Just like the items and behaviors that are easily defined as "American," there are some activities and mindsets that are distinctly "European."
From castles to coffee culture, to an overall dismissal of "hustle culture," this combination of characteristics will leave zero doubts in a person's mind that they have entered a European country.
Redditor doeyy0 asked:
"What is the most European thing ever?"
A Day in the Life
"Driving through four countries to go on vacation, not using your passport, no visa, and using the same currency everywhere."
"Plus using your cell phone all the way with no extra cost."
- Tc2cv
Castles, Castles Everywhere
"I can literally see one castle out of my living room and another one out of my kitchen window."
- 1337sti
The True Meaning of "Walking Distance"
"One big difference is the way from villages to big cities are laid out. They all have numerous squares or public gathering places. You can enjoy a drink, music, and people-watching. You don’t have to drive everywhere. Local pubs abound."
"I always wondered how so many Europeans could make do with those tiny fridges. But then I realized they shop fresh all the time. There are so many butchers or bakers, produce stands, cheese, deli, and flower shops within walking distance. They shop locally and fresh all the time. Without a car."
"My Uncle lived in a big condo or over the row housing area. Every Saturday mobile butchers, bakers, fruit and produce, etc. would set up outside for a few hours and then move on. Everything is fresh and local, and absolutely delicious. And no car needed."
- hhar141
Just a Few Minutes Away
"Going to another country just to go shopping."
- Armstry
Kebabs Aplenty
"From an American's perspective; Kebab shops. I've been all over Europe and I've got to say, those things were everywhere and I stopped at way too many of them. I could really go for a durum kebab right about now..."
- Korvun
Trains, Trains, Trains
"Trains. Trains that are clean. Trains that go where you want to go. Trains that are affordable."
- gadget850
Polyglots Everywhere
"Multilingualism."
- Whimsical-Escape
Better Soft Drinks
"Fanta, but not the American kind."
- unholymxja
Truly Ancient Buildings
"Casually having buildings from millennia ago around you all the time."
- AxelVoxel
The Musical Sport
"Eurovision."
- noise_is_for_heroes
A Continued Tradition
"Closed stores on Sundays."
- bogeysandwine
Multilingual Radio
"One weird thing I learned about other countries is how they get American music on their radios, but we hardly ever get their music on our radios. Recently, the closest we’ve come is Boy With Luv by BTS featuring Halsey."
"I wish we could get some foreign hits on our radios, but oh well. I can look that up online."
- Give_Help_Please
A Top Priority
"A proper selection of cheeses."
- intangible_tangerine
Dressed Up to Go Out
"Men unapologetically dressing super stylish."
- gimmeconfetti
...Whoa.
"Paid vacation time."
- Stratchmop
While these things might be seen occasionally in the United States or other countries, seeing them all compiled in one place feels undeniably European.
People Describe The Things They Learned About A Different Culture Or Religion That Shocked Them
It's okay if you don't understand something about another culture. That's fine, just ask. Be polite, keep an open mind, and be willing to learn. Someone from that culture will be more than happy to explain it to you.
What you shouldn't do is assume something you saw in a forty-year old cartoon is indicative of an entire race of people. It's always good to try and learn new things, so start with these culture shocks that people already woke up to.
Reddit user, yahyahashash, wanted to know what you now know when they asked:
"What is something you discovered about a different culture or religion that completely blew your mind?"
Language, arguably, might be the single greatest defining trait of a culture. Speak Spanish? Then you're from Spain.
Or Mexico.
Or Chile. Peru? Columbia?
Never mind.
Heard It From A Friend Who Heard It From A Friend
"In Turkish, there's a so-called "gossip tense." A specific kind of past tense that indicates that someone else told you this."
airbagpiper
"This is also true in Quechua (language spoken by natives in the Andes) and the Spanish spoken in the Andes also has a hearsay tense (wasn’t that originally but bilinguals morphed it)."
mirrordogs
A Culture Made Up Of Hundreds Of Cultures
"India has more than 200 languages and dialects."
Hlodvigovich915
"India and China are both better understood not as analogous to European countries, but as what Europe as a whole would look like if they had a single government."
candygram4mongo
"In India 270* languages are identified by govt. as main languages. But there are more than 1600 dialects that r spoken in different communities. India is like a continent in itself."
shivasigma
Same, But Different
"Chinese languages: mandarin and Cantonese and other Chinese dialects are mutually unintelligible but the written language is exactly the same. Two Chinese people speaking different dialects would have no idea what each other is saying but they could communicate by writing"
babystay
"I learned this in Hong Kong from a friend who is from there and speaks Cantonese and English. He said his Mandarin is very poor but that’s ok because he can still read everything he gets sent at work."
katiejim
What we worship, and how we celebrate, varies throughout the world, and you'll never find something so obviously demonstrating the differences in a culture than how we celebrate a birthday.
