By: Katja Esser, German exchange student

European visitors often get a big shock when they come to the United States for the first time. People moving or visiting from countries like Germany learn very fast that normal life across the ocean is totally different.

Getting food and drinks brings more surprises. In Europe, you have to pay for water at a restaurant and if you want another drink you pay again. In America, workers bring you big glasses of water with ice for free right away. Fast-food places even offer free refills. You just buy one cup, and you can fill it up with soda as many times as you want without paying extra.

Spanish exchange student Silvia de la Calle Martinez immediately noticed the difference in food quality and portion sizes. “You can definitely tell that food is more processed here in America,” Martinez said, calling the single serving portions “crazy.”

Still, she loves the drink policy. “I feel that the free refills is one of the best things that has happened to me in America,” Martinez said, compared to paying for water back home.

Then comes the confusing part when it is time to pay. Menus do not show the real price. They add sales tax at the end when you pay. On top of that, you have to leave a big tip for the worker. Giving an extra eighteen or twenty percent is normal, which makes the food much more expensive than you thought. “When I reed a restaurant menu in New Zealand, the price I see is the price I pay. When I read one here, the price I see is about 80% of what I pay,” Ben Davies, a New Zealand researcher at Stanford, said.

Living in the USA means getting used to these little things every day. “I didn’t appreciate that variety until moving here,” Davies said. Getting used to giant stores, free drinks, and weird prices just becomes a normal part of life for anyone visiting from Europe.