Some questions about europe

[Assimilate]

As much as America complains about their own gas prices, they don't seem to understand it's actually cheap compared to the rest of the world.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Just did a quick search for places in my area...
http://www.petrolprices.com/search.html?search=de1+1rg

You can search for post codes of anywhere and get an idea.

Fuck knows what milk is priced as in litres, we do milk in pints. You can get 4 pints for a quid. Bread is usually anywhere between 50p and £1.50 depending on how shitty you want the loaf to be.

ahh, holy shit you people pay through the nose for gas. Unless I have my conversions wrong

Yes we do, but then again new generations of car are starting to get more efficient engines meaning the consumption of fuel is lower. Also depends on how you compare expenditures to income. I would say on averages incomes here in the UK can handle fuel costs, at least to a point.

[Lemonvariable72]

Hey,

Concerning Germany, I worked as an ambulance driver for the red cross (basically as an intermediate level EMT) here for my civil service. Although most people in urban areas in Germany will speak English rather well if they are below 50, it will probably be a hindrance if you want to get a job as an EMT if that was your plan. Except maybe the US army hires civilian paramedics at their bases. Gas prices are currently approx. 1,60€ per Liter, which is 8,36$ US per Gallon. The upside: everything is crammed together so closely that you won't have to drive very far anyways. If you live in a city with a decent public transport system, driving by car will not be the norm, and even if you are in a more rural area, taking the bus will be convenient and cheaper if you can get a seasonal ticket or so.

People generally like Americans a lot, and Canadians more so, so no trouble there. If you're not white, there are some areas I would avoid especially in the rural east where there has been an upsurge of neonazi activity after the fall of the wall, but you should be mostly fine.

The amount of culture shock will vary hugely depending on where in Germany you go. You will notice that everything is extremely close together, with gadzillions of tiny, but tightly confined villages just half a mile apart, and virtually no urban sprawl. Cities in Germany just end at some point, and then they're over. Unless you are in the Ruhr area, there it just goes on and on and on. In the Americas, they just seem to peter out forever.

(EditIf you grew up in Montreal you won't notice, if you're from the northwestern territories, better not be claustrophobic. Stuff in supermarkets will come in absurdly small packages.

My impression is that there is less of an discrepancy in education levels between people than in the US, so your average German supermarket cashier or burger flipper will stand out less extremely compared to your college professor when it comes to literacy etc. I don't know how that compares to Canada, I don't know canada well enough.

German suburbia can be an uptight nightmare populated by control freaks who will call the police if your lawn is the wrong length. Then again, before you move in anywhere, just check out the neighborhood and you should be able to tell.

Well, where I'm from is the atlantic coast, and we are very sparsely populated here. I'd say the education discrepancy is canada is much less then the us and that according to UN stats the education systems are pretty comparable.
Good thing is I'm not from Quebec. If I was I'd thrown off the continent in a week.

[Cato]

My two cents regarding language. Make every attempt to engage people in their language, even if very rudimentary and travel related. The earnest attempt alone will usually endear you to the person resulting in the conversation quickly turning to English. It's the presumption that everyone speaks English that understandably rubs locals the wrong way, not the fact that many do indeed speak English.

DO NOT try to speak Spanish in Italy, or vice versa. Wars have been started over less.

[Lemonvariable72]

My two cents regarding language. Make every attempt to engage people in their language, even if very rudimentary and travel related. The earnest attempt alone will usually endear you to the person resulting in the conversation quickly turning to English. It's the presumption that everyone speaks English that understandably rubs locals the wrong way, not the fact that many do indeed speak English.

DO NOT try to speak Spanish in Italy, or vice versa. Wars have been started over less.

The problem is that I just do not have a mind for language so I'm liable to do something that stupid. But of course I intend to try to learn the language were ever I go.

[pocaracas]

Ahem... time to advertise the fine country that is Portugal!
Pretty much the same as Germany, but with far better climate, food and much friendlier people.
In cities, things are pretty much at walking distance.
As for prices, it depends a lot, but downtown Lisbon will charge you some 600~800€ per month for a one bedroom shitty apartment, while the "fringes" will take some 400~500€ for a better two bedroom apartment.
These fringes are some 20 minutes away from the center by public transport, or less, if you stay close to the subway.