Also, temple fights.
A Birthday Tax
"Some cultures your friends treat you on your birthday and other cultures you treat your friends on your birthday. An example would be paying for a birthday dinner with friends."
theottozone
"Filipino culture says the latter. It gets annoying when people know it’s your birthday and everyone you run into that day will ask for their “treat”, even jokingly."
mufflednoise
"We Indonesians jokingly call it "pajak ultah" (Birthday taxes)"
Virghia
Say A Prayer. Start A Brawl.
"Temple culture in Taiwan:"
"The people who run the temples, and put on holiday performances for their respective gods, are a community of lost boys and society's rejects. They have an unsavory reputation, associated with petty crime and drug use. Each temple is basically a carnie street gang with a folk religion theme. They take your real money in exchange for fake money, which you are supposed to burn so your ancestors have money in the after life (insert mandatory inflation joke). Sometimes the temples have rivalries, and brawls break out between devotees during religious festivals and competitions."
"Folk religion is alive and well in Taiwan, but at the same time, people who take it seriously have a "trailer trash" image, so it's considered cringy to be too interested in it. Good upstanding citizens just burn incense, say a prayer to their ancestors, take pictures if it's a touristy temple, and leave."
Glitter-Pompeii
Party All Night, Rock n' Roll Every Day
"the Spanish eat dinner at like 10pm and party until like 4am and still have energy to go to work the next day. Idk where they get the reserve of energy to do that but it’s wild"
adubsi
"Some of that comes from the fact that Spain is in the "wrong" time zone. They're in the Central European time zone, along with countries as far east as Poland (instead of countries like Portugal and the UK which have more comparable longitudes) so the sun sets super late for them. Though even compensating for that, their dinners are still pretty late."
tennisdrums
The world is big and different and beautiful. Be willing to learn more.
Born This Way
"There’s a Micronesian island where all the inhabitants are color blind. They know when fruit is ripe by the smell. It just gave me a new understanding of how people see the world and the different pathways cultures take to solve the same problems."
Unleashtheducks
"There's a community in the Dominican Republic where 5 alpha reductase deficiency is (relatively) extremely common, to the point where it's just generally accepted that sometimes girls turn into boys at puberty."
candygram4mongo
Senses Of Scale Are Completely Off
"How much which country you grew up in fucks with your sense of scale."
"I was born and raised in Canada, lived here all my life. We're the second-largest country in the entire world by area, behind only Russia. When I went to visit some friends in Germany, we got talking about Canada and I mentioned how I went to university in a city that was "only" a four hour drive away from my childhood home. I commented that I liked it because it was far enough away to have some independence, but still close enough I could drop by and visit my family on holidays or breaks."
"This caused them to laugh uproariously, much to my confusion. One of them eventually explained that a four hour drive would take you more than halfway across the entire country of Germany and it was not what any of them would consider "close". These same people, by the way, had a church just outside of their town that was over 800 years old and no one thought that was particularly remarkable."
"That's when I learned the difference between European and North American cultures. A European thinks a 100 km trip is "far"; a North American thinks a 100 year old building is "old"."
darkknight109
The United States Is A Baby Country For Babies
"This is really true and funny, I experienced this the other way round."
"Coming from Sri Lanka where you can literally drive from coast to coast the same day to see sunrise and sunset and have time to rest in between, I was blown away by the distances in the US. I had never in my life had driven more than 300 miles at a stretch before that."
"On the other hand, I was chatting with a bunch of American friends one day and mentioned that I was surprised to find that the inclusion of chilli into Sri Lankan food - which is such an integral part of it - was rather a recent thing that happened around 1,600s after the Portuguese visited us back then. My friends thought it was hilarious I think 1,600s is "recent" given that the US didn't even exist at the time. But for us who have a 2,500+ year history it is rather recent."
whatissevenbysix
There's a lot more out there than could fit in the space above, so keep that mind and heart open and be willing to accept when you might have a blind spot about a people. It's okay. Growth is good.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Americans Break Down The Biggest Culture Shocks They Ever Faced When Visiting Europe
Leaving your homeland, even for a quick little getaway can be quite a surprise.
