USA vs. Argentina | Which one do I like more?

hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here form EnglishFullTime.com in this video I am

in Palermo a beautiful little neighborhood in Buenos Aires and I'm gonna be talking about

one of the questions that people always ask me every time I tell them I lived in Buenos

Aires for 5 years I love it here it doesn't matter if they are from Argentina or if they

are form the Unites States the number one question people ask me is "okay well, which

one do you like better?" like I have to like one better than the other right so this is

my answer the truth is I can't say that Ilike the USA better than Argentina or living in

the USA better than living in Argentina I can't say that I like living in Argenitna

better because the truth is this countries are so different and there are some things

that I absolutely love about the US that you know I really wish Argentina had and then

there are things about Argentina that you know I really wish the US had like viceversa

right so in this video I'm gonna share some of this things with you guys and I'm gonna

give you my answer explaining why I absolutely cannot choose which country I like better

okay so one of the first things I noticed between Argentina and the USA when I got here

was the driving the driving is so different I mean I mean I can't say the whole USA because

I'm from California so I'm talking about you know the city that I'm from and everything

but basically in the USA like is just for me personally it's easier for me to drive

in the USA I've never driven in Argentina and I don't think I ever will because the

idea of driving here just scares me the way people drive so I don't know the way that

the roads are I don't know everything just is it's oh my gosh how how do I even explain

it I don't know because you just have to come here and see what it's like but here let me

give you an example basically in the USA there are lines on the roads and you know cars drive

within those lines and you use your blinker to go over to the next lane not everybody

does that sometimes they forget or they don't do it but you know that's usually how people

drive there here in Argentina there are lines on the road but it's like they are not there

right it's like you don't have to use those lines you don't have to stay in your lane

and if you just wanna drive right on the line as if the line was your lane well you could

do that too I mean I don't know you guys it's really really adventurous it's fun but I don't

wanna drive because it just scares me there is also a lot more motorcycles on the road

and over here in Argentina is very common for people to drive stick shift you know,

manual cars basically I don't even know how to do that I never learned how to do that

because I drive automatic vehicles basically that is the first thing I noticed about being

here and I remember that when my husband Renzo was driving me around for like the first 6

months I would just hold on to the car and pray and hope that today would not be the

day that I die haha that's what it is ok so I guess you can say when it comes to driving

I like the USA more because I feel comfortable driving there and so I feel more independent

I can just take my car and go wherever I want which is something that I really can't do

in Argentina and so I have to rely on public transportation or someone else to take me

around but with that said I just remembered that public transportation is awesome here

there are buses that go everywhere there are subways that go everywhere trains and is actually

really easy to get to your destination and it just maybe takes a little bit more time

so that's really cool and that's not something that I ever experience in the USA actually

I think when I first rode a bus in the USA I didn't know how to do it I didn't know what

I was doing I didn't know how to pay or anything like that and I was already an adult so that

shows you how I just you know people there don't use public transportation as much and

we are just more used to driving ourselves around okay so something I absolutely love

about Argentina is the culture the culture here is so much different from in the USA

for example in the USA you meet somebody you might shake their hand or you might just be

like hi you know it's very awkward and there is a lot of distance between people and here

in Argentina when you meet someone is like hi how are you give you a hug give me a kiss

and it's just very warm the culture is very warm is not awkward at all to you know hug

and kiss somebody when you meet them and I love that I also grew up with that in my family

we were like that so that is one thing that I really really love again in the USA it's

just kinda awkward like hi how are you and there is always distance between people like

when you are talking with someone even if it's your friend sometimes there is like a

lot of distance but in Argentina is like you can talk and you can be a lot closer to someone

and they don't feel awkward about that they don't feel weird and I absolutely love that

so I love the culture here I love how close the people are to each other I love how you

can just go to a park and have mate with your friends so mate I actually I wish I had one

here to show you guys what it is but basically is this drink that Argentine people have and

is in this little cup Iknow I'm not explaining it very well but you put some tea leaves in

there you put a metal straw you put some hot water you drink it you share it and you can

share it with you know all your friends 8 people, 10 people it really doesn't matter

everyone drinks from the same mate in the USA that's like disgusting people would be

like ugh I'm not gonna share that your lips touch that I'm not putting that in my mouth

and here it's the most normal thing you can meet someone and share a mate you know you

don't have to know them personally or anything like that so the culture is just much more

open I love those traditions of sharing mate Ilove you know Sundays with the family the

family always gets together we have Sunday lunch pasta asado asado is the Argentine Barbecue

it is amazing and it's famous all around the world I'm sure you know this already so you

know Sunday with the family having asado having wine and you know then later people can come

over and have some mate it's amazing and it makes you feel like you are living life a

bit slower and that's something I really appreciate because in the US it's always like go go go

do this do that take the kids here take the kids there I mean I don't have kids but I

know that this is what other people live and experience I've been living in Argentina for

so long that sometimes I forget what my life was like before but in the US when you want

to invite friends over it's kinda weird to say oh just come over like for what what are

we gonna do that's the question and in Argentina you can say oh come over have some mate or

you know just come over you know and it's totally normal it's great and I love that

about the culture that you don't always have to go out and do something just to hang out

with someone so in that sense I definetely love Argentina more ok so as you can see there

are so many things that I love about Argentina and there are so many things that I love about

the USA it's really difficult to choose which one is my favorite so I refuse to choose but

I have a lot of things that I wanna keep sharing with you guys about how this two countries

are different and you know what my life is like in both of them so if you wanna see more

of this then join me next week for part II and in the meantime you know tell me in the

comments what other kind of videos do you want me to make what other you know I travel

quite a bit so I can take you places with me in the US or Argentina or wherever so let

me know down in the comments and I will be waiting to respond to you take care