5 Things I Miss About The United States

I'm incredibly grateful to be living in a country with such incredible history and culture, however, I sometimes find myself reminiscing about all the comforts of home that I don't have living here and how much I miss them. So, I've compiled a short list of some of the things that I miss about living in the United States. 

(Disclaimer: This is not a list dissing Germany. There are many things I like about living in Germany, however this is just what I personally miss.)

1.  Shopping Malls
I've always lived in very populated areas (the smallest town I've lived in had 86,000 people!) and I've never had shopping malls located too far from me. My whole life I've had the convenience of driving l5 minutes or less to the closest mall or shopping center. Nowadays I live in a fairly rural area of Germany and the closest large mall that I'm aware of is about an hour away from me. My best bet at finding something close to an American strip mall here is probably about a 25-30 minute drive and while that isn't too terrible, it's not what I'm used to. And don’t even get me started on how much I miss Target. Oh how I miss thee! 

2. Waste Management System

Back in the U.S., garbage day was every Friday and they picked up all different types of recycling as well. Here in Germany, my trash gets picked up every other week and the only recycling available at our house is paper/ cardboard and that is picked up once a month. You read that right. ONCE. A. MONTH. Additionally, glass, cans and plastic bottles need to be taken to a recycling center which can become inconvenient after a while. Also when recycling glass bottles, you must sort them by color. All of the green bottles go in one bin, brown bottles in another and clear ones in another bin. I'm sure there is a reason for this but I miss being able to put all my recyclables together and not having to worry about sorting them and when they will be picked up.

3. Free Water in Restaurants

Water isn’t free in restaurants in Germany, In fact, most people drink sparkling water here and even that costs money. If you want "still water" at a restaurant, you will pay for it...always. No ice in your drinks either. Oh and no free refills….ever. To be honest, beer is usually the same price or cheaper than water in Germany, so you might as well just have beer instead!

4. Storage Space

I’ve lived in some small apartments before but nothing compares to the lack of storage space in our German house. The house itself is a decent size, but there is absolutely no counter space in the bathrooms and I only have two drawers in the entire kitchen. Also, there are no linen closets in the house. The only closets are bedroom closets, which are small as well. I need more storage space!

5. Businesses Open on Sundays

I don’t know if it's just a German thing or a European thing but everything seems to be closed on Sundays. Well, besides restaurants...they are usually open on Sundays. But because most places aren't open on Sunday, it means you only have Saturday to run errands on the weekend, at least out in the German economy. 

P.S.: I had to throw this extra one in there as well- I MISS 110 VOLTAGE! Oh how I wish our electronics worked here. Nick fried his X-Box One because he didn't check the voltage before he plugged it in. Needless to say, that was a very expensive mistake and he won't be playing video games for a while.

Are you an expat living abroad? What do you miss most about your country?