There is a whole world out there.
And no country is quite like any other.
That's why it's fun to experience a new place.
Though it might leave many people surprised, especially Americans.
America has a radically different way of life than say, Europe.
And it's a blast to revel in.
Redditor jrusj wanted to hear about what Americans need to prepare for when leaving the homeland. They asked:
"Americans that visited Europe, what was the biggest shock for you?"
It is so easy to travel through different countries in Europe. I was astonished. Some countries are connected by minutes in travel. Not days. So breezy...
ANYWHERE!!
Happy Hour Drinking GIFGiphy"You can drink a beer anywhere, anytime. I mean I woke up in Berlin and bought a bottle of beer at a small breakfast stand in a park it was like 6am."
CregSantiago
Back in the Day
"History. I followed a tour of American tourists into the church in downtown. Question gets asked: Is this the oldest church in town? Heard reply:"
"(Chuckle) Oh no, the old church is on the North side of the river. This church was built in 1310."
"Just a different perspective on history."
diogenes_shadow
"100% true. And also, for me, was the SIZE of those cathedrals. The size of the huge stones they are built with, and the fact that they were built over a thousand years ago. Like… HOW!? How did they get those massive stones, get them here and then hoist them up 12 stories (or whatever) to place them there. It hurts my brain. Does not compute!"
Liznobbie
Wheels Up
"I’m Dutch, but I’ll never forget my American girlfriend’s reaction to seeing rows and rows of parked bicycles in front of the train station when she came to visit the Netherlands. 'Oh my God look at all those bikes!!'"
Jockelson
"I'm from Germany, so I used to a few hundreds bikes In front of big train stations. But at Amsterdam Central I thought: 'Oh my God, look at all those bikes!!!'"
Natural_Influence_21
Distance
"Finally, I can walk to a store."
MonsieurAppleSauce
"I lived in Rio de Janeiro and now in a small town in Pennsylvania. I like living in the city, I miss being able to walk 5 min to the small grocery store in my street if I wanted to make a recipe but didn’t have the ingredients, and buying fresh bread from the bakery shop."
"I also like living in the residential area of my small town now, the house is nice, I have a backyard with trees and 'wild' animals, I can walk with my dog on the path between the houses’ backyards without worrying about cars. Both ways of building a neighborhood has positives and negatives. Delivery services for groceries and fruits/vegetables help a lot nowadays but it can get expensive."
agiab19
Blind Faith
Party Pedestrian GIF by Wegen en VerkeerGiphy"The only thing that really surprised me was how much pedestrians trusted cars to not hit them."
MrGoalden
In London I was shocked and thrilled by that drinking thing. Anywhere. Just walk around the streets with wine.
Pardon Me?
Sam Heughan Dancing GIF by Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and GrahamGiphy"I went to Scotland. Ran across some German tourist who asked us to translate what the scot was saying. We were all three speaking English. They just couldn’t understand each other."
ARgirlinaFLworld
Infancy
"How young the U.S. truly is."
Strong_Ground_4410
"I went to one of the many Roman structures in England (I cant remember which one) and the tour guide said something like ‘mind, the floors are a bit uneven. Cant be helped, they were lain 1950 years ago.’"
OwMyCandle
"Americans think 100 years is a long time, Europeans think 100 miles is a long way."
locks_are_paranoid
Urban Planning
"How old a lot of the cities are. People still living in buildings older than the U.S. Walking down some of the old streets feels like you’re time traveling into a medieval fairytale."
Adventurous-Canary78
"It's crazy to think I live in a house older than the US (over 350 years old), and it's not like I'm living in a historical monument. Loads of the houses around here are that old, and it's not big or expensive. It's a regular mid-terrace."
onchristieroad
"The building I rented a flat in last time I was in London was built in 1731 according to the plaque next to the entrance. I'm a huge history nerd so my jimmies were tingling."
lilcaesarsuave
Size Matters
"When I ordered a small drink, it was actually small."
HutSutRawlson
"Sizes are definitely different. I remember going to a Domino's in NYC. Was surprised at the size difference in pizzas. Your small was our medium, your medium was our large and your large would be a 'where the hell did you get that giant pizza from' here."
domin8r
Happy
Dance Smile GIF by Mediaset EspañaGiphy"First time in Spain… 22:30… Sun still out… parents sitting, drinking, relaxing while kids run up n down… felt so completely safe and comfortable."
mapplejax
We could really learn a thing or two about de-stressing from Spain. We need siestas.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
We take a lot of things for granted in our lives. Look at where many of our readers live, after all. America is the land of freedom, comfort, and all services provided to us by the click of a smartphone possibly all of us are using to read this.
