European Vs. American Mentality As Seen In Architecture

One of my favorite things about traveling to different places is looking at the architecture. I love buildings. A large percentage of my pictures is of buildings in the various places I travel to. After roaming around Europe for two months, I can conclude that the architecture in Europe is very different than America. I think you can tell a lot about a society and their mentality by the type of buildings that they build.

Let's look at the Austin skyline for example:

Notice the number of large buildings we have. This picture is a little dated as there have been several new buildings that have been constructed since I took that photo. Here are the tallest buildings in Austin:

• The Austonian - 628 ft (208 m) 56 floors
• 360 Condo Tower - 563 ft (172 m) 44 floors
• Frost Bank Tower - 515 ft (157 m) 33 floors

You can see a list of the tallest buildings in Austin here. We have 7 buildings over 100 m and there are 6 more under construction at the moment. I rarely saw such tall buildings while traveling in Europe. Keep in mind that Austin is not even one of the largest cities in America. It's only the 15th biggest city with a population of 758 thousand people with a metro area of 1.6 million people. Take a look at all the major US cities and you'll see that all of them have impressive skylines.

Let's take a look at a typical European city that's comparable in size to Austin. One of my favorite mid size European city happens to be Dresden, Germany.

Unlike American cities, European cities don't look impressive at all from a distance. There are not a large number of tall, large buildings that dominate the skyline. Instead, European cities are much more artistic. Take a look at these buildings in Dresden:

Notice how artistic they are with the colors and sculptures. In general, European cities emphasize the city's art and culture. Even large, wealthy, European cities such as Munich or Paris are built in this manner. There are very few buildings that will grab your attention from a distance. European cities are meant to be enjoyed up close and in person. You can't appreciate buildings like this from 5 or 10 miles away.

Meanwhile, American cities build buildings to emphasis the city's economic strength, prosperity, and status. The Austonian represents this:

There is no economic reason to build buildings such as The Austonian in Austin. It is purely a status symbol for the residents of the building and the city. The whole mentality of Americans can be seen in the architecture of the buildings that we build. It's to show strength, prosperity, and wealth. It represents what is known around the world as The American Dream. Most Americans I know (myself included) have big dreams of wanting to become "the next big thing" in their field. You can see this mentality at work at the buildings we build in all of our cities. We have a very ambitious, competitive nature and mentality. Heck, I want to live in the Austonian. :)

Contrast this with Europe where the cities are built to emphasize their art, culture, and history. Europeans have a very different mentality than Americans. The mentality there emphasizes people's welfare, happiness, and quality of life vs. material wealth and economic status. Hence you see this in their politics as well. Most European countries have a more socialist policy, stronger labor laws, more welfare benefits, and much more vacation time. It's why you see Europeans traveling so much. They have enough vacation time to do it.

Which is the better model? I think both have their advantages and disadvantage. American mentality is definitely more individualistic, independent, and competitive, while Europeans seem to have a more social, cooperative mentality.

My European Adventure

I spent the past 2 months (actually 7 weeks) in Europe. It has been an quite an experience! I have always had a desire to explore the world around since I was a small child, but what inspired me to go on this trip was my trip to Australia last May. There were so many Europeans (especially Germans and British) traveling Australia for months at a time. I had never traveled for more than 3 weeks at a time, so I wanted to go on a multi month trip to see what it would be like. My original plan was to go around the world. I would fly to Europe, then end my European tour in Amsterdam, fly to Asia, and then go home from Asia. That turned out to be a little too ambitious as I am tired from living on the road and a bit home sick as well. Asia will have to be a separate trip.

My plan was to focus on north eastern Europe. I figure western Europe may be too similar to the United States and since I was traveling in the summer, I should do the northern countries while the weather was good there. I could goto southern countries (such as Italy) during the winter on a separate trip. It didn't quite work out that way as I missed the Scandinavian countries (save Iceland) and the Baltic's and ended going into the Balkans (long story), but it was still a great experience.

The first thing I noticed was how far American culture extends around the world. Even in far eastern Europe, you see American icons everywhere. McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, KFC, are almost everywhere. These American brands seem even more popular in some European cities than in America. For example, McDonalds is much more popular in Paris than in the states. There were lines at the register at every one I went to. I went there quite often as 1) they are almost everywhere in the most convenient locations, 2) they tend to stay open for longer hours, and 3) there have free WiFi in most locations. In Venice it can costs €5 for an hour of Internet access.

