Why both Americans and Europeans seem to "idealize" each other's "country"?

Because "The grass is always greener on the other side" and because movies and television have filled people from both continents with a large amount of sterotypes. The best way to break them is to move in another country and actually live there for some time. I'm Italian and when I moved to Australia I realized that all they knew about Italy was: sea, good food, beautiful women, Berlusconi, pizza and mafia. At first it's been kinda depressing, then I understood that it was my job to try to teach them that Italy is way more than that. I have to admit anyway that before moving to Australia I imagined it as a country where everyone practised surf and where everyone was tall, blonde with blue eyes. I just wanted to highlight how stupid and superficial stereotypes are, but they exist and they are stronger than we think..