I recently studied abroad in the Netherlands. Below, I discuss five things that I like less about the United States after experiencing life in another country.
Desensitization to news
U.S. society, news, and media are constantly flooded with tragedy, from police brutality to hate crime and mass gun violence. It has gotten to the point where it’d be emotionally exhaustive to pay attention to every event, which in turn creates a sense of guilt for ignoring such extremities. Especially after spending time in the Netherlands, I’d really wished I lived in a society where there was more capacity to focus on every big issue. U.S. society is far too accustomed to trauma, but growing up in it made me far more appreciative of simpler societies like that of the Netherlands.
Cost of Living
It never struck me as characteristically American to overwork; I thought that was just the impact of wealth inequality and inflation on the world. Though wealth inequality is extreme in virtually all first-world countries, poverty and homelessness aren’t, and the living wage being the minimum wage takes some credit in many of them. People in the U.S. oftentimes pick up second jobs or excessive hours just to afford rent and groceries, so seeing a comfortable middle class put into perspective the economic tension in the U.S. Also to blame is the overall cost of living, which has skyrocketed in all areas. University housing in the U.S. is around $13,000 a year while it’s under $4,000 in The Netherlands, people in the U.S. spend up to $500 on groceries weekly while people in the Netherlands rarely spend $100, and insurance in the U.S. is over $500 a month while it’s around $150 in the Netherlands. Most Americans also spend hundreds of dollars on gas and car insurance while most people in the Netherlands bike for free and use public transit. Endless expenses compile to make simply existing far more expensive in the U.S. than it is elsewhere.
Crime
People in the U.S., especially minorities and children, are warned often about kidnapping, trafficking, and countless schemes to watch out for. Women are unable to walk practically anywhere alone after dark, limiting their daily lives. Similarly, marginalized groups fall victim to violent hate crimes for mundane tasks, from going on a run in their neighborhood to sleeping in their home. It’s overwhelming how easy it is to be victimized in the U.S., especially considering the insufficient gun control policy. After spending my adolescent life learning the tricks to stay safe in such a country, I highly valued the freedom and safety in everyday life in the Netherlands (and Nordic countries in general).
Over-policing
Though the U.S. experiences a lot more crime than the Netherlands, it also deals with crime in a less efficient way. With quotas on traffic tickets and racial bias in the law, smaller crimes that could be prevented or rehabilitated are given too much focus in the scope of overall crime rates. Such smaller “crimes” include soft drug possession and even having or administering an abortion. Combining this extensive focus on petty crimes with a mass of genuinely threatening crimes, the U.S. incarceration rate is higher than any other country’s, and double that of all European countries. The Netherlands, whose rate is a tenth of the U.S., openly chooses not to police topics that are much more dangerous when forced underground and unregulated than they are on the streets. For example, due to the ability to access soft drugs, fewer people find themselves in soft drug-related emergencies like lacing, which I find more effective in the long run than policing.
Public transportation
Though public transportation in the Netherlands is similarly priced to that in the U.S., it’s far more efficient. Having a high-speed rail system is environmentally and financially beneficial for European residents, and with the states being similarly spaced to European countries, it would benefit the U.S. similarly. Under current circumstances, high-speed trains are only available in the U.S. between short distances, with trains between the east and west coasts of the country taking days and hundreds of dollars. Travel within the U.S. has been made even less accessible than international travel, both discouraging U.S. tourism and promoting air travel in a poor environmental state.
Nightlife
Drinking and partying culture in Europe is more prevalent in traditions, open, and accessible. Expectable for any American student studying abroad in Europe, I don’t see the nightlife in the U.S. ever living up to this semester. With the drinking age being 21 despite college students being as young as 18, the factors of fake-ID culture and early queueing add unnecessary complications to what should be simple nights out at small college bars. At the university I studied abroad at, the campus bar not only lacked cover and queueing, but other extracurricular events also offered free wine and beer. The overall stigma around drinking is more casual in the Netherlands, which in a way regulates usage in discouraging the illegal or distrustful routes people often get caught up in in the U.S.