What was the first culture shock you remember having?

[MeiganMcSeinna6]

high school for me , thought it would be all sweet an innocent , Wrong

I shared a backpacker hostel room as a 20 year old with a woman who was a drug addict and openly, aggressively lesbian. She stole my things and shouted at me for not wanting to have sex with her. Awful. I'd just flown in from small town New Zealand. Bit of a wake up call.

In reflection, I had met toxic men before but I'd never had any reason to distrust a female.

Seeing my first drag act in a club in Belgium when I was 18. I didnt even realise it was drag at first..very sheltered upbringing! I felt terribly cool and sophisticated

I'm french.
Many many years ago, I went to Manchester for a friend's birthday, our idea was to party like mancunian girls, so we ordered some kinda OTT outfits online, just for the weekend. Sequins and all.
Our hotel was near clubs and bars, so as soon as we arrived we were immersed in the Manchester night life. I remember having a cigarette outside, was freezing cold and I had my big puffer jacket. All around me were girls and women without coat, jumper, not even tights.
I realised after 5 min in Manchester that our "OTT online dresses" wouldn't even start to scratch the surface, we could try as much as we wanted, there was just no way we would blend in.

Another cultural shock was in Ukraine, exhanged some texts with our Airbnb host, in russian and all, Vladimir was giving me encouraging emojis that my russian was perfectly good (I seriously said something like "Thanks a lot vladimir). And then when I finally met Vladimir, he was friendly, chatty...but never smiled. Never. I noticed after a few hours in Kiev that it was pretty normal not to smile to strangers you happen to interact with the way we tend to do in western Europe.
Still had a fantastic time, people were great, food was very yellow though.

@FastFood People don’t wear ott, sequinned outfits in Manchester 🤷🏻‍♀️It’s one of the trendiest places

@FastFood "I realised after 5 min in Manchester that our "OTT online dresses" wouldn't even start to scratch the surface, we could try as much as we wanted, there was just no way we would blend in."

🤣 a quick google search of "Manchester nightlife" doesn't lie.

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar

I moved to Berlin in about 1998 and there was so much smoking. There were hardly any restaurants or cafes with no smoking areas and there were cigarette vending machines on the street so nobody at all was checking that the people buying were over 18.

I was there for a conference somewhere between 2005 and 2010 and was shocked that people were smoking right by the registration table in the hotel lobby. The acceptability of public smoking is one of the big changes in my lifetime, I think.

[quote Flowersintheattica]@FastFood People don’t wear ott, sequinned outfits in Manchester 🤷🏻‍♀️It’s one of the trendiest places[/quote]
It surely is, but let's say that my friends weren't looking for the factory record / hacienda type of experience, more for the "buy 5 jaegger bombs get 1 free".
Imagine hen and stag dos.
I assure you that I saw groups of women on super high heels, mini mini dresses, no coat no jumper no tights whatsoever.

In fairness, you can find similar places in London. I mean, I see some party pedibuses every weekend, its the same kind of vibe.

"Moving down south from the north east and realising phrases like 'I got wrong' (told off)"

Other way around for me. Realising that the Anglicism we had in Welsh about being given a 'row' to mean a telling off rather than an argument was also used in south Wales Wenglish.

Moving to London 30 years ago for work (age 21) after being brought up in a small Dorset seaside resort. The smells, the dirt, the black snot, the fact that my flat was in a red light district and I had no idea .

Having twins. Whole days could go by and I’d get nothing done other than changing nappies and feeding. Nightmare.

Visiting DH’s home country for the first time and seeing the way women were expected to behave, how backward the thinking/superstitions was and worst of all, the filthy child beggars on the streets and how they were viewed .

@itsallaboutschmoo

Starting at Cambridge and being asked by a fellow fresher 'what school did you go to?' Like he'd have heard of it? It was a backwater comp in special measures. Realised at that moment what I'd let myself in for

Hah! I went to Durham and one of the first people I chatted to in the college bar said: “Where did you school?” (This was 2000 - felt like I’d been transported to the 1920s) Totally eye-opening experience as I actually thought (rightly) that I was pretty privileged having been to an independent school but it was nothing compared to some of my peers there.

