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Europe...meh

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
A little over 2 weeks after arriving in Europe and I can't help but say that I've never been more happy to say that I'm from the United States.

Perhaps I was a little too optimistic after hearing all of the 'Stupid American' propaganda, but I can't say that I've been overly impressed with much yet. I have seen some nice historical architectural pieces and one of the flight attendants from Atlanta to Amsterdam was quite impressive, but other than that, I can't think of one thing that would make me think Europe was better than the US. I'd still like to ride and ski in the Alps, but would I like to live here for any length of time? Hell no.
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
To sum it up... great ideas, all poorly executed.

Nor does it help my opinion of the place that my g/f's debit card got hacked into a few days ago and youtube is banned from the country that I am currently in.
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
but what about the bread?
The bread has been okay... nothing great.

The orange juice is freshly squeezed and relatively cheap so that is pretty nice. Okay... the food in Greece was really good. It made me sick, but I would eat it again. I never thought a tomato could taste so good.
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
Think of everything you hate and that's what he likes. He's a stinky hippie, so they think he is a deserter to the US. That's why they like him.
If hippies weren't supposed to be environmentalists then I would agree. I wish just one person would import an American toilet over here to show them how they are supposed to work. ... I could probably write an essay about the dysfunctional toilets here and the studded teflon tape they call toilet paper.

I have seen more smart cars in the past week than I have ever before, but for every smart car I've seen at least a hundred 2-stroke scooters that race around and make more noise than the frat boys that I go to school with and their trucks with strait pipes.
 

Austin Bike

Turbo Monkey
Jan 26, 2003
1,558
0
Duh, Austin
I have spent a good portion of the last 5 years overseas. If you spend all your time comparing things you'll never be happy.

Spend your time experiencing things. There isn't a single country that I have ever been to that I wouldn't go back to (and I've hit almost 30).

Even after I said spain was dead to me after last year's debacle, I just bought tix to BCA for spring break.
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
I have spent a good portion of the last 5 years overseas. If you spend all your time comparing things you'll never be happy.

Spend your time experiencing things. There isn't a single country that I have ever been to that I wouldn't go back to (and I've hit almost 30).

Even after I said spain was dead to me after last year's debacle, I just bought tix to BCA for spring break.
I would definitely come back to Europe, but it would likely take a bit to get me as excited as I originally was about spending 4 months here. Unless it was for some other architecture related trip, I doubt I would return to the country I've spend most of my time at. I'm now very glad that I will only be spending another week here. At this point I doubt I will be signing up for the study abroad option next year. I think I could schedule my own Europe trip that would end up being much more fun and much cheaper. For the price of this trip I could have gone skiing in Colorado for 3 weeks instead. I'm a bit bummed about that since it means I won't get a chance to go skiing once this whole year.

I did go to Greece for a few days and I liked the little bit that I saw, but that trip was ruined by the worthless dip****s that went with us. None of us have phones that work over there... or at least they won't turn theirs on when they really need to because the call might cost a few dollars. So as we are leaving the hotel to head to the train station the other 5 people decide to go get beers and that they will meet us at the train station right after that. So fast forward 3 hours of my g/f and I waiting for them at the train station and not seeing a single one pass through the main lobby, all of the trains going to Athens for the next 3 days sell out. So much for Greece. Back to Istanbul for the 2nd week.
 

davep

Turbo Monkey
Jan 7, 2005
3,276
0
seattle
Get out of Istanbul and see some more of Turkey. Get off the beaten path and appreciate the simple and complex differences.The heated pools of Pamukkale are pretty impressive. The Kusadasi/Ephesus are als had plenty to keep us interested for a couple weeks...great inexpensive food, cheap lodging (b&b)...incredible ruins, and nice beaches.

Traveling can be stressful for sure, especially with multiple people to try to keep organized. Moving from place to place, finding trains, can be a hassle/stressful at first. Give it time and you will get adjusted, figure out how to plan ahead if you need/want to be somewhere at a specific time, otherwise, just relax and 'gp with the flow'.

IF you want more (different from coddled/sterile America), go east.

Been on any long distance busses?
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
Get out of Istanbul and see some more of Turkey. Get off the beaten path and appreciate the simple and complex differences.The heated pools of Pamukkale are pretty impressive. The Kusadasi/Ephesus are als had plenty to keep us interested for a couple weeks...great inexpensive food, cheap lodging (b&b)...incredible ruins, and nice beaches.

Traveling can be stressful for sure, especially with multiple people to try to keep organized. Moving from place to place, finding trains, can be a hassle/stressful at first. Give it time and you will get adjusted, figure out how to plan ahead if you need/want to be somewhere at a specific time, otherwise, just relax and 'gp with the flow'.

IF you want more (different from coddled/sterile America), go east.

Been on any long distance busses?
No busses yet. Just the overnight trains from Istanbul to Thessaloniki and back. I would like to go to the heated pools. Whether or not I can get a few others to go is another story.
 

valve bouncer

Master Dildoist
Feb 11, 2002
7,843
114
Japan
I have spent a good portion of the last 5 years overseas. If you spend all your time comparing things you'll never be happy.

Spend your time experiencing things. There isn't a single country that I have ever been to that I wouldn't go back to (and I've hit almost 30).
What he said. It's a waste of time travelling if all you want to do is compare, you'll only confirm your own prejudices.