However, when you look at the state of certain countries, even those considered to live in "poverty" stateside have it much better than some in third-world countries. It's all a matter of perspective, and sometimes a luxury in one country can be considered uninspiring in another.
Reddit user, HanzeeeeDent, wanted to know how our countries differ when they asked:
"What is a luxury in one country, but a common item in another?"
Food is the easiest way to notice the discrepancies between the nations. What might be a dish of high-class value in one country can be seen as street food in another.
The Right Kind Of Fruit
"Japanese seem to be amazed at how abundant melons are outside if japan. It’s like they’re a luxury over there"
KentuckyFriedEel
"They have auctions where they'll pay thousands of dollars for the most perfect looking melons over there. They give them as gifts and display the melon for people to look at"
Monicabrewinskie
"I live in a city where Japanese executives and their families come to live for a year or so as part of their corporate culture. It is funny AS HELL to see them the first time in the grocery store. Whole cart full of melons. Hilarious."
The_Patriot
Quick! Hurry, Millennials!
"Avocados. I went to Belize and they grow naturally and just saw a pile of like 50 avocados just rotting on the ground because there was just way more than anyone’s ever going to eat. It was crazy."
Old-Research3367
"When I was living in Peru it was basically all fruit in this manner… mangos, pomegranate, passion fruit, citrus, you name it, thered be an old lady on a street corner with a pile of them hocking them for basically nothing."
"I live in LA now and what’s blown my mind is the amount of fruit trees used as decorative landscaping that just let them drop and toss them while the same stuff sells for $ at the store… passionfruit is something like $10 per lb. Meanwhile my neighbors have the vines as decoration on their side wall and just let them roll into the street"
JoefromOhio
Bag It Up!
"Soda cans. Here in the US are cheap af, but in my country they are a luxury. We buy usually a 2 liter bottles and we have to make it last."
Mariuxpunk007
"I lived in northwest Africa for a time, as well as Thailand. If you wanted a soda, you got a bag with a straw. Cans or small bottles were almost non-existent."
Shroom4Yoshi
"Philippines too. But only in very small stores. Reason is that they do not want to give away the bottle. For example, if you buy beer in a small store, you pay a small deposit. Then when you return the bottle, they give you the money back. For recycling."
sinus
Sounds Like A Good Time
"poppy seeds, pork, and alcohol"
"come to Slovakia, it is all legal, cheap and everywhere here"
"we also have legal foraging in any forrest that has no fence and is not part of national park....so year round practically free mushrooms, bear garlic, various berries, rosehip, herbs and tree fruit (for free fruit trees location there is an app)"
"leather products are not that expensive,too....actually, eating lamb is a luxury, owning sheepskin rug is quite common"
applesandoranges990
Societies are built on what we expect from one another, along with the expectations we carry for the people around us. When those assumptions are shifted, that's when you see the real differences in our home countries.
Call The Butler To Help The Maid
"Domestic helps."
Lonlolsm99
"What is domestic helps?"
Zenty3
"In many countries normal people have drivers, maids and other people working for their families. It isn’t a sign of wealth. It is more of a sign of people working for next to nothing."
NoChatting2day
Get Them Good Learnin'!
"Foreign Language classes before high school"
KhajitCaravan
"It is for a lot of people. Countries like France and Japan have their kids speaking at least 2 languages by the time they get to high-school. In America, most of us don't get exposed to a foreign language until high-school and that's why most people don't remember or even use their other language after graduating. It's taught to us at the worst time possible. My sister is the only person I've known [I went to three high-school so I've know a few people] who is "painfully fluent" In Spanish that she learned in high-school."
KhajitCaravan
We'll Never See Eye-to-Eye On Anything
"Let's just take the US and Russia for comparison, because it's most close to home for me."
"Ice making double-door fridges - pretty common in the US. Definitely a luxury in Russia."
"A second out-of-town property called a dacha. I have been told it's a luxury for Americans. In Russia, I would say, it's pretty normal to have a dacha - a summer home for vacation, out in the rural area. Maybe I'm wrong on this one."
"5G speed internet. Unlimited data. A luxury in Russia, pretty much the norm in the US today."
"Avocados. Canadian maple syrup. But that could be said for any imported foods. They are ridiculously expensive in the RF."
