Wednesday Wanderlust – 10 values and attitudes of Western Europe

Western Europe 

Western Europe is a popular destination for expats, students, and tourists. Check out these 10 values and attitudes straight from our guides.

Belgium

  1. Belgium has always been multicultural. For its whole recorded history its territory has been inhabited by more than one people. There has been internal migration and immigration. Not long after the Belgian nation was created in the nineteenth century, people flocked from poor Flanders to newly industrialized Wallonia.

  1. Two main factors seem to determine the values Belgians hold and the ways they approach life: the effects of the linguistic divide, and the country’s long history of exposure to other cultures through trade, war, and occupation – its experience of being simultaneously very small and very strategically placed.

Britain

  1. The English love nature and creativity, order and harmony, language and wit; and dislike pomposity – having long removed themselves from any traditional culture of deference. They are naturally curious, they are tolerant and fair, modest, practical, resilient, and self-sufficient.
  1. A British newspaper columnist once wrote that, after having been abroad for an extended period of time, it was an enormous relief to be back home in Britain and “on the same wavelength” as everyone else again. He put this down to reconnecting with the British sense of irony, one of the arteries of everyday communication.

France

  1. French families, traditionally, are highly integrated. Children often live with their parents until they marry, and an entire family of three or four generations may live in the same household. If they don’t, the family members will tend to live reasonably close to each other and will meet regularly for Sunday lunch or on festivals.

Ireland

  1. Visitors from the crowded cities of America, from densely populated mainland Europe, and from even more densely populated Japan are often delighted by how empty Ireland seems, with its broad countryside, little towns, and uncongested roads.

Netherlands

  1. The Dutch are a straightforward lot; they look people in the eye and expect the same in return. If you don’t do this, you will be regarded as shifty and untrustworthy.
  1. Proost! (pronounced “proast” or “prorst”) means “Cheers!” in Dutch. Dutch people enjoy drinking, but do so in moderation, and you are not expected to become drunk, objectionable, and ongezellig.

Portugal

  1. Portuguese society is close-knit and relationship based, with the family at its core. Whether at work or play, personal contact is key. The Portuguese work to live, rather than vice versa, and any excuse to socialize and have fun is welcome. Yet while their capacity for pleasure is boundless, they also revel in nostalgia and cultivate fatalism. Open and friendly once at ease, they can be suspicious and defensive if feeling insecure or on unfamiliar terrain. Once you become accustomed to these contradictions, you will find them to be warm, outgoing people who are always ready for fun and celebration.

Spain

  1. Living for the moment – The Spanish are confident, open individuals with a zest for life, and for living every moment, that is contagious. If they invite you somewhere it is because they really want you to come. They do not want you to go home because you are all having such a good time. Who cares about tomorrow?

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