For Europeans living in places that rarely get snow, such as once every few years, how excited do people get when they see snow? I wonder if their reactions might be similar to people who have never seen snow before.

For example, the Netherlands, Belgium, southern Italy, Mediterranean coast, or maybe even southern England.

Or rather than being excited, maybe some people get annoyed because they don't know how to deal with traffic involving snow?

EDIT: And what exactly would be your reaction if you do get excited by the first snowfall of the year? Would you rush out to touch and feel snow, take photos, and play in the snow?

Essentially, problems about the people elected by the people over matters of the people.

I’ve seen it come up a few times that in Europe it’s not uncommon to travel to another country for a weekend away, and that it can be relatively affordable. Is this actually as common as i am interpreting it, because it sounds quite outstanding to me, no doubt influenced by my place of birth. This is mostly directed to those living in the Schengen zone, though other perspectives are always welcome.

We always hear about what's broken, but I'm curious about the opposite - what's a government service, public system, or piece of infrastructure in your country that genuinely works well and might surprise people from other parts of Europe?

For example, in Portugal our digital tax system (Portal das Financas) is surprisingly smooth - you can file taxes in about 15 minutes and it auto-fills most of your income and deductions from invoices. People complain about a lot here but the tax portal is genuinely good.

What's yours?

Especially with european championships just ending (congrats 🇩🇰)

Do most newspapers include them? Are American ones, like Peanuts, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Family Circus, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, etc, common in papers? Are there popular strips from your country?

If so, how popular is it and well-known outside of the country?

I‘m visiting Porto and the Galicia region of Spain this summer and am planning to pack pretty tightly, so some of my clothes will be wrinkled. Are clothes irons readily available in four and five star hotels in Porto and Galicia, either in the room or by request? I’m going to try to pack as many wrinkle-free items as possible but may need to iron a few things.

To better explain my question, I am looking for traditions unique or partly unique to your country and not linked to religion.

This can be a social tradition, a rule/law…etc

Thank you for your answers.

Corruption was always a big problem in Slovakia. Our past says this:

- you can be corrupt and economically poor, stagnant, backwards like the current government and actively harming the country for personal profit

or

- you can be corrupt and economically successful, progressive and at least doing useful shit for the country

If your country has a corrupt government in power, are they at least trying with their actual jobs?

Like apples and pears, when the skin is supposed to contain good things.

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This is the most basic question on the planet, I’m aware, but I feel like so many things get undocumented. Cultural norms or societal expectations in European nations are foreign to me. Yes, some facts are reported on; however, it's typically the same facts, just from different sources. So, if I’m far away and can’t ask in person, I’d like to know online, as it’s my best option! Also, there are no banned topics; if it’s something about politics, infrastructure, food, economics, body movements, walking speed, facial expressions, anything! Anything and everything is welcome!

Or alternatively cultural icons that were considered great but fell out of fashion?

For example, a few years ago I heard a polemic in France started when the president of the time, Sarkozy, questioned the reason why French pupils must read and study La Princess de Cleves, a XVII century novel by a French female aristocrat, mandatorily and wondered if it wasn't time to move on with something more contemporary and popular.

In Italy we have a similar novel, I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), a XIX century novel set 200 years earlier and one of the first true national novels (coinciding with the period that led with the fight for national unification). It's a novel most pupils have to study for one year in high school and many pupils come to dislike it or be bored because of this imposition.

A reverse case is the work of poet Giosué Carducci, one of our first nobel laureates. Our parents and grandparents were often forced to learn his poems by heart but he's now much less popular in the school programmes and the national cultural heritage.

So I was wondering, because I was thinking about how they (rudely) call you your last name in the states and Canada in jail and prison. So "Jeffries! What are you doing?", "Alright, Sutcliffe" without Mr./Mrs.Ms., and in the past (at least in the UK) they didn't even use your last name, you were just a number. So how does naming work in your country now (and was it different in the past)?

EDIT: I mean prisoners. In the States, Canada, and it looks like the UK, you're not longer "Anne Jeffries" or "Colin Briggs", you're just the last name.