"Some construction equipment. I watch HGTV regularly and what they use could be considered a luxury in Russia, at least some of the equipment and materials. However a log cabin, I'd say, seems to me as more of a luxury in the US than Russia, because the most common type of construction in the US is the wood frame construction."
Not-a-Russian
When You Need To Smell Like A Star
"Deodorant. It’s an uncommon luxury in some East Asian countries where most people just don’t need it."
vivianmay02
And then there's these, pieces of life and society which show your rank, class, and social status without intending to the people of the world. You might think of them as commonplace, but to someone else they might be worth more than gold.
As Stated Before, Perspective Is Everything
"I remember when I was little McDonalds was quite a luxury for me. I was getting it 2-3 times a year and it was expensive for me and I guess for most common folks in my country. Not so much anymore, it have become something like the typical fast food. Times are changing. Wish you all good fellow Eastern Europeans."
YoghurtPower24
We Don't Even Think About It
"Air conditioning"
fattest_rattlesnake
"In the U.S. it's very common and we're always changing it. We go to Mexico and the whole house it hot af and everyone wants to stay in the one room that has AC."
V0rt3XBl4d3
"Hell, when I lived in East Asia, people would just hang at the local mall, because they had AC."
"In Vietnam, even one AC in a house was a serious status symbol. Which is awful, because it gets hot af during the hot season."
ACaffeinatedWandress
What We Need To Exist In This World Has Changed Drastically
"A bed."
"I’m from the Philippines and I’ve never had a bed. My family has slept on either a thin mattress on the floor or a “Banig” (a handwoven mat with no cushion so you might as well be sleeping on the floor) for most of my life and this is how it is for majority of the people in the country due to poverty"
"To the people asking why I can afford internet and a computer, but not a bed…"
"I don’t have a computer, I’m using an old secondhand phone and internet service can be around $20 while a bed is $100-$300, if you’re lucky (we don’t even have space for a bed, that’s why we use foldable mattresses and mats we can roll up). From what I’ve seen, $50 can get you just the frame or just the mattress."
"Internet is more of a necessity because 3 of us here are students and we have families abroad to stay in touch with. The money you can buy with a bed can cover all of our bills and get a few groceries. I can sleep on the floor if it meant having electricity, water, shelter, and food."
meispissed
It's All Relative
"cars. A new lowest spec Toyota corolla may cost upwards $100k in singapore. That’s equivalent to an approximate 1.5 years average income."
s1vaaeyy
"Bur you have some of the best public transit in the world. In the US that is a luxury. Density and walkability are also luxuries."
dharmabird67
Not A Drop To Drink
Water. Specifically, clean potable water.
In some countries people die for the want of water.
In my country we use clean water to flush away piss and sh-t. We leave the tap running while we brush our teeth.
Nuffsaid98
So, Where Do We...
"Indoor plumbing."
HolyMolyArtichoke
"It’s incredible something that’s existed hundreds of years is still so alien to some people."
HanzeeeeDent
Never take what you have for granted. Odds are, there's a multitude of people out in the world who think of what you have as a king's fortune.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
People Share The Popular Misconceptions People Have About Their Home Country
Every country is unique in their traditions, their customs, and the way people live their lives. It makes traveling so desired by so many people.
However, with the spread of misinformation and the consumption of media that decides to simplify whole cultures, people think wrong things about an entire culture worth of people.
They might think a country acts a certain way, or sounds a certain way, or likes to look for elves in the mountains.
Wait, what?
Reddit user, SodaWithoutSparkles, wanted to know what people get wrong about where you live when they asked:
"What popular beliefs about your country just isn't true?"
There are the classics, the ones right at the top of people's minds when they think of another country, or another continent, worth of people. Wrong, yes, but popular, and maybe that's the problem.
Such A Small View Of A Large Continent
"Kenyans are all long-distance runners, live in huts, speak no English, and have pet wild animals. Ugh."
"So here goes: The long-distance guys are mainly from one community/ tribe called the Kalenjin that's about 15% of the population. Next, Kenya is still a developing nation with a lot of poverty, but there's a lot of modern architecture. Next, the country is rated 18 out of 100 on the English Proficiency Index. And lastly: you can apply for a special (and rarely-granted) permit for your bobcat named Babou, but keeping wildlife is not at all common. And the Kenya Wildlife Service will conduct regular visits to ensure Babou isn't being kept in Meowschwitz-like conditions."
movie_favorit
"People in the west have really outdated views on Africa. We tend to see the whole continent as one blob, and assume everyone's poor or living in a shack."
