What I Learned About Being American From Living In Europe

“Reverse culture shock” is real—very real.

Photo by Daniel Lincoln on Unsplash

I’ve been American my whole life.

But the only way I was able to learn what it really meant to be an American was by living elsewhere.

Several years ago, I packed my bags and moved to Europe. And while I haven’t been to all of Europe (yet!), as a remote worker, I’ve spent a lot of time in about half of all European countries so I’ve learned a bit about each (unique) culture—and the commonalities between them.

Here are some of the biggest things I learned about what it means to be American. This article is meant to be fun, by the way, so don’t take it too seriously. (I’m sure someone will, though, haha.)

We Smile—A Lot

“I could tell you’re American,” said the waitress.
“How?” I asked. (Usually when Europeans see me, they think I’m from China.)
“I can tell right away when it’s an American,” she replied. “They’re always smiling.”

We Americans smile a lot. At everyone. At everything. Random strangers. People working at a store. Dogs.

Obviously, it's not that Europeans don't smile at all—all humans smile. (Duh.) It’s just that they don’t tend to…