's a lot of like bulbs that they have as the security camera, but not ones that security cameras that are so blatant. Yeah, they're just like, yeah, watching you. But you know, when you go to other countries, I know like London was like that. East Asia, there's cameras like everywhere. Yeah. Cameras everywhere. Number nine, elevators and hotel rooms are tiny in Paris. They're tiny guys. Elevators in Europe are like three by three, two by two. So there's like two people max. Oh, that's just there's two people in like two small luggages. That's max that it can fit. Yeah. So just get used to that. Expect that people hang out outside differently. I don't know. People just sit down. There's some stores that even have like outdoor seating parts of there for people to smoke because smoking still really big out there. Oh, man. And they got like the satin seat cushions, too. That's insane. Well, that's on a luxury kind of like, you know, it's like a Soho. So you're saying it's like I'm a Leon Dorey kith vibes everywhere. Yes, man. It really looks like Soho all in a lot of places. But yeah, they still have homeless people. But the homeless people, I didn't see any like unhoused zombie looking people that were off on the fenny and the heroine. You know what I mean? Fetty Wap. Yeah. Off the Fetty Wap or off the hair on like, you know, in America, obviously those are big problems. But out there, they definitely have the little like crazy people shouting on the street and like poor people for sure. Or like unhoused people. But no, it's not as bad. Anyways, guys, I'm going to wrap this up with the last point. Food culture. I just see women walking around with baguettes in their arms. I saw like three, four times. You mean like a long baguette? A long bag. Dude, these baguettes are like 14, 15 inches. You mean like a Trader Joe's tote bag? Yeah. Like, no, it's like I think it's like a fashion statement. I think it's cool. Like, look at this girl. She looks like a model. Sorry, I took a picture of her. I just had to. They just leave food out like at bakeries and stuff like it just won't be covered. It'll just be out like next to you that the food that they sell, like a cake, like a like a coffee cake will just be like right next to the register. And that's it. And they just slice a piece off for you. You're saying in America, not only would there be a sneeze guard, but there would maybe an additional thing on top. Like this is at the airport. They're just selling slices of cheesecake. You would just take a plate. So your hand could reach in there and just grab the cheesecake and then just eat it. But David, why would you do that? Why would anybody want to grab the food? But see, see, that's because we don't have the mind of Americans. Americans would go in there and do all types of different crazy things. Yes, American. For sure, a foie gras store. Obviously, foie gras is not that big in America. Oh, actually illegal in a lot of places in America due to animal cruelty. Oh, oh, rotisserie chicken is big out there. David, you'd love it because, you know, we we get the baked chickens at the grocery store and at Costco. But here they literally got just roast chicken legs off the street. You can get chicken and potatoes at your friend. You can get they're just roasting chickens just out like a street food. So you're saying basically rotisseries is almost like tacos here. Yeah, well, that's where it comes from. Rotisserie chicken rotisserie is what language do you think that is? That's us. Yeah, I had. Obviously, in Italy, guys, they call dumplings ravioli, which is the Italian term for dumplings, and then noodles are called tagliatelle. So like anytime they're trying to describe Chinese food, it's like tagliatelle de chinese or ravioli de chinese. I see this jajangmyeon being called spaghetti di korea. Yeah, spaghetti di korea, which is funny because jajangmyeon originally is obviously Chinese. But because did you get it? Was it the Chinese style or the Korean style? I don't know. Based off the picture, that looks more Chinese. You know, tell me about this roja more right here. This Xi'an. Oh, man. Roja mores are really good out there, guys. There's certain like I've since I've been back, I've been talking to some people about Chinese food in Italy and Paris, and some people said that they really liked it and they think it's better than New York hot take. I don't see how it could possibly be, but certain things are better. I think that anything that involves bread in France is better. I think the bunmies are the bread is definitely better because they're used to the standard is higher. You know what I mean? So anyways, guys, they have different. They have a higher standard for like anything involving cheese. I notice you're eating a cheese and ham sandwich over here. Yeah, I mean, these look at how much meat is in these sandwiches that the air that the airplanes giving me the bread was really good. But honestly, this would not be an acceptable sandwich by an American