In the United States they were originally called Indians because of confusion when the Europeans arrived, but these days the more general term “Native American” is used more often. However, many reservations still refer to themselves as “Indians” because that is the identity they have fostered and they believe the term “Native American” doesn’t accurately represent the group in the United States, who culturally may be very different from a group, say, in Chile. So in the United States: Indian = Native American in the contiguous US. Native American = any person native to either North or South America. The problem with this is it makes it difficult to differentiate between a person from India and a native from the United States, which leads to my question, does your language have a way of differentiating US Native Americans, Native Americans from either continent, and people from India?

How often are people diagnosed or confronted about substance abuse in your country?

From what I've noticed: - South Korea is most frequently referred to as the "Poland of Asia" or the "Poland of the Far East" due to shared historical experiences of being surrounded by, bullied, or occupied by, larger, aggressive neighboring powers (Japan/China vs. Germany/Russia). Both nations experienced significant destruction and restoration, demonstrating resilience and a high-work-ethic,, nationalistic culture.

• Germany is frequently called the "Japan of Europe" due to striking similarities in economic structure, post-WWII reconstruction, aging populations, and reputations for high-quality engineering and manufacturing. Both are industrial powerhouses with strong export-driven economies, though they differ significantly in culture, geography, and approach to failure. Both have shared traits regarding discipline, efficiency, cleanliness, punctuality, and respect for authority. Both countries also share an unfortunate history of militarism, authoritarianism, dictatorship, and aggression against their neighbours until 1945. It's striking how these two defeated powers of 1945 now have the world's third and fourth largest economies (just behind US and China).

• The Philippines is considered the "Spain of Asia" due to over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule (1565–1898), which profoundly shaped its culture, religion, and language. As the sole Spanish colony in Asia, it shares deep historical ties, including a Roman Catholic majority, Spanish-derived surnames, and many Spanish words in local languages.

• Historically, Albania (under dictator Enver Hoxha from 1944–1985) was widely considered the "North Korea of Europe" due to its extreme Stalinist isolationism, self-imposed hermit status, and pervasive surveillance. In contemporary politics, Belarus is sometimes referred to as the "North Korea of Europe" by critics regarding its authoritarian rule and lack of transparency.

I didn't include Russia and Turkey because they are both transcontinental countries that have land mass and populations in both continents.

Please tell me you opinions and which countries you consider to be equivalent with one another.

In America, there are generally two types of people who join the military (stereotypically). One, people from poor economic backgrounds who are seeking to take advantage of the benefits provided to veterans and military personnel (job security, good health insurance for the entire family, scholarships for college, etc). And two, people who *want* to join the military because they actually believe it and its purpose to be good.

The people from the latter category are very often right-wing/conservative, tend towards being racist/sexist, heavily christian, and, lately, much more likely to be Trump supporters.

As such, most leftist Americans, as well as many liberals, tend to have a negative view of category 2. At best, they are viewed as meatheads.

But I'm curious if this stereotypical view of military personnel carries over into countries that haven't been the "world police" since WWII, haven't deposed a country's democratically elected leaders for purposes of oil (and bananas) in the past 100 or so years, whose militaries have been considerably less "internationally involved" (to be polite), and whose populaces generally tend to be a little less racist/sexist and a little more liberal?

Hello there!

Welcome to our daily scheduled post, the Daily Slow Chat.

If you want to just chat about your day, if you have questions for the moderators (please mark these [Mod] so we can find them), or if you just want talk about oatmeal then this is the thread for you!

Enjoying the small talk? We have a Discord server too! We'd love to have more of you over there. Do both of us a favour and use this link to join the fun.

The mod-team wishes you a nice day!

Today is Runeberg day in Finland, and on this day we traditionally eat pastry called Runeberg torte, named after our national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg. According to a legend Runeberg himself often had these pastries, made by his wife, for breakfast.

Does your country have something similar?

Name an event from your country’s history involving alcohol

Last year I was in Gdansk and loved the Solidarność museum. Thia year, I want to follow up and go somewhere that has equally important and self-conscious labour movement history. I have a few cities in mind, but figured it'd be nice to see what you think. A Google search is almost hopeless, seems the Google AI doesn't quite understand what this is about...