"Think that's partly due to all the charity videos at christmas. If you see Africans, they're often in a charity ad because some war torn region is suffering from food shortages or a lack of clean drinking water. Meanwhile, as you know, plenty of African countries are poor but wealth discrepancies are large so there are plenty of living relatively affluent lives in modern cities. I assume living in Nairobi wouldn't be that different to living in many a western city, if you can afford that lifestyle."
"Most of reddit is too poor to live comfortably in Kinshasa for example, even if the DRC's a genuinely poor country. And if you explain Ethiopia was Christian centuries before eastern Europe, our brains shut down."
"We're entirely clueless. Sorry about that."
MargarineAndLube
We'll Punch You, Then Apologize, Then Punch You Again
"We're polite"
Homirice
"A fellow Canadian"
bubalub
"We are polite. The misconception is that nice and polite mean the same thing."
Quite_Bitter_Being
They Also Aren't All Plumbers Who Fight Dragon Kings
"No Italian aren't all short, black haired, fat, mobsters that wear wine-stained tank tops and coppolas. We are loud tho"
fawovi7739
"I spent six months in Italy as an au pair, and I don’t think I met a single person I could have mistaken for a mobster. Everyone was very loud and smoked a lot though. I loved every second of it."
MiniatureAppendix
"Jesus, we are so loud. I'm an Italian living with n Germany. We are sooooo loud. Every-single-one. Incredible."
Lelo1293
Keep Things The Way They Are
"No we don't speak Spanish, yes we'll probably understand you when you speak Spanish to us but we'll probably think you're an a--hole. No we don't want to join up with Spain, we like our distance."
throwawaygoodcoffee
"You're from Portugal?"
CharlesChrist
'Ello Guv'na!
"People think British people are either stiff Upper lip public schoolboys or cockney brick layers/football hooligans. There's a whole world of people in between! Some of us don't even like football. One of my friends DOESNT EVEN DRINK TEA! Not sure why she's my friend to be honest."
movie_favorit
It's not just people misunderstand, but the animals of the region. You might think one thing about the creatures of a region only to find out that it's just not true at all.
So Common A Misconception You Have A Retort Ready To Go
"Welsh people shag sheep. Temptation is there but the static shock wouldn't be worth it."
movie_stearm
"I'm English but live in Powys. I get told this joke when other English people find out I live in Wales."
"The best retort I've heard from a Welshman is 'Yep. We shag them and we then sell them to the English to eat...'"
WestEssexEnclave
Let's Go A An Australian Bush Bash!
"We don’t all ride kangaroos to work fighting off giant spiders while keeping an eye out for drop bears."
"I work from home."
ElZoof
"There are a lot of kangaroos though. I feel like that is the one stereotype that tourists wouldn't feel ripped off at"
PissAnt5
"Why would we fight off giant spiders? I keep them as pets, they protect me from drop bears."
LaitueGonflable
Every country has myths, legends, or rumors themselves that spread about, gaining a legacy pushing them into lore. After all, how else do you explain the elves living in the mountains?
Think Of The Magic
"That some high percentage of us believe in elves."
Iplaymeinreallife
"I know about 25 Icelandic people and 2 of them seriously believe in elves and gnomes. To me, that's a pretty big percentage"
Pizzacanzone
"When there’s 5 people in your country and 2 of them believe in Elves, i don’t know, that’s a high percentage of people who believe in them"
CommunitRagnar
Credit His Origins Where They're From
"Dracula is often depicted as living in Transylvania. While he was imprisoned there for a while, he was actually the ruler of Wallachia (another historic Romanian province that neighbors Transylvania to the south). As for the rumor that we are vampires, I neither confirm nor deny this statement."
fawovi7739
"There was another similar question awhile back that said something to the effect of:"
"I don't know why people think Romania is full of vampires. I've lived here for 600 years and I've never met one."
differentiatedpans
At Least We're Nice Half The Year
"Iceland was not named as part of some conspiracy to keep folks away from a good thing. The name comes from the fact that early settlers arrived during summer and then suffered horrible losses of livestock and people once winter hit and icebergs were seen filling the fjords. It was more of a warning than anything, that this place sucked. Greenland on the other hand was probably named as such to make it sound more hospitable"
movie_online_2
Try to educate yourself before you go out traveling.
Educate yourself on how to find those hidden elves, that is!
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.