> On average, americans eat far worse cheese then europeans, but if cheese is your thing you will easily (!!) find better cheese in the US compared to the best cheese I can find here in Europe.

I take offense to that. You can find great cheese in the US. In fact, i found a small producer in WV that produced exceptionnally good goat cheese, and could compete with the best in Europe, but you can't find this on the market, you have to be part of (or invited to) his community to sample it.

I also happen to really like cheese and to have sampled the best producers in Europe. And i have a sister who worked in different starred kitchen, and got to try their products (sometime paid for it, sometime it was just not eaten soon enough for the chef) (and especially when the pandemic hit and they had to empty their fridges, great few days for me). They have cheese from all over Europe, NZ and Japan. None from the US.

US good cheese is really expensive, and even then, only compete against some categories of cheese (Brie, Goat cheese -goat here for chèvre, not brebis- and some pasteurized hard cheese). They are definitely lacking in diversity, and most cheese plate had four kind of cheese on it, sometime as high as six.

Idem for wine, a 60$ quality-bottle in California would be as good as a 15€ Sicillian or Cote-du-Rhone (We blind tested with same cepages). I don't drink anymore, but my stay in the US was interesting on this point. In US wine, enough diversity exist, so i think they will be competing soon on the global market, but right now?

Also, general aviation: Lycée Alfred Kastler (school i went to) proposed a 200€ course to get a pilot license (i'm dumbing down the terms, don't really remember th license name: we would be able to fly small planes). 40 students took this course in 2007 (year i was in), 26 finished it (i bailed, so did not get the license, worst mistake of my life tbh). So i guess you might not have researched enough, it was in one of the poor area of France, and i know another Highschool offered this license near Bordeaux. If i had to guess at least two dozen highschool offer the same in France, as we have a lot of small aerodroms everywhere, and there is no beach where i never saw personnal airplanes flying around in the summer.

Also parachutism is a thing too.

> where people don't have a passion for much, no hobbies, and no aspirations.

I'm only hiking/canyoning/rafting every summer, and kitesurfing/windsufing in fall/spring, ever year since 2015 i take lessons in a new sport (paragliding last summer) to see if it's interesting and i could add it to my list of "things i do when i'm not working". 35h work week and 7 weeks of paid leave leave me with a lot of time on my hand.

I spend a month in WV, hiking, kayaking/rafting and playing music, i can tell you one thing: West virginia might be one of the most beautifull, interesting place on earth, but no working american who did not work there was present. None. I saw more people biking in the Madrenas desert for a day than i saw hiking/kayaking in Pocahontas county and surrounding forests for the best part of a month.

Other point are kinda political and better left to each and everyone own feelings, but i guess you're quite young and did not see much of europe.