> It seems to be that Europe doesn't like comfort or pleasure.

Ah yes, Amsterdam, the city known for its seriousness and lack of fun.

Or Berlin. Or Rome, Paris, London, Barcelona… These famous cities where people hate enjoying themselves and never party ever.

That said, I have to admit, I dislike ice-cold water.

I'd say comfort and pleasure are not elevated with respect as they are in the 'States. Perhaps due to puritanical Christianity and the "Protestant ethic", comfort and pleasure tend to be viewed as luxuries and therefore desirable, therefore within the realm of corrupted desires, and therefore worthy of a form of reserved/frightened respect. I do not see the same value transference in conversations with Europeans.

They sure as *%#$ like comfort and they do enjoy pleasure, but it’s just a very different perspective to the American one. In Europe they see comfort in just fitting in with the standard things from the status quo; questioning too much and adding too many individual, custom things is seen negatively. In other words, ”we don’t need ice here, stop being such a snowflake.” In America having that individual touch is a more widespread thing, it has more value.

Americans traded universal healthcare, free college education, maternity and paternity leave, vacation time, and the right to not be murdered by a cop “fearing for his life” for ice cold water. A very pragmatic trade it is said.

What a funny perspective, thanks for the laugh. I'm sure there isn't anyone in Europe who enjoys cold water, most of them lost their lives or got deported to the US during the last Tepid Water war /jk.

The fact that you like very cold water and equate that to pleasure doesn't mean that everyone does the same. I don't enjoy cold water with ice in it but I do enjoy very cold beer. Does that mean I don't like comfort or pleasure?

Seems to me that pleasure is linked to personal preferences and also follows cultural lines (regional, national, ethnic, etc).

Funny story, somewhat similar to your ice-water tale. Went to Greece (Crete) on holiday and I couldn't get my hands on a fresh lemonade no matter what. Lemons were literally falling off trees on the side of the road but serving lemonade was just not part of the local culture. Their view was, why would I want to drink water mixed with lemon juice when I could have better things like fresh orange juice.

Does this mean that Cretans don't like pleasure? No, it just means that they find pleasure in different things.