You guys make me feel like I’m a dumb American when I travel to Europe

I’m American but I’ve been living in Asia for a few years. Last year I got to take a trip to Europe (Netherlands). I had a great time but in retrospect I feel like I made a lot of rookie mistakes that you guys probably would’ve found funny. <br><br>First of all when I got off the plane I had no idea that in Europe you have to go down and get your bags yourself from the baggage claim instead of them being on a conveyor belt lol. I was waiting for about 15 minutes before other people started going to go get theirs. <br><br>I took the train to Amsterdam’s city center. I didn’t know you had to verify your ticket before you got on the train so a lot of people were passing me their tickets to stamp for them lol. Also, I thought everyone spoke English in Europe. Turns out they don’t, so I got in a bit of trouble because I couldn’t understand what the train staff was asking me in Dutch. <br><br>When I got to Amsterdam, I asked these two locals for directions. I thought they spoke English until they responded in Dutch. They both looked at each other and in perfect English said, “You don’t speak Dutch?” Lol. <br><br>Later on, I went into a grocery store and I had to use a machine to weigh and price my own produce before I was allowed to purchase it. I thought this was really nice, but I had no idea how to do it and wasted a lot of the poor cashiers time. <br><br>I was also surprised by all of the naked men in the spa. I was like, “Oh my gosh, why is this man naked?” Again, rookie mistake lol. <br><br>Lastly, a lot of the food was in Dutch, so I was buying a lot of foods that I thought were certain things but they weren’t. You’ll see what I mean in my food post. <br><br>My last mistake was when I was leaving the Netherlands and my bag was overweight. The airline staff in English asked me in English if I wanted to pay for extra weight or if I wanted to remove some bags. I said I would remove some bags. I thought she was going to give me a plastic bag to do it in, but in reality she was asking me if I wanted to be reimbursed for my overweight bag fee for bags that I was gonna bring with me on the plane as carry on. So instead of her giving me a plastic bag, she gave me my suitcase back. Very confusing. <br><br>Lastly, you guys drive on the wrong side of the road lol. <br><br>Overall, I had a great time in the Netherlands and I hope to visit again soon. I’ll probably post my trip report this weekend. <br><br>Edit: Wow, thanks for the gold and silver :)