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First of all, don't lump all European countries together! I can't speak on behalf of the entire continent, but I know for sure that the Scandinavian countries are by no means like a Moroccan street market, when it comes to consumer protection. On the contrary, Scandinavia is a pretty...

There seems to be a growing interest in the Scandinavian welfare model, especially in the US, where some media however paint a very rosy picture of Scandinavia. These videos are definitely worth seeing, although they show a one-sided view of Scandinavia: Michael Moore in Norway...

When I'm in Britain, people ask me if I'm American, and when I'm in the US, they ask me if I'm British :satisfied: So I guess my accent is somewhere in between... And I'm flattered at being mistaken for a native English speaker :cool-v: Most teachers I have had in school preferred to teach...

I haven't seen it, unfortunately. And by the way, "Die Welle" means "the wave". Actually, a lot of brilliant movies have come out of Germany in recent years. Good Bye Lenin!, Der Untergang, Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters)and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex are all movies I recommend.

It depends on what "speaking a language" means. I am fluent in two languages: Danish and English. I can read German pretty well, since it's close to Danish, but my knowledge of the grammar isn't so good that I can say I'm fluent in German. I speak some French. I was pretty good back in high...

I think that, generally speaking, people in "immigrant countries" like the US, Canada and Australia by nature talk more to strangers than Europeans do. But in Europe, people tend to get more reserved the further north you go. Finns are the most introverted, followed by the Swedes and Norwegians...

1.2 I generally don't mind talking to a stranger, but rarely start conversations I have lived in California, and I love the way Americans are able to small-talk to each other while standing in line in the supermarket, sitting on the bus etc... In the Nordic countries it's completely...

Yes, it sounds funny, but nearly all of those laws are never enforced in practice. An exception is the prohibition against breast-feeding in public, which is true enough!

Indeed, it would be impossible to have the same minimum ages in all countries. Every country has different traditions, norms, legal systems etc... Having said that, I think that the United States is the country that is MOST out of sync with the rest of the developed world. In some states you...

Welcome to Scandinavia :rolleyes2: After all, this doesn't surprise me. Sweden has for a long time been the world's number one in gender equality, but now they have reached the point where it gets too extreme. Do you know whether anybody has ever been convicted of this kind of "sexual...

I don't quite have the same feeling, but there are certainly some cultural diffferences between Scandinavia and France. Scandinavians are informal, while the French are more formal. Scandinavians are very egalitarian, whereas France is a more hierarchical society. Last but not least...

Here is another question: Why is it that they don't refrigerate eggs in many countries? I have always thought that eggs should be kept in the refrigerator all the time...

I just found these statistics: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2658175.ece UHT milk as a percentage of total consumption: Austria 20.3 Belgium 96.7 Czech Rep 71.4 Denmark 0.0 Finland 2.4 France 95.5 Germany 66.1 Greece 0.9 Hungary 35.1 Ireland 10.9 Italy 49.8...

Just a simple question... France is world-famous for its food culture and high standards. But every time I am in France and go to the supermarkets, I'm shocked that I so hard to find fresh milk. They only have UHT (long-life) milk, which tastes disgusting... :vomitting: In many countries...

It's worrying how little people care about the election. I just heard in the news that the turnout is expected to be well below 50%. But after all, I shouldn't be surprised. It is probably due to the Danish media, which don't seem to care either. During the 5 year long election period, they...

Three movies I enjoyed very much: The Celebration (Festen) Denmark, 1998 One of my favourite Danish films, and it won quite a few awards. It tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father's 60th birthday. At the dinner the son reveals a rather unpleasant secret about his...

I entirely agree with all of you. The main reason is the smallness of the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. As relatively few people understand our native languages (you Brits are lucky :wink:), we need to learn foreign languages, and since English is the world's lingua franca, it's...

As far as i understand it, the idea behind "fair trade" is that the farmers get a decent wage, have better working conditions, don't use child labour etc. So the poor lady who picked your bananas in Panama is better paid, and that is the main reason why fair trade products are more expensive. So...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2009 In three weeks (4 June - 7 June), the elections to the European Parliament will be held in all 27 EU member states. Unfortunately, many Europeans are not aware of the election, so the turnout is usually low (about 50% here in...

And I live in Copenhagen, which calls itself "the world's bike capital". That is with good reason, as we have excellent bicycle infrastructure (only Amsterdam is comparable with Copenhagen). Just take a look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_8dGodhGtI...