How I see the US after living in Europe for 2 Years

almost two years ago I took one of the biggest risks of my entire life [Music] [Music] I sold everything I owned told my family and friends goodbye and started a new chapter in Europe Portugal to be exact this is how I see the US after living in Europe for almost two years and let's just say it changed me but not in the way I thought it would I'm going to be brutally honest and not going to hold back keep in mind these are only my opinions and you can take it or leave it simple as

that ever since the first time I had visited Europe back in 2011 I knew that I wanted to move here at some point gain some New Perspective and introduce a new culture into my life and what better place to do it than Europe instead of 50 states there's 50 different countries that speak completely different languages and all have diverse food and cultural backgrounds so I'm going to start with the biggest difference that I found between United States and Europe and that is the work-life balance now this is a big generalization because I know that there's

countries in the European Union that work very hard and want everything to be perfect Germany but for the most part it seems that one of the most important things to Europeans is their quality of life there is this generalization that a lot of Europeans don't work as hard as Americans and I don't think that's completely true many cafes and restaurants in Europe have the same owner from the start to finish they never retire they do the same thing with very exceptional quality until the day they die and this isn't something that happens too often in

the United States this is one of the reasons that I think in Europe the food quality generally tends to be a bit better even the fast food the European fast food tends to still have fresh ingredients if they aren't the franchises from America like McDonald's you can't compete with a restaurant whose owner has been cooking the same dishes for 50 plus years and it's pretty obvious when I speak to friends and family back in the United States that they kind of have this rushed agenda where they're trying to get as much done as they can

throughout the day and this was me included when I lived in the United States and I was working 12 hour days sometimes six days a week but I was missing out on some of the most important things like stopping and really listening to my friends and family and I think that this is one of the most important things to most Europeans I think this idea in the United States of having these big achievements and never being forgotten is something that's really important however in Europe they have the right to be forgotten there is actually a

law in Europe that is the right to be forgotten now this is a foreign concept that I don't think Americans think about a lot in Europe if you've had an imperfect past the European Union allows you to move past that and this also means that in Europe people have the right to have their personal data erased once the personal data is no longer necessary to the organization collecting it while in the U.S forcing removal of articles on the Internet is impermissible under the First Amendment now after living in Europe for almost two years I have

come to the conclusion that the United States is currently in a state of toxic extremism it's not very common in Europe to hear people arguing about politics blaming unrelated issues on opposing political parties or specific politicians it's just something you don't really hear that often now that doesn't mean that Europeans aren't political however you don't see it tearing apart families based on the president or prime minister that they voted for when I go to family gatherings in Portugal rarely does politics ever come up and this is something very polarizing and disappointing in the United States

I can't go anywhere in the United States without somebody blaming something on Biden or Trump like they're responsible for everything that's gone wrong in the past 10 years or something now sure I have my political beliefs as well but I usually keep them to myself and don't ruin everybody around them's energy and Vibe now in Europe they have witnessed all of the extreme political swings and they are living in a direct result of the aftermath which is why they are a little bit more hesitant and seasoned when it comes to political matters if you come

from a place in the United States like Detroit or Flint Michigan like I do then safety is a night and day difference here in Europe especially Portugal which has been ranked one of the top 10 safest countries in the world after living in Europe for two years I've been able to let my guard down and not be as paranoid especially when I'm walking around Alleyways at night or going to see a movie or going to a festival I don't have to worry about the place being shot up it's very sad but this is a true

reality in the United States and in the USA wealthy people have moved to the suburbs in gated communities because they fear the inner City's Rising crime rates and I can't help but to think back in times when I lived in Los Angeles where I was robbed at gunpoint or when I lived in Reno Nevada and our family house was broken into multiple times and sometimes it makes me apprehensive to come back to visit the United States and if you've ever had a gun held to your chest I'm sure you can sympathize what I'm talking about

but after being in Europe for a couple years there are few places that have violent crimes like the United States Europe is certainly not a perfect place and you do have crime happening here however nowhere near the scale of the violent and gun crimes happening in the United States a place where you can be attacked in the streets for your beliefs and that concept to most Europeans is completely foreign now I know that prejudice exist here in Europe however I have never heard an ethnic or racial slur ever yelled on the streets like I have

in the United States and that should say a lot alright now let's talk about the food unless you have the financial means to do so you are likely paying four times for Gourmet Foods in the United States where in Europe these foods are just the normal in America fresh healthy food is usually sold at a premium where only the Richer people can afford it in my opinion this is a crime against humanity here in Europe they subsidize the agriculture so that it can still be sold at an affordable price and more than half of the