standard. Look, that's a slice of cucumber. But which was city was more organized or which country was more organized? France or Italy? Well, I went to Florence and Paris. So Paris is a big city. Florence is actually a small historical town. So it's hard to compare the two. But I will say this. Florence, for how small it was, was very well organized with the public transportation. Obviously, it didn't have a subway system, but the public transportation, the bus system was very advanced. They give you the minute of when they have an LCD screen and it's not cracked. No one's smashing it, you know, things like that. So in Europe, it's a very interesting mixture of high tech 2024 stuff and keeping the history. So does it feel more like Canada? Please, for the people who are not like you, they're going to Europe all the time. What's it like? I'm assuming it's like Canada because Canada reminds me of that. Yeah, but the thing is, structurally, Canada doesn't have such old buildings. But I would say I haven't been to Montreal, but Montreal is more French than Toronto is. So I would say it's probably more the attitude and vibe is probably more similar to Montreal. People were generally nice. I don't know when they say, oh, the French are assholes or whatever. I'm like, I don't know if you say bonjour, merci, merci. Like people were pretty cool. So do you think the people who came up with the man, the French are assholes? They were going over there and going, hello, Pierre. I need some directions. Well, and then the guy was like, oh, no English. I don't want to speak with you. I think that you, France is a lot more English friendly in the past 15 years, obviously. So I don't know. I mean, Paris is a big city. They know they can speak some English, man. So anyways, guys, that's pretty much my list of things that are different in Europe. Does that make Europe better? There's certain things that Europe does better, for sure. They also got other things they have to consider a lot. So you guys let me know which one of these things that you think America should adopt. Should America stop refrigerating their eggs? Yeah, I think that they definitely are not as pro corporation or industrial complex like the egg industrial complex or whatever like that. And I think there's just like pros and cons to those things, right? Like clearly, from what I can tell and all the information, everything that you said, it pretty much lines up with. I didn't have a lot of those visuals that you just showed in my mind of the especially of the, you know, the recycling can machines and things like that. But like definitely like it seems like ideology wise, it lines up. They have a different pattern of thinking over there. I think there are certain patterns of thinking or things that maybe thinking wise that Europe does that I think America should take some note off. And I think this is a good thing about being in America, guys. America could potentially take the best ideas from all these other places and try to implement them in America. But sometimes in America, it's hard to get things done because there's all this bureaucracy and there's all these people disagree. Also, the people, the citizen population in America is super crazy. Yeah, listen, guys, we could have a lot of the stuff Europe has and also guns. All right. That's fine. All right. It makes guys let me know in the comments down below. Have you been to Europe? Which one of these things do you think makes sense for America? But obviously, you know, America and the public streets, America can't have a lot of nice things right now. So anyways, let us know what you think. And you know what I noticed, though? A lot of things, Andrew, did you know Starbucks was created based off Italian coffee culture? So there is a lot of things in America. Did you see the home root of it? Yeah. Espressos. Yeah. I had espresso. Espressos are cheap. No, but I'm saying a lot of like things that we view as in America, like pizza and stuff, it all comes from over there. Originally, we don't really hold it to the original standard. No, I mean, the root of a lot of stuff like rotisserie chicken, right? We just assume that's American, but that's from there. You know what I mean? And like, yeah, pizza. You got all these other things, all these breads. French fries are from Belgium, right? Yeah. All the frites and everything. So, yeah, I mean, it was cool to see the root of a lot of actually things that influenced America, you know? So, yeah. And even the words, I feel like Asians would rather move to America, though. Yeah. Yeah. I think America is worth it, given the opportunity. But I think there's we should always be looking at things that we could be doing better. That's all I'm saying. Wow. You gained a new perspective by coming across the pond. Aren't you, guys? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. I apologize for the accent. I know my French accent's not very good. Until next time, I'm going to hop out boys. We out. Peace.