Hollywood movies are everywhere and so is American pop music. They play much of the same top 20 songs in clubs as they do in the states. The influence of America is much more obvious than say, the Soviet Union in the former communist countries.

As I traveled, I started to realize just how American I am. For the most part, America is a very self segregated society. Perhaps there is still discrimination, but it has evolved to the point where it is not immediately obvious as say in the 1950's. People tend to cluster along the lines of race, ethnicity, or religion. They form ethnic or religious communities and we see ourselves as hyphenated Americans (i.e. Asian-American, African-American, Italian-American, Irish-American, etc). You see this in schools, communities, even bars and clubs. Our diversity is both our greatest strength and weakness. Within America, I would say people see me first and foremost as an Asian.

Here in Europe though, I felt that I was first an foremost an American, who happens to be Asian, which was a bit unusual (most thought I was either from China or Japan), but immediately obvious upon speaking to me. At our core, we are a nation built around an ideology and philosophy rather than a race, ethnicity, or religion. I found the easiest people for me to associate with were other Americans (of course), Canadians, Australians, New Zealand, and British. It was not just a common native language, but also mannerisms, attitudes, their view of the world, and social customs.

I found that Europeans in general are a bit more reserved than Americans. They are much less likely to approach and chat up a random stranger. At times, I felt that it would probably be more difficult for me to integrate into a mainstream European community than say Australia or Canada.

However, people from the Balkans (Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia) were a lot different in temperament than the rest of Europe. It is very different there even for many Europeans. There they were extremely outgoing (the men were a bit crazy) and sometimes a bit aggressive. I was approached many times (since I am obviously not from there) on my trip to Belgrade by people asking me where I was from and what I was doing in this part of the world. But they are a fun people and they love to laugh and have a good time.

What Europeans Think Of Americans

As the result of George Bush, there has been a lot of anti American sentiment in Europe. I can say that George Bush is universally hated in Europe (and probably in America as well). However, Obama seems to be universally loved here. The sentiment seems to have improved with his election. Nevertheless, despite all the good America has done for Europe (defeating the Nazis and Communists), there seems to be great dissatisfaction with our foreign policy. People in Europe seem to have strong dislike of America being the "world police". The people in the Balkans seem to have the strongest opinions of American foreign policy as the Yugoslav wars are still fresh in many people minds. Just about everyone here seems to have a strong opinion about America and unfortunately it's mostly a negative one in the places I've traveled to. Regardless of one's opinion, it is undeniable that America has greatly influenced what has happened in Europe and the rest of the world.

Staying In Hostels

This was the first time I've traveled so extensively in hostels. For the most part, it was a great experience and totally different than staying in hotels and motels. I met so many new friends and interesting people staying in hostels. It was a big part of the experience. Unlike hotels, most of the hostels are set up so that you can meet people. Sleeping in the same room with strangers can take some getting use to, but for the most part, I didn't have too many problems. However, I did need to get a hotel room every few days because sometimes it's nice to have the privacy, security, and convenience of your own room.

I really want to come to Europe again. There is an enormous amount of history and culture here no matter which direction you go. It's a great learning experience to meet people, cultures, customs, and food from everywhere in the world. Just the new friends you will make traveling make it worthwhile. :)

Amsterdam: Drugs, Hookers, and Just About Everything Else

Amsterdam is a much different place than the rest of Europe. It must be one of the most liberal, tolerant cities in the entire world. Drugs, prostitution and just about anything you want to do (as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else) seems to be tolerated here. The city is a melting pot much like New York is. There are people from all over the world because the Dutch must be one of the most tolerant societies in the world.

I spent more time than I care to admit in the Red Light District. You can spend hours here just watching the prostitutes in the windows and the men interacting with them. I found it fascinating just to people watch because of the honesty and openness of it all. Many men would sit there and gawk at the women, but were too scared (myself included) to actually go and try out one of the girls. One British lad I walked around with was virtually foaming at the mouth and wanted to do one of the girls but was paralyzed with fear of actually going to one. You won't find this anywhere else in the world. It was a quite surreal experience...