> “It’s my hypothesis that the reason Europeans are so much more geographically aware than we Americans is that they have these maps that make their surroundings understandable and we don’t,”<p>Being from Oregon myself, and having spent years in Italy, I quickly realized that most people in Italy have no idea where I'm from - and it's not a small place by any means. Even the relatively small population is on par with some smaller European countries.<p>So I don't think it's that Europeans are 'more aware' - it's that they're more aware of Europe. I think it's pretty normal to be mostly aware of your immediate surroundings.
The West Wing clip on maps is still one of the best ways to teach someone about how different our classic maps are from reality: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX-PrBRtTY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX-PrBRtTY</a>