off every summer to do some exotic vacation. One my colleagues went on a 2-month backpacking trek through the Andes last year. I was originally baffled, jealous, and even angry (because they just temporarily drop all their work on their American colleagues) that they could take so much time off every year.

But I've learned there's a lot of caveats. Most importantly, I've learned that most of our U.S. salaries are at least double those of our European colleagues at the same level as us. In fact, my salary is significantly higher than the two managers above me in the company hierarchy, who are both Dutch.