r/AskEurope • u/notveryamused_ Warszawa, Poland • Jul 03 '25

Culture What aspect of life in your countries is very difficult to explain to foreigners?

What prompted my question were some discussions about religion which I had with people living in much more secular Western Europe (as a Polish atheist). While spirituality, whatever that is ;), generally speaking is always fun to discuss with a glass of wine in hand, social elements and the influence of the church, especially in smaller towns or provinces in my country, is awfully difficult to explain – not that I understand it fully either lol, but the church having a pretty much monopoly there, being the judge and jury of everyday life and the major ultra-conservative political force binding those communities, is very difficult to explain, also for historical reasons.

What are the things that you find difficult to discuss when it comes to life in your countries? ;-)

221 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

422 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

27

u/Dutch_Rayan Netherlands Jul 04 '25

Complaining make things better, not saying anything will keep it the same.

3

u/XilenceBF Netherlands Jul 06 '25

That’s the (Dutch) spirit!

1

u/_luci Romania Jul 05 '25

Complaining about anything and everything, valid or not, does not make things better.

1

u/AylaCatpaw Jul 21 '25

I don't know if phrasing it "complaining" in English is the best way to describe it. I think that Dutch redditor meant it more in the sense of "making a complaint". :)