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I left the United States nearly 5 years ago to live in Germany. I had visited Germany prior to moving many years ago, initially as a foreign exchange student, so it wasn't a completely new experience for me.
Although I had been pretty certain that I wanted to move to Germany for a long time before eventually taking the leap, I probably would have cited a different reason moving than I would now. It's not that I don't appreciate delicious beer, or a crispy Wiener schnitzel, but the more I began to ponder why I enjoy living in Germany so much more than the US, I began to realize that many of the reasons actually had little to do with things that are specifically German.
Traffic With No Way Out
In order to explain why I enjoy living in Germany so much, it's important to explain what I disliked so much about living the US. Because an image is worth a thousand words, I think it's pertinent to start with an image.
Houston, TX is home to the widest freeway in the entire United States with a whopping 26 lanes of traffic at its thickest. Those of you have had the fortune of never having driven on this monstrosity might be asking yourself, "what's the problem with that? it probably never has traffic." Well I'm sorry to inform you that you are incredibly mistaken. Houston is the most congested city in Texas, and the 16th in the United States. To make matters even worse, a paper written by Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner found that increasing road space in American cities had no real effect on traffic reduction, which seems to imply that the increase to 26 lanes was actually kind of pointless. In fact its gotten worse.
So how can this be? Why would adding more lanes not solve the problem? Well that can be answered by a little concept known as induced demand. Imagine for a minute, two groups of people. One group drives on the highway no matter how bad the traffic gets. This might be because they simply have no alternatives, have an intense fear of public transport, or just enjoy sitting in their cars, even in gridlock traffic. The second group are those who have alternatives to driving when traffic is particularly bad. They might ride the bus (or train), be close enough to commute by bike or even walk if their commute distance is extremely short.
When new lanes are added, traffic initially decreases as the extra space means more road for the same amount of people. However, over time the people who normally take alternatives hear from their driver-friends how clear the roads are now, and they decide to get back into the car instead of hopping on the bus. Before you know it, all of those people who were content on taking other paths, now are back on the highway clogging it up again, rendering the added lanes essentially pointless.
In the United States, most cities offer very little in the way of practical alternatives. Yes, driving sucks, but when an equivalent bus ride to your destination would take you twice as long with busses that come only every half hour (and that's being generous), you hop in the car anyway. Even when you get to your destination, there is usually very little in the way of usable sidewalks and there is very little else nearby, meaning to go to your next destination you undoubtedly need to get back into your car.
In Germany, it is very common to live within walking distance of most things you need daily access to such as stores, restaurants, and supermarkets. For those things not in your immediate vicinity, there is usually a bus or train that can take you to your destination in a reasonable amount of time. Many times this destination is in a central part of the city where many things are close together meaning you can typically take public transport to the city center and find multiple stores all within walking distance of each other, something I cannot say the same for many American cities, in fact many are designed in a way where pedestrians are oftentimes not even considered.
I am lucky enough to live in a bike friendly city, which allows me to forgo the need to ride a bus to most places, usually reserving my use of public transport to trains going distances where it would not be practical to ride my bike. Many cities in Europe are more friendly to cyclists, and while Germany is certainly no Amsterdam, you are much more likely to be able to bike to work in Germany than you are in the United States.
Americans rank commuting as one of their least enjoyable activities, and its easy to see why. Sitting in gridlock traffic is no fun. At least in a train or a bus you can read a book, bust out your laptop and watch a movie, or even get some extra work done. This is one of the main reasons I could not see myself living in an American city.
Living to Work, Or Working to Live?
Those of you from countries like Norway, or Finland might be laughing at the idea of using Germany as a good example of worker protections, but from the perspective of an American the difference is like night and day.
In Germany, you are entitled to a minimum of 2 days of paid vacation every month of full-time work which amounts to about 24 days every year. In the US? Nothing. It is common to have to work for multiple years before even earning a week or two of paid vacation time.
If you are sick and have a doctor's note then German employers legally cannot force you to come to work. Your employer is required to pay you your full salary for at least 6 weeks of sickness. This might be understood as a given for a European but in the US this is not the case. There is no federal law even requiring employers pay you at all when you are sick, though many states have their own separate laws which vary widely. Sadly, my original home state of Texas has no legal minimum.
In Germany expecting mothers are not only allowed to but expected to take a total of 14 weeks off work during pregnancy, 6 weeks pre-birth, 8 weeks post-birth. In these 14 weeks you continue to receive 100% of your normal salary, a portion still being paid by your employer and a portion paid by your health insurance provider. After birth, both parents have the option to not work for up to 3 years for each child (link only in German, sorry). During this time, although not being paid, you have right to keep an "open position" at your place of employment or to change to a part-time contract (up to 30 hours). Essentially your employer has to have a job for you when you decide to return to work. In addition, due to being unpaid, you have the option to apply for "Elterngeld" (translated: Parent money) which, depending on your salary, can range from 300 to 1800 Euros per month.
Keep in mind everything I have described here is the legal minimum. Your employer may decide to offer you even more benefits, especially if your field of work is particularly competitive. I for instance have 30 days paid vacation instead of 24. So how does that compare to the US? Well you'll probably be surprised to learn that the US has no minimum paid maternity (or paternity) leave. Federally you have 12 weeks of unpaid maternity (or paternity) leave which is not only less than the 16 weeks minimum recommended by the World Health Organization, but also makes the US the only country out of the 38 OECD member nations to offer no paid maternity leave. Now many private employers might offer paid maternity leave and things like "unlimited vacation," however these are typically reserved for more competitive fields and I don't think something as important as paid maternity leave should be reserved for the wealthier or the goodwill of your employer.
This is not to say Germany, or Europe more generally, does not have its problems. Depending on your field of work you can expect to earn quite a bit more in the US. For those who are completely dedicated to their careers, the US can be a fantastic place to go to earn a crap-load of money. However, for those who seek a more balanced lifestyle combining a decent income with generous vacation and maternity/paternity leave then Europe might be worth your consideration.
Also, the beer is pretty good.
