Michigan Student Abroad Laughs at Europeans Misunderstanding of Size of U.S.

In comparison, the United States is somewhere around the same size as most of Europe. Some countries there are the size of our states, or even smaller. Yet, some Europeans still struggle to grasp the sheer size of the United States.

One Michigan Woman, who is studying abroad, got a chuckle when her European friends wanted to visit her in the U.S. on holiday, and thought everything was just a quick train ride away.

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Bateman Solms, who moved from Michigan to St. Andrews, Scotland to study in 2020, has been posting to her social media about her adventures living abroad. Her TikTok alone has more than 52,000 followers.

Her most recent video, though, made many people chuckle, and gave her a good smile while trying to explain to her school mates just how big the United States is.

In Europe, short car rides, and trains, connect multiple countries. If you're in parts of France, it's only a few hours to get to Germany, or even across the Channel to the United Kingdom.

This year, her UK friends wanted to visit her in northern Michigan, and thought they could land in Chicago, and take a short "train" or "ferry" ride across Lake Michigan to see her.

"I genuinely think a lot of people in the UK don't have a grasp of how bit the US is, or how disconnected we are as a country.
Some of my friends were talking about visiting me over the summer. They're talking and they're like, 'Oh maybe we could fly into Chicago and then would it be easier for us to take the bus or the train to you?'"

Solms had to break their heart that the trip from Chicago to her home wouldn't be such an easy trip, and that she would have to drive nearly a half day to get them, and a half day back to her home. She also explained there is no ferry, and not really any bus or train that would take them to her.

But their misunderstanding grew even bigger, regarding the size of the country.

@shark_bateman extra points for one of them guessing it takes 24 hours to drive from the east coast to the west coast #usvsuk #americansabroad #expat #usa #uni #travel ♬ original sound - bateman

Additionally, she gave them "extra points" for thinking you could drive from the east coast to the west coast within 24 hours.

While the misunderstanding is funny to us, it's also a good indicator just how far behind the U.S. is when it comes to public transportation, and high-speed rail. Though, recent policies could soon start to change that, including in Michigan.