15 things I loved about the USA
Sep 8, 2018 · 3 min read
- Cornbread.
- Tortillas, and any corn-based recipe, basically.
- People’s openness.
- Freedom is king here and Liberty it’s his queen.
- There are drinkable water fountains everywhere.
- Open free libraries (with great books) are a thing here.
- The orange color of the street lines
- Neighborhoods are often nicer than the city center
- Oats. And all oats-based products.
- Maple syrup. And maple syrup pancakes when you want to feel fat.
- The grocery stores are almost as big as my hometown and they have pretty much anything your mind could think of. Also, for the same product, they offer a thousand different brands and a thousand different flavors.
- Music, there is always good music.
- Italians everywhere (but this is international)
- It’s the land of opportunities, yes, even for that crazy idea you had in a drawer for ages. This amazing country started from nothing and built up a community based on freedom of thoughts, expression, and independence. If something they needed didn’t exist yet, well they invented it. This is what I loved the most about the US.
- Finally, in big American cities you can find almost anything you can think of. So what you choose to look for and what you do each day defines your personality and who you are. Living two months in the US taught me how to follow what I like. I learned to choose the things that were making my day each day. I learned how to recognize what was having a negative influence on my day and to let it go. This time taught me to follow my path without worrying about other people’s judgment, together with the importance of standing to support my thoughts.

And 15 things I love about EU.
- European food. Especially Italian, Spanish and French food. All of it.
- People seem more relaxed in the EU.
- Heterogeneity. When you go from one state to the other you find a completely different culture, language, lifestyle, and traditions. You can take a 4 hours train and be in Germany or in Italy or in Spain and the people, the language and the food will be completely different.
- Each state has its own history.
- The European’s cultural refinement. There is a magic charm around the attention to the classics and the endless referrals to the European history.
- The lifestyle. Open air spaces tend to be preferred to air conditioning.
- The attention to sustainability. People walk everywhere if possible, waste is kept to the minimum: no need to produce tons of ice cubes to refresh water that is already fresh.
- The attention to the quality of things, rather than to their presentation.
- European fashion.
- Schools in EU start in mid-September, so summer vacations are longer.
- Coffee. I’m sorry, I’m not a big fan of Starbucks. The coffee from that tiny, little cafe (you know, the one at the corner of the street where you were walking just by chance) will always have a better taste to me.
- Drinking habits. In most EU countries young people (and especially girls) drink less. Having a fine glass of high-quality wine or sharing a handcrafted beer from time to time is just better than drinking on a daily basis 3 cans of soda, beer or cherry-tasting-sparkling water.
- Smells. Some of the streets in Italy, Spain, France or Germany just smell so good.
- Soap. I have an irrational passion for savon de Marseille.
- My family and my love are in the EU and also the possibility for me to reach them with a couple of hours flight.
And Switzerland? Well…

Switzerland is my own private fairytale.
