waiting for the hate to come rolling in
a st. Patrick's Day when we first moved
to the states lots of you asked for a
video on the differences between Ireland
and America but at the time I didn't
make it because I didn't feel qualified
to make it I didn't feel that I had
enough experience here to really comment
on earth but we have lived here now for
seven months seven months so the time
has come before we begin let me just say
that I am NOT hating on America it's
just that sometimes the negative
experiences stand out that a little bit
more but I'm sure that you know
Americans who go to live in Ireland draw
like what effect why is everything so
tiny and expensive so just you know calm
down okay follow me for some sweeping
generalizations I am going to divide
them down into categories of experiences
first up driving now obviously in
Ireland we drive on the left side of the
road and here in America people drive on
the right side of the road and we both
seem to have the same disregard for the
use of indicators but here in America
people like to tailgate which actually
has a completely different meaning over
here but basically people like to drive
right up my arse and even if I'm going
the speed limit even if there is a
completely empty lane beside me they
still like to drive right up against my
bumper and they seem to only have two
ways of stopping over here one is to
start slowing down about a mile from the
point where they actually need to stop
and the other is driving at speed and
then slamming on the brakes they have
absolutely no regard for other people's
vehicles over here they will happily
slam their door into my car when they're
opening it and they would also left
shopping trolleys carrots rolled freely
around the car park until it scratches
the out of someone else's paintwork
please put your trolleys back also
Americans drive everywhere they will
even drive too
shock that is just a few doors up from
the shop they have just left walking not
the done thing over here on the plus
side though American parking spaces are
actually a decent size in Ireland
sometimes you can drive into a space and
be perfectly within the lines of the
person beside you can be perfectly
within their lines but you can barely
open your door teeny tiny spaces also
over here you can be pretty much
guaranteed a parking space wherever you
go so in Ireland if I was going
somewhere new I would have to look up
first to see where I could park close by
whereas here I just go safe in the
knowledge that wherever it is there will
be a huge car park the second category
is schools now my daughter is 4 years
old almost 5 and she is in pre
kindergarten here which is like the
American equivalent of junior infants
and as a parent I haven't done so much
work for school since I was in school
myself it is crazy the amount of papers
that I get home every single day and
every week I get at least one newsletter
and multiple emails and that's just from
the school I won't even go into the
amount of junk mail and spam phone calls
that we get over here despite being on
those you know do not contact lists
every single day something is happening
in school it is either show-and-tell day
it's dr. Seuss stage it's where a crazy
hat day and its Wacky Wednesday it is
never-ending sometimes I have to dress
her in certain colors to celebrate some
random day and sometimes I have to send
her in with various items to celebrate
something else random in Ireland we just
send our kids to school Oh sometimes
they will come home with a paper or you
know a little craft or something but
that's like once a week
tops and they also can wear whatever
they want unless there is a uniform in
which
they'll just wear that but it's so much
easier and don't get me started on the
physical I'm not sure if it's a
nationwide thing but certainly here in
Ohio and in a few other states your
child is required to have a physical at
least once a year so at least once a
year I have to bring my little daughter
to be poked and prodded none of that in
Ireland also here assuming you're
sending your child to a public school
you have to stick to the school that is
in your district you have no choice in
the matter and in Ireland you can
basically send your child to whatever
school you want and yes some schools do
have some guidelines that would stage
that they will prioritize kids at the
local area but for the most part I could
apply to a school on the other side of
the country if I wanted okay that's all
I'm going to say about that I could go
on and on but I have other things to
complain about third category is
holidays wow they really go all out here
in the states and in Ireland obviously
we do still celebrate holidays but just
a lot fewer and we tend to celebrate
them in a very social way you know we
hang out with friends and family in
states they buy stuff they buy stuff up
in the bushes they decorate their homes
for every conceivable thing every event
every holiday every season I have lost
track of the amount of holidays and
events that have been on here since
we've moved there was Columbus Day and
Thanksgiving Halloween Christmas Martin
Luther King Day
I am Mardi Gras Valentine's Day and yes
in Ireland we do celebrate some of those
holidays with Halloween and Christmas
for example but we don't do it on such a
big scale but the Americans even do
Saint Patrick's Day bigger than the
Irish too and if you have seen my
February video diary you will already
know my thoughts on the Valentine's Day
over here
so put stuff honestly it's kind of
horrifying forth then is shopping the
stores over here in America are so much
bigger like overwhelmingly so and I say
that not just as an Irish person but
also as an introvert again so much stuff
I have even if I just wanted to go to
the store to get some milk I would have
to walk by five miles just to find us
there's also a huge range of choice um
I'm gonna put this one in the neutral
category because yes it is handy to know
that if I am looking for a particular
thing chances are I will find it or if I
want to see you know a large selection
of one particular thing I probably won't
be disappointed but I also believe that
there is such thing as too much choice
and like a straw will down any cereal
aisle over here just confirms that and
oh the plastic bags
I still get strange looks when I walk
into a shop with my reusable bags and in
Ireland everyone uses you have to pay
for a plastic bag so you only get one if
you're really stuck but over here they
just throw them around like confetti and
they still pack bags here which is
totally fine except for like they put
two or three items in a bag and then
they reach for another you'd end up with
like 40 bags even with my reusable bags
I have to keep telling them to fill them
up on the plus side the huge amount of
competition over here means that things
are so much cheaper but although the
downside of that is that you end up
probably buying way more than you'd ever
need finally then is food portion sizes
surprise surprise
are enormous they tend to do everything
bigger except bread and eggs they're
tiny for some reason and food is so
processed
now obviously we have processed food in
Ireland last Harbert but I feel like
sometimes the food over here is almost
unrecognizable as food so you have
Twinkies right and we don't have those
in Ireland but we have you know similar
products and but over here no that's not
good enough
deep-fried Twinkies deep-fried Twinkies
the mind boggles and the arteries
clogged also American bread is
disgusting well and I think I'm going to
end it there because I am sure I have
already racked up enough hate comments
from one day on a serious note though
for the most part we are happy here and
yes obviously some things are easier and
more familiar in Ireland and you know my
friends and family are there but we have
a better standard of living over here
our money goes further so that we can
afford a much bigger house and brand-new
cars etc now obviously I know that they
are not the most important things in
life not by a long shot but you know
they don't hurt comment below and let me
know what is your favorite thing about
the country or the area that you live in
and until next time Karimi and amarka
of the speculation should gonna go slow
on
[Music]
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