Hearing from a friend in primary school how her parents and their friends had gone put for meal. I lived in a very secluded community and had no comprehension why anyone would go out to eat.

First day of primary school. I grew up on an isolated farm in Australia with no close neighbours. I had never seen so many people in one place before, in reality it was a tiny little school in a tiny little town but it was utterly terrifying. I still remember the sensory overload and the sheer volume of a load of playing children during my first lunch time.

My ex and I got off the train in a bad neighbourhood in Chicago whilst on holiday. We didn’t get further than the street before we sensed danger. We asked the station guard if we could get a taxi and he said soberly, ‘not aroun’ here’. A man in a car then pulled over and death stared us. We literally legged it back down to the platform and got the hell out of there.

Starting at Cambridge and being asked by a fellow fresher 'what school did you go to?' Like he'd have heard of it? It was a backwater comp in special measures. Realised at that moment what I'd let myself in for

^^
I was going to say the same thing! But Oxford. “Where were you at?” - as though it would be sure to be somewhere they’d heard of!

Train from London to Manchester for my University interview when I was 17/18. The train went through industrial areas including factories and cooling towers. I had never seen any of that before having never travelled north of London or really anywhere much in the UK.

I knew industrial areas existed, I just hadn't seen them in the flesh.

Becoming a Nanny to a very different class of family.
Supper
Clothes that were from weird ‘trendy’ shops (this was 1984 and I was used to Ladybird, Adams and Mothercare and not Clothkits, Oshkosh bgosh and the likes
Drinks parties
Private medical care
Fizzy water

@DeepDown12

Moving to London. Discovering 'small talk'. Where I come from, we don't really do small talk - we either don't engage or we dive into deep stuff that would be frowned upon as too 'personal' here.

Overcast. That took so long to adjust to and I had to take extra D vitamin shots because I come from the place that has 300+ sunny days per year. I still find it draining emotionally and physically, to be honest. Quite claustrophobic. I think what I miss from home the most is the blue skies even on freezing winter days.

Low ceilings. Maybe my weird luck but I have found, renting in London and around that ceilings in flats and houses here are lower than an average in the country I came from. No idea why. Does add to that claustrophobic feeling.

Still, I love UK. I love its lush, green nature, it's architecture, history, art etc.

Newer buildings tend to have lower ceilings as it is a smaller space to heat in winter.

The realisation that Bass shandy with fish and chips is not a countrywide thing.

Visiting Lisbon about 25 years ago and seeing a shanty town. It was, I was told, filled with migrants from Portuguese speaking countries in South America and Africa. I'd never seen anything like it and hope I never will again.

Moving from England to Scotland, I was gobsmacked at the sectarianism. I hadn't expected to see that outside of the island of Ireland.

And seeing people carrying guns in the US. Scared the hell out of me.

Also, the street children of Manila

@Gwenhwyfar

"Moving down south from the north east and realising phrases like 'I got wrong' (told off)"

Other way around for me. Realising that the Anglicism we had in Welsh about being given a 'row' to mean a telling off rather than an argument was also used in south Wales Wenglish.

This is also used in Scotland. We don’t really say “telling off”, that sounds very Enid Blyton to me.

Working in an east London secondary school and finding out some teenage girls were using rags instead of pads or tampons. It wasn't because they couldn't afford them or anything, it was just part of their culture.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

Starting at Cambridge and being asked by a fellow fresher 'what school did you go to?' Like he'd have heard of it? It was a backwater comp in special measures. Realised at that moment what I'd let myself in for

^^
I was going to say the same thing! But Oxford. “Where were you at?” - as though it would be sure to be somewhere they’d heard of!

I had this on my first night in halls, surrounded by girls from Roedean and Cheltenham Ladies College. I told them the name, by explained it was a shitty comp (also in special measures) and was told 'Oh WELL DONE'

At finishing school secretarial college in London in the 80s, in my late teens.

I came from a city in the South East and I soon realised that only I and probably one other girl there came from ordinary middle class backgrounds

Everyone else was a debutante 'doing the season' and they all barked "Yah" instead of saying "Yes"!

Most of them had known each other since nursery school and many thought my city was some sleepy little seaside town as they'd never been inclined to visit.

A rather strange but character-building time for me!