I thought that English girls would be prettier than American girls when I came to England. I was wrong. People are all the same. You have really fat people and really thin people, and everything in between. It's not just one place that has that sort of thing.
As for the argument about American history, America does have a history, but most of it's contemporary. Anybody who argues that Vietnam, the Cold War, World War II, World War I and the social movements in American history aren't really historical needs to get their facts straight. The reason that American history doesn't go as far back as European history is quite obvious... as I'm pretty sure we all here know that American history, in the beginning, was an offshoot of European history. After the colonies officially severed their ties with England, I think you can say American history starts there.
I'm not saying that American history is better. I prefer European history, as I just find it more interesting. America has a lot of history, though. It's undeniable.
As for the vending machines and stuff.... you can get a lot of that in America as well. Coffee and tea in vending machines. You can't get beer due to the laws surrounding the drinking age. I've never seen a cigarette vending machine in America -- I've seen one in Germany, but that's about it. There are vending machines in America with the coffee and tea, though, but I think they're just more popular here in Europe.
Electric kettles blew me away when I first moved to England. They're everywhere -- there basically isn't a place in England that doesn't have one. I bought one for £3, and it's really nice. In America you can get an electric kettle, but they're quite expensive, and nobody that I know of realy has them. We all use kettles on the stove, and everybody gets by nicely with that. However, the kettle on the stove is quite archaic here in England... I can see why, too!