GMOs and chemicals available in United States foods are illegal in your Europe typically in Europe teenagers speak multiple different languages they're well versed in Fine Arts and Music and they understand World Geography generally just much more cultured than what I see typically in the United States I mean when I first came to Europe when I was 21 year olds I had 17 year olds playing me Mozart and Bach and painting incredible paintings and speaking four different languages to me and I realized that wow I am not cultured at all and I think a big part

of this is attributed to the education all over Europe schooling is free and some of the best universities are even free students here can focus on their passions and if they don't like what they're gotten into they can switch it without being in this massive mountain of debt like in the United States students in Europe can focus on their passions and if they made the wrong decision and don't like the career path they're taking they're not in mountains of debt like they are in the United States they don't have this strong pressure to continue to

pursue something they don't want to do and I think this is really important some countries in Europe even allow you to go into a specific trade of choice to be able to follow your passion and not have to learn all of this useless knowledge that has nothing to do with your career path I know many people including myself that are afraid to go to the doctor in the United States because of how much it's going to cost and it's a complete opposite contrast here in Europe where many of my friends go to the doctor regularly

just to get a checkup because they can and it seems to be encouraged by the doctors in Europe things like blood tests and exams are a fraction of the cost that they are in the United States for instance I went to the hospital and needed to have an x-ray done on my finger and I went no no no how much is that going to cost and they said one Euro and I went can you put my whole body into the X-ray machine then just kidding I don't need any unnecessary radiation exposure but I don't think

that people should be in fear of going to the doctor and this is the reality for a lot of people in the United States currently I pay a premium Health Care insurance in Portugal for about 85 Euros a month and that includes just about everything whereas a not so good insurance in the United States that I was paying 500 for a month was never accepted anywhere and was a complete hassle to have so the polarization is pretty crazy in terms of the health care here now I will say that the public hospitals tend to get

overrun here in Portugal sometimes but because I have Private health care insurance I can use any of the private state-of-the-art hospitals located anywhere in Portugal and I've been there a couple times and they're super nice and I've been really impressed by the facilities now alcoholism certainly exists in Europe that's for sure but the drinking culture in the United States is completely different than most of Europe maybe more similar to Ireland or United Kingdom a lot of European countries have a long history with wine and beer and they've developed an art form on when and where

and how much to drink in comparison to the American binge culture shots shots shots shots shots shots this doesn't really exist in Europe for the most part in fact it's very rare to see people taking shots and if they are they're these little baby shots that are half of what they are in the United States I feel like in the United States it's encouraged to get wasted and get super drunk and people brag about these experience but in Europe you don't want to be that guy don't be that guy stumbling through the streets they will

think you are a complete idiot do yourself a favor and don't be that guy but how I see the United States now is not all negative and there are some things that I took for granted while growing up there one of those things is the Amer American Dream now a lot of people said that is dead but I believe the spirit is still very alive and well the concept of Entrepreneurship is not as popular here in Europe as it is in the United States the United States is a place where people have a dream and

they can move that future forward and I have to credit that optimism for the entrepreneur spirit that I have today and I never realized how truly American this concept was and I would not be where I'm at today without this Hustler go-getter mentality and I have to give massive credit to the United States for that I think a lot of times in Europe it is this foreign concept to have this grandiose dream where you can live in Financial Freedom and retire early but I believe Americans have this Spirit of working very very very hard to

be able to retire and enjoy you know a certain amount of your life however one of the biggest problems is is that people don't end up retiring until 65 in United States and most of your life's over so younger Americans now want to retire at 40 and 35 if they can and more power to them if they can figure out how to do so but after painting these generalizations with such a wide brush it's important to mention that there are counter cultures and micro communities all over the United States that also criticize many of the

things that I mentioned in this video there's an America that I love and miss so much but of course there are truths to the stereotypes or else they wouldn't exist but at the end of the day honestly I'm just trying to have an open fun conversation and that's one of the beautiful things about living in the Free World let me know in the comments below what you think about this am I just trying to put everybody into a box or is there so much more Nuance to all of this either way I will be continuing

to make videos all about Portugal if this is something of interest to you make sure to hit the like And subscribe button this is some guy named David Portugal and we'll see you next time [Music] thank you