It feels like a european countries have high cost of living and are stuck in a cycle. All you hear about on the news.

Is any country not in this loop?

Please provide your country and what type of community (city, rural, etc) you live in.

Among the countries that share a border with yours, which do you consider the most culturally similar to your own country, and which do you consider the most culturally different? Consider factors such as language, religion, traditions, cuisine, history, and social norms. I'm curious to hear your perspectives and the reasons behind your choices.

A few exceptions, Norway, UK, Iceland, you guys are welcome to find a close alternative to this questions. Southern nations on the Mediterranean, you can opt for east and west since I presume 99.9% of you will pick north otherwise.

Something u didnt even notice before, but once u left you realised its actually pretty nice.

Triple analog connectors (red, white and yellow) that were common before HDMI on TVs and video players.

I'm a teen doing a project on birth rates and noticed that some poorer, less happy countries have higher birth rates than many European countries. Why is Europe struggling with low fertility rates despite its high living standards?

Please keep the comments civil and respectful. I'm genuinely curious and want to learn!

Only 1 but maybe 2 :)

I am at Kastrup Airport to collect my daughter and grandson. The sounds levels are minimal and how out of place will I be giving them a loud South African welcome. How noisy is your country?

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We just celebrated the Hungarian revolt against Soviet Occupation on the 23rd here in Hungary, and THAT led me to thinking about the 1848-1849 rebellion against Austria, and it reminded me that, pretty much every town on city in Hungary has a bucket of street names that are named after people specifically from that rebellion. The big ones being Lajos Kossuth, Ferenc Deák, Sándor Petőfi and a whole bunch of others: https://dailynewshungary.com/do-you-know-which-is-the-most-popular-hungarian-street-name-part-i/. What's interesting (to me, anyway) is that it's rare to find a settlement that DOESN'T have, say, a Lajos Kossuth street or SOMETHING named after Sándor Petőfi (the small town where I live has a square AND a street named after him; and Kossuth too, of course).

As said, the vast majority are from that rebellion. The rest are a mix of other rebellious leaders, artists, writers (especially poets for some reason) and the occassional scientist.

And your country? Where do the street names come from? Why?

I think we are seeing the best of the worst of times of the next decade for this continent.

I realise this seems more like a r/askreddit post but I I’m really interested in europeans in this regard, so if you would be kind enough to list your country if it’s not on your user flair.

In Portugal, it’s very common for different places to share the same name. For example, there’s a Nespereira in Guimarães and another one in Lousada, a Ferreiros in Braga and another in Póvoa de Lanhoso. Many are small parishes or villages in the same region, sometimes just a few dozen kilometres apart. But sometimes they’re hundreds of kilometres apart, like Santa Eulália: one in Vizela, in the north, and another in Elvas, in the south near the Spanish border.

Is this also the case where you live? How do people tell them apart in everyday conversation (adding the municipality, the region, etc.)? And is there any official rule to avoid duplicates, or is it just accepted as normal?

I'm curious because I've heard some places have really specific ways of greeting each other that used to be super common, but I wonder if younger generations are just defaulting to whatever's fastest. Is it still a thing where you live or has it mostly died out?

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Inspired by this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/s/s3JPMkEHk2 where the answers seem to be primarily from Americans and mostly talk of a decline of abilities, from secondary to university. What's happening in your area?

Slovakia just held its municipal and regional elections, where we vote for the mayors, city councils, regional governors, regional councils, and in the case of Bratislava and Košice, borough mayors and borough councils.

There are two ballot boxes, a white one for municipal elections and a blue one for regional elections. You get two envelopes (white and blue) and 4 (or in the case of Bratislava and Košice, 6) ballots:

1) Candidates for the regional governor (župan) - you choose one candidate

2) Candidates for the regional council - you choose candidates up to the number of candidates assigned to your electoral district

3) Candidates for the mayor - you choose one candidate

4) Candidates for the municipal council - you choose candidates up to the number of candidates assigned to your electoral district

5) In the case of BA and KE - Candidates for the borough mayor - you choose one candidate

6) In the case of BA and KE - Candidates for the borough council

Then, you put ballots 1 and 2 into the blue envelope and into the blue ballot box, and ballots 3 and 4 (and 5 and 6) into the white envelope and into the white ballot box. Then, like with all elections here, the ballots are counted manually.

Like all elections in Slovakia, these elections are held on a Saturday, but unlike parliamentary elections, the regions and municipalities are divided into electoral districts for council elections. Also, unlike parliamentary and presidential elections, voting ends at 8pm.

And unlike parliamentary and presidential elections, municipal and regional elections are tied to permanent residency, not citizenship. So any permanent resident of a municipality and region may vote and stand for election, regardless of their citizenship, and Slovak citizens without permanent residency in Slovakia may not vote.

As the title says, I’m curious to know what people think of Lidl products comparing to those made in your countries.
Example:
- Italians, how do Lidl Combino pastas compare to more known brands from Italy?
- Czechs: how does Lidl Dulano Prague ham compare to other brands made in Czechia?

And the list can go on…

I'm writing a blog article and have already collected 20 responses to this question from friends and family but would love to cast a wider net and include answers from more countries. Serious replies only. Thanks for your help!

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In Helsinki, Finland the answer is surprisingly YES although they'd have to compromise on something and buy e.g., an older house or a house from the so-called commuter towns in Greater Helsinki.

I asked a Norwegian friend what their favorite show was and they said Breaking Bad. I then asked if they were just saying that because it's something I would recognize but then insisted that their favorite shows were things like The Office, Game of Thrones, etc., and not shows from Norway.

So I'm wondering how many of you also have similar viewing habits.