As for the language barrier, yeah... portuguese does take some getting used to... but the secret is saying the R's like the russians, figuring out how to make new vowel sounds, like "ã" and "ê" and not messing up the gender and number of your determinants (in english, you pretty much have "the", here, it's more like "o" - male singular, "a" - female singular, "os" - male plural, "as" - female plural) and nouns (all nouns have a gender and you have to know it... most that end in 'a' are female, everything else is pretty much male, but there are exceptions! ). And learn the vocabulary.. that takes time.
People under 50 can generally understand and speak enough to make themselves understood... older people, not so much.

And yeah... gas prices in Europe are more or less the same everywhere. But Portugal has an average income below the average income of other european countries, making the cost of things higher in relative terms... bummer!

Other culture shocks... unlike the british, which must obey every rule and regulation, we are laid back while we avoid getting caught. That makes some things not work as well as they could, but it makes the lives of most people a bit easier when it's their turn to do things!
The food is the best in the world. We use little sauces and gravies and stuff like that, we like our food tasting of itself... meat that tastes of meat; fish that tastes like the sea... did I mention the cheap shellfish? We have restaurants dedicated to shellfish... they usually have a water tank where the little buggers are still swimming and you can pick out the lobster or any other animal you want to eat... I have 3 of these restaurants, called "marisqueiras", less than 10 minutes away from my home.
Food is generally a bit cheaper than elsewhere in Europe.... and better (but don't tell the french, it'll hurt their pride).

Politicians are pretty much the same as everywhere else... crap. You 'll find it difficult to avoid the public health service, and those guys don't seem to pay very well to the newcomers

The beach is close by and Summer starts in late April, and ends in October.
Plus: castles, palaces, museums, natural parks, sky resort (yeah... there's only one mountain for that and it only works in the winter)...

Oh, I recently changes my ISP and am now paying some 25€ per month for the tripple play chebang, 50Mb internet, ~100 tv channels and free phone calls to Portuguese landlines 24h/day plus free calls to landlines in europe and US (maybe also canada, would have to check) during the night and weekends. We do have some of the best ISP's in Europe...

Water heating.... I don't know how you do it in Canada, but according to US movies, the boiler seems a popular choice... much like in the UK. Around here, we use a natural (or butane) gas powered water heater, usually with no boiler, so you get water directly from the heater to the shower. It can take a couple of minutes to get hot water flowing in the winter, but I always need to dial the heater to the minimum in the summer and still need to add cold water to the mix.
It is not common for houses/apartments to have central heating, so your winter-time electric bill may suffer if you decide to heat the entire place with electric heaters. I only heat the bathroom and bedrooms when they're needed. The rest of the place is at whatever temperature it is... my kitchen gets very cold after the stove is turned off, so I just close that door and the rest of the apartment is comfortable... provided you're wearing decent clothing, like a sweater.
In the Summer, you just want to leave the windows open, so the air moves along and freshens you up a bit... yeah, it's also not common to have air conditioning.

The crime rate is low... unless you count politicians who never get caught and just keep at it.
Driving is on the correct side of the street and you get to walk on the portuguese calçada (that's the side walk, but it's not the ugly concrete slabs you can find elsewhere). This makes it look like the city is brighter and merrier.

[Minimalist]

Keep this in mind.


http://www.hark.com/clips/tlhsynmryv-steve-martin


I hear it is true all over Europe.

[là bạn điên]

If you want to earn money then you really need to be in England There is no way you are going to get a job in Eastern Europe or the Med and in Northern Europe you need specific qualifications to do almost anything.

In London pub jobs often come with accommodation

[Lemonvariable72]

If you want to earn money then you really need to be in England There is no way you are going to get a job in Eastern Europe or the Med and in Northern Europe you need specific qualifications to do almost anything.

In London pub jobs often come with accommodation

And here northern europe is often promoted as a utopia

[là bạn điên]

If you want to earn money then you really need to be in England There is no way you are going to get a job in Eastern Europe or the Med and in Northern Europe you need specific qualifications to do almost anything.

In London pub jobs often come with accommodation

And here northern europe is often promoted as a utopia

In many ways it is . But it is highly bureaucratic in Scandanavia, The Netherlands and Germany and you will need to speak the language fluently to get any sort of official job. The unskilled jobs will all be taken by East Europeans.

Because you already have fluent English then you can probably get a job in the service sector and accomodation is a nightmare so getting a job with a room is really quite important.

Are you a Canadian or Australian/NZer? If you are from the USA not sure how you will get a work permit/ NI number