Thanks for a thoughtful reply. >>I don't know how intro/extroversion might be shaped or not by the environment, never gave that a thought. I asked you that be

Thanks for a thoughtful reply. >>I don't know how intro/extroversion might be shaped or not by the environment, never gave that a thought. I asked you that because I assumed that you would not try to force introverts to be more outgoing even though outgoing people are supposed to be happier. >>People in the US are car centric not unlike in North Korea they're Juche-centric: it's often (or always) the only option. The comparison is rather bad but yes I agree the USA as a whole is pretty car centric. I just don't see anything bad about it. It is like that for historical reasons (USA is pretty big place compared to Germany you mentioned, lots of space, lots of wealth) and personal reasons (people like to live like that). I think the USA actually for its size has very good transit options. Ships and trains for cargo, cars for small to medium distances and planes for medium to large distances. Europe is also pretty car centric, the roads all always full inside and outside of the cities and Europeans love their cars as much as Americans do. There are a lot of car manufacturers in Europe. >> Maybe we've lived in different parts of Europe? There's like 2-4 levels of proximity in all major conglomerates (e.g. Carrefour > Carrefour Market > Carrefour Express, Monoprix > Monop', etc). Even though the smaller the more expensive, they're invariably cheaper than even just starting the car, and a no-brainer if you value your time at minimum wage. I know Germany, Austria, Italy and some other smaller countries in the Balkans. In my experience people rather take a car to the shopping mall weekly, bi-weekly or monthly to make a big purchase (cheaper, more choice) than to go to small inner city shops for that. The smaller markets are used for buying things you ran out and urgently need or to buy launch or snacks on your way to work.