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People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space
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People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

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Travel the world and you will learn there are obvious differences between cultures, the cuisine, the styles, the languages and even sometimes the toilets – however, you would think that there would be some things that unite us all, like the way we perceive time and space – but you would be wrong.

As one man ranted about on Twitter, Americans have their own way of measuring distances and weights with the imperial system, but it turns out that that is not the only difference. Some of what we perceive about time and distance is based on our own experiences and history. For Americans, a building from the 1600s is a historical landmark, while for Europeans a building like that wouldn’t even deserve a photo. And with distance, Europe has so many countries that are closer together than the states in the U.S so the idea of a 6-hour bus ride would be insane. The following stories show just how much where you grow up affects your view of time and space.

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    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

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    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    It is still up for debate when the first Americans, the Native Americans, first arrived in America, because more and more evidence continues to be discovered. However, As of now, scientists can say soundly there were people across the Americas at least 15,000 years ago, with even some evidence suggesting as far back as 40,000 years ago. As for the colonists, their date is much much more recent, with people arriving from Europe in the early 1600s. The United States declared independence from the British on July 2, 1776, and signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, making the formal country only 243-years-old. This makes the U.S extremely young when compared to Europe. The oldest country in Europe is the microstate of The Republic of San Mario, who gained independence from the Roman Empire September 3rd, 301 AD. They are followed by France who first unified in 486 AD under the name Francia.

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    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

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    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    A common misconception is that Europe is smaller than the United States. However, when it comes to land mass the two are actually pretty similar the United States is 9,833,000 square kilometers while Europe is 10,180,000 square kilometers. The confusion comes from the disproportioned way maps were designed, and the fact that countries are smaller and closer together, like states in the eastern part of the U.S, unlike those in the western states. For example, Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe (818 miles at its longest) is almost the same size as Texas (801 miles for Texas) the second largest state int the U.S.

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

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    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    So how do you Europe and the United States match up to the rest of the world? The largest city in the world is Shanghai, China with 24,153,000 people, the largest European city is – which is also the fourth largest city in the world – is Istanbul, Turkey with 14.7 million people and the largest U.S city is New York with 8.6 million. The United States not only doesn’t have the largest city by far, but it’s also not even the largest country, coming in third behind Russia and Canada.

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    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

    People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space

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    Sofie Tapia

    Sofie Tapia

    Author, Community member

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    Sofie Tapia is a journalism graduate from the University of Kentucky. She is now a free-spirited content creator who wanders the globe rearranging words for various outlets. She previously worked as a reporter for Lebanon Daily News and worked as an editor at both Al-Masry Al-Youm and Egypt Independent. She can be reached at Sofie@BoredPanda.com

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    Sofie Tapia

    Sofie Tapia

    Author, Community member

    Sofie Tapia is a journalism graduate from the University of Kentucky. She is now a free-spirited content creator who wanders the globe rearranging words for various outlets. She previously worked as a reporter for Lebanon Daily News and worked as an editor at both Al-Masry Al-Youm and Egypt Independent. She can be reached at Sofie@BoredPanda.com

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    Mark Muirhead
    Community Member
    5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't understand those random American comparisons. Seattle to Miami is longer than Paris to Baghdad? How about Skarsvåg in Norway to Heraklion in Greece - it's almost the exact same distance. I also don't understand how "Europe" is a thing for them. "European culture" for example. There's no such thing. Europe is made up of dozens of countries, each with VERY distinct customs and traditions. Even neighbouring countries are worlds apart.

    Daria B
    Community Member
    5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    THANK YOU! For the same reasons, I seriously dislike the term "western culture / western countries / western world" within intellectual contexts. Some people may find it petty or nitpicking, but try living in a different country for a while and you'll feel the importance of accuracy.

    Load More Replies...
    Nasos Dimis
    Community Member
    5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's very cute that people think England is old... I live in Thessaloniki Greece, we celebrated the 2300 year of our city.

    mtvare
    Community Member
    5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nasos Dimis, let kids have fun :) p.s. we still remember you took our golden fleece :D

    Load More Replies...
    Carol Emory
    Community Member
    5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My husband lived in Japan for 4 months on a student exchange program. He met several people including a girl from Montreal Canada who was married to a guy from England. When they were visiting Seattle for her husbands job, we took them out to dinner at a nice restaurant by the waterfront. Heavy on the seafood, the meal started with clam chowder which they were happy with. Then came the main entrees. Their eyes widened. They said "we thought the chowder was the meal." Then it dawned on me that people from other countries don't consume the portions that Americans do. It explains why the American reviews of international restaurants are heavy on the "Not enough food" complaints. Luckily it was rice with Alder Smoked Salmon and they had a fridge in their hotel room. They took the rest back to the hotel and re-heated it the next day for lunch. After that, we either chose restaurants with small portions or found places where we could share meals.

    Load More Comments
    Mark Muirhead
    Community Member
    5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't understand those random American comparisons. Seattle to Miami is longer than Paris to Baghdad? How about Skarsvåg in Norway to Heraklion in Greece - it's almost the exact same distance. I also don't understand how "Europe" is a thing for them. "European culture" for example. There's no such thing. Europe is made up of dozens of countries, each with VERY distinct customs and traditions. Even neighbouring countries are worlds apart.

    Daria B
    Community Member
    5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    THANK YOU! For the same reasons, I seriously dislike the term "western culture / western countries / western world" within intellectual contexts. Some people may find it petty or nitpicking, but try living in a different country for a while and you'll feel the importance of accuracy.

    Load More Replies...
    Nasos Dimis
    Community Member
    5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's very cute that people think England is old... I live in Thessaloniki Greece, we celebrated the 2300 year of our city.

    mtvare
    Community Member
    5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nasos Dimis, let kids have fun :) p.s. we still remember you took our golden fleece :D

    Load More Replies...
    Carol Emory
    Community Member
    5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My husband lived in Japan for 4 months on a student exchange program. He met several people including a girl from Montreal Canada who was married to a guy from England. When they were visiting Seattle for her husbands job, we took them out to dinner at a nice restaurant by the waterfront. Heavy on the seafood, the meal started with clam chowder which they were happy with. Then came the main entrees. Their eyes widened. They said "we thought the chowder was the meal." Then it dawned on me that people from other countries don't consume the portions that Americans do. It explains why the American reviews of international restaurants are heavy on the "Not enough food" complaints. Luckily it was rice with Alder Smoked Salmon and they had a fridge in their hotel room. They took the rest back to the hotel and re-heated it the next day for lunch. After that, we either chose restaurants with small portions or found places where we could share meals.

    Load More Comments
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