My Danish Husband Is Back from Summer in Europe and Here’s What Startled Him

Coming home to the U.S. is no joke

After an extended visit to Europe over the summer, spanning three countries, my Danish husband and I have returned to our home in California.

Surprised by how comfortable it felt to be in Europe again, and how much of the U.S. was forgotten, we had to re-adjust to the new old reality. Especially my new-to-America husband.

Here are a few things that startled him upon our return.

Waste

While it’s general knowledge that there’s a lot of waste in the U.S., you forget about it if you live here long enough. After all, at least we have recycling bins. That is until you travel back to the “green” countries.

Suddenly, people are mindful of air conditioning, using it only in emergencies, if at all. Lights are turned off when not needed. Nearly all toilets are dual flush.

Quality products and clothes are preferred over “cheap crap” that needs to be replaced every year. The quality of everything is higher, too, because things are meant to last.

Packaging is less wasteful. Plastic bags cost a fortune and are expected to be reused and, sometimes, will even be replaced for free if worn out . Coffee drinkers dutifully recycle their espresso capsules. Paper towels are used on occasion and not for every-day hand drying.

The list goes on.

“It’s like poor Europeans are working extra hard to undo the damage to the environment, while Americans are living like there’s no tomorrow,” my husband concluded after his first trip to the supermarket back home.

Masks

During our summer in Eastern, Northern, and Western Europe, it felt like Covid never happened (aside from the air travel chaos). Businesses were back to normal and so were the people. For the most part, masks seemed to be a thing of the past and attitudes to life and health were relaxed.

“Is there some kind of a new virus going around?” my husband asked upon his arrival back to Los Angeles airport.

So many people around us had covered faces that he could only assume a new health emergency. Restrictions continued when we boarded a taxi and were asked to put on masks. The driver himself was wearing a huge respirator. It was 2020 all over again.

What’s even more interesting is that masks continue to be a political issue in the U.S. where the left and right wings love to demonstrate their alliances by taking mask-wearing (or not) to the extremes.

“In Europe, masks were just that: a way of protecting yourself when it was needed,” my husband concluded.

Pollution

If one has any doubt about air quality in car-dominated America, one only needs to take a trip to Copenhagen (where Air Quality Index rarely rises above ten) and then return to Los Angeles (where it’s rarely below fifty and often over a hundred) and try to breathe.

As soon we stepped out of the airport in LA, thick-as-a-brick air hit us in the faces. Yes, we are that sensitive.

“This can’t be healthy,” my husband commented.

I considered putting on a mask just to save myself.

Luckily, after a few days, we barely noticed the air quality. Ignorance is bliss.

Noise

Just like when arriving in Europe, my husband couldn’t stop talking about how quiet it was compared to the States, on his return, he (and I) couldn’t get over how unnecessarily loud everything around us was.

From obnoxious garbage trucks to music blasting in every store and cafe we visit, it seems like nothing gets done without background noise in the U.S.

“You don’t understand how important quietness is until you live in America,” my husband concluded.

Prices

We always talked about high supermarket prices in the U.S., but it wasn’t until we spent a few weeks in London when my husband fully realized the extent of the damage.

“If in a city like London you can buy a bag of potatoes for less than a dollar, then we in Los Angeles are getting seriously ripped off,” he complained.

Indeed, subsidized food in the UK, and across Europe, means that groceries are affordable without having to sell your soul to Walmart.

“I’m sorry but if you’re proudly paying eight dollars for a loaf of bread, you’re an idiot,” my husband concluded, referring to prices in one of LA’s most ridiculous supermarket chains, Erewhon.

Clothes sizes

My skinny Danish husband forgot that when he crossed the Atlantic from Denmark to the States, he lost a whole clothing size. That is because often what’s considered size “M” in Europe will be “S” in America.

“Is this the way of making yourself feel better?” my husband wondered.

“If so, it may be working too well,” he concluded.

Even though I’m always delighted about shedding a size once I’m back in the U.S., for a guy, as it turns out, it’s not always a good thing.

For that reason, and because of lower clothes quality in America, my husband now decided to wait for our next trip to Europe to update his wardrobe.

Small talk

After six weeks of keep-it-to-yourself Europe, my shy husband was greeted with a whole lot of small talk back in our neighborhood of Santa Monica, full of chatty old ladies.

It took time for him to adjust, but I think he secretly loves it. After all, in his hometown of Denmark, it was entirely possible to go a whole day without exchanging a single word with a stranger.

Now, my husband reports back with daily local gossip after walking our dogs.

“Princess has fleas again” or “Peaches is not herself lately,” he would announce coming home, always putting a smile on my face.

While being away on vacation is great, coming back sometimes takes adjustment, too. Especially back to a funny place like the U.S.