An American woman and her Italian husband get a kick out of comparing norms from their respective upbringings – revealing to the world the many cultural differences that they come across while going about their day-to-day lives.
Alessio and Jessi Pasini, who boast 2.2 million followers on their joint TikTok handle @thepasinis, have built an audience by exploring differences in their cultural backgrounds and highlighting the various contrasts in a fun, performative manner for fans.
In one of their viral series, the Nashville-based duo looked at daily practices in Europe versus parallel ones in America, pointing out disparities in everything from date formats to preferred candy brands to coffee-drinking habits.
At one point, Alessio posed alongside Jessi, with him snacking on a jar of Nutella, while she is seen eating a spoonful of Skippy-brand peanut butter.
An American woman and her Italian husband get a kick out of comparing norms from their respective upbringings
Alessio and Jessi Pasini, who are from Italy and Nashville respectively, have gone viral after sharing the hilarious cultural differences they’ve come across – even with bread
Alessio chose Kinder Bueno as ‘best candy’ while Jessi went with Reese’s
And the two dove into around two dozen other examples across eight videos, cycling through a few examples in each under-20-second clip.
The two acted out how Americans wear their shoes in the house – while Europeans leave them outside.
They then pretended to argue about the decimal placement in numerical money amounts: most European countries would write out one-thousand euros and zero cents as 1.000,50 € – while in American dollars, the same number would look like $1,000.00.
They also showed off date formats side-by-side, with Americans stylizing the date month-day-year – and Europeans writing it out as day-year-month.
As for coffee-drinking habits, Alessio knocked back a shot of espresso in less than the time it took for Jessi to fill mug with coffee from the coffee-maker carafe.
While Americans have an electric clothes dryer, many Europeans prefer to line dry their garments.
In the couple’s portrayal, Europeans also tend to eat more slowly and with their forks facing down, while Americans tend to gobble down their food more quickly and with their forks facing up.
‘Best candy’ pick? Jessi went with Reese’s, which combines chocolate and peanut butter; Alessio picked Kinder Bueno, which is a hazelnut cream-filled wafer in chocolate.
The pair highlighted that while Europeans will rest the day after Christmas, for Americans, it’s right back to work
Europeans will hang-dry their garments, while Americans rely on an electronic dryer
The duo demonstrated how they’d style the numeral for one-thousand euros or dollars and zero cents with opposite use of the comma and the decimal point
Alessio knocked back an espresso in the time it took for Jessi to fill a mug with drip coffee
Americans can’t legally drink until age 21, while Europeans can legally start at age 18
While European shops have brief opening hours, American spots proudly stay open 24/7
For bread, Alessio showed off a loaf of fresh-baked Italian bread; Jessi grasped a pre-sliced loaf of white bread in a plastic wrapper.
As for ice cube preferences, generally a ‘yes’ for Americans, and a ‘no’ from Europeans when it comes to cold drinks.
To symbolize the stark difference in healthcare – with Europeans having their costs covered by the government – Jessi, as the American, pretended to cry over a bill while Alessio, as the European, awkwardly patted her on her shoulder.
For vacation time, Europeans tend to get around twice as much of the Americans’ annual two weeks off.
And, while the ‘average parental leave’ in Europe is 21 weeks, it’s a whopping zero weeks for the average American.
At the same time, the duo acknowledged that taxes in Europe were much higher than those in the United States.
The day after Christmas, for Americans, meant going right back to work; for Europeans, it’s just more relaxing at home.
American drinking age? 21. In Europe? Only 18. But Europeans’ driving age is 18; Americans’ is 16 years old.
As for American customer service, Jessi portrayed an employee being extremely accommodating with at return; for the fictional European store worker, returns and refunds were not an option on the table.
Likewise, while European shops are notorious for having brief opening hours, Americans happily welcome customers to their storefronts 24/7.
While Americans ‘drive everywhere,’ Europeans prefer to ‘walk everywhere.’
And, per Alessio and Jessi’s interpretations, where Americans act more outwardly ‘polite,’ Europeans are ‘blunt af.’