Potentially one of the biggest cultural differences between Americans and Europeans is the reliance on air conditioners. Americans swear by them, whereas Europeans… don’t. While many of the reasons for this difference make sense (e.g., there’s generally less need for them), other reasons are somewhat confusing to Americans (like the idea that air conditioning makes you sick).


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Unfortunately, although many in Europe used to be able to survive without air conditioning in their homes, the planet is getting hotter, resulting in soaring temperatures across Europe. One person who’d had enough of drowning in their own sweat is Rachel, a woman from New Jersey who now lives in Germany and who took matters into her own hands by retrofitting two AC units in her apartment.



She opens the video by explaining that, as an American who has moved to Europe, one thing she will never understand is why everyone chooses to be hot. “I moved here, I live in an apartment, I rent this place: no air conditioning,” she says. “So you know what I did? I bought one,” before turning the camera around to show the unit in question.


For naysayers, she’s quick to point out that she was able to install the unit on her window, and is now a proud member of the minority of German households who have air conditioning.


To hammer the point home, she ends the video with a clip of a small American flag that’s been attached to the air conditioner, accompanied by a popular TikTok sound making fun of Europeans who visit New York and act like they’re the main character in a movie: “American dream, best country in the world…”



It’s certainly the coolest.