What was the first culture shock you remember having?

[MeiganMcSeinna6]

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

I grew up in a very small village in the Midlands and at the age of 21 went on holiday to Tunisia with a well traveled friend. As a vegetarian the sights and smells in the souks and travelling around were truly shocking and not for the faint hearted. Also moving to Beds/Herts border a year later was a culture shock.

My job in my gap year. I went from a naice Catholic girls' school to working for a magazine publishers where the advertising salesmen (yes, they were all men) would blatantly snort coke off their desks during working hours and members of the senior management eventually got arrested and jailed for financial fraud.

Yet another one for Delhi airport! I remember leaving there and seeing people living on the pavement just outside and realising that these weren’t just itinerant homeless people, staying for a couple of nights. These were living there permanently, had always done, and would always do.

And then an elephant strolled down the street like the most normal thing in the world.

Coming to England for the first time and finding:

1. People walk around in their houses in their filthy outdoor shoes; and

1. Finding out that not everyone spoke and dressed like Bertie Wooster and that the towns were full of aggressive violent drunks after 7pm.

High School too op.

Moved from an all girls High school in rural Ireland to an inner city high school in Yorkshire.
I didn't speak to anyone the first term😳

Holiday to Rome at age 13 Public toilets often consisted of those holes in the floor. Rome of all places I thought would have better loos than that.

A few years after I got together with dh he wanted us to go to visit his dad, he was living in India. From landing at the airport I was in genuine awe at just how totally different it was to anywhere I'd ever been before. The trip from airport to his dad's was interesting! It was like wacky racers, there seemed to be no rules to the road, actual whole families on one tiny scooter, carrying furniture amongst other things, cows in the road, an elephant walking down the street, I had to pinch myself! Within a couple of days I was totally settled in and it all seemed quite normal.

Also, Pontins. We didn't stay.

Seeing punks in London when I was 6 in the mid seventies. We’d gone there for the day from my tiny Kent village - I’d never seen anything like them!

Moving to the NE of Scotland later. So cold! Having to get used to a new dialect and accent - and having adults taking the p out of my English accent. So ignorant.

Went to work in large northern city UK from the south coast aged 18 in the 90’s. I had never seen so many people of colour(maybe 4 at my school). The family I lived with (Jamaican) thought it was so funny they had to teach me what garlic and spices were!

Went to Bulgaria when I was 9, shortly after it left the USSR. Went into a shop and there was nothing to buy, row after row of almost empty shelves.

First job at a bank, coming from a very genteel grammar school in Surrey and being transferred to the Clapham branch was an eye-opener!
Later, going into the local DSS to ask a question. Wow. Just. Wow.

Grew up on a small Scottish island population 120. The first time we went to mainland Scotland and travelled by train it was magical, there were not only trees, but forests... Mile upon mile of forests. I will always remember the feeling.

Going to Scotland with my DH for the first time (he's from there) and seeing orange order marches. I knew that they took place in Ireland but never knew they happened in parts of Scotland.
On a lighter note. Also in Scotland I went into a chip shop and saw a ginsters pasty being deep fried. As a west country girl this was treason.

Moving to England from a southern African country. All the rain. I am still traumatised :-)

When I moved to London and realized that the government didn't provide subsidized housing for 85% of its citizens. I come from a country where there is no stigma to living in government housing and it was a shock that council housing was only for poor people. It was also a shock when we bought our flat and realized there was no meaningful government support unlike back at home. The NHS was a bit of a shock too. Also that poor people could live in terraced houses - in my country, most people live in flats or condos so a terraced house was something to boast about as it meant you were a millionaire (though now many terraced houses in London are similar prices). Also that people could commute 1.5 hours for work,, you can go across my entire country in 1 hour. The food- you can get food from every country but the local food can be quite bland (though I love fish and chips and afternoon tea). That carrot cake is a sweet, not savoury dish (it is something completely different in my country). That people can go to school and live in the same area populated mainly with people of their background and ethnic group, my husband is 30 and can count the number of non Jewish friends on one hand, he exclusively attended Jewish schools which didn't allow non Jews, my country has ethnic quotas in public housing (only 90% can be Chinese, there must be other races) and even the schools can only admit 25% of students from their affiliated religious institutions if they are a faith school. That people take drugs (they have the death penalty in my country). That people cohabitate before marriage and it's so common (a lot of people have sex before marriage in my country but we just don't talk about it and our parents would definitely disapprove).

Basically not living in a nanny state where the government extensively plans your housing, your schooling, the people you mix with for the purpose of maximum social harmony is enlightening. Freedom is liberating but can also be scary depending on who you are. And that consequences can be unintended. I was so used to the perception of the government social engineering everything that even now I have to be trained out that the government has ulterior motives for stupid/unpopular decisions. Sometimes, I realize politicians can be shortsighted and foolish and pander to a certain segment of the population while sacrificing others but maybe they don't always have a hidden sinister agenda.

Oh and the love of gardens and walking in the countryside. My country doesn't have the countryside, the closest we have to it is a nature reserve and an island that still had wooden houses and is mainly jungle. Most people there don't care about gardens. Oh and that there re high crime /dangerous areas, my country doesn't really have any bad areas.

Went to an interview at Oxford (didn't get in - probably for the best really) and being asked why my mother worked and 'was it because she got bored during the day?'.

Err no it's so we had food on the table. Slightly awkward silence after that.

Going from living in an upper class neighbourhood in a European country to living in a Palestinian refugee camp. On my own.

Starting work in an auctioneers at 19 or 20.
I’d been in the world of full time work for a few years, but it was a whole different ball game and the posh accents were quite intimidating to start with.
But it was a real mix, with travellers, lords and ladies, Lovejoy characters, actors and everyone in between coming in for sale days. Much more interesting and fun than the accountancy firm I worked at previously!

Beyondmywits I can almost feel it too. It must have been amazing to suddenly realise the enormity of the world, seeing the trees go on and in for miles.

1976 moving to a small town in the West of Ireland after growing up in a beautiful country in Africa.It was like being transported back 100 years .I can remember looking out of the window watching people scurrying by , the rain pouring down , the greyness and the blackness of it all.

1990 entering East Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall .We had to pass the Border Guards and entered into a completely different world , grey and unwelcoming .The streets were practically deserted and the shops empty .There was a compulsory change of money 100 DM for 100 East Mark .We couldn't spend the money so gave it away to people passing on the street.

Another "girl from Ekatahuna" (the cultural capital of NZ) one.

My first day in London. Waking up in my friend's flat to find no milk in the fridge. I wandered down to the local shop which was all of 3 doors down, watched intently by 4 children sitting on a wall. When I emerged from the shop one was brave enough to comment (in broad sarf London accent)

"Hey lady, you know you aint go no shoes on?"

It had simply never occured to me that shoes were required for a journey of less than 20 meteres.

@Ibizan yep I imagine it must be a shock. But I think being an expat nowadays is a lot more insulated cos there is a huge community and you mainly rent private housing. And the expats I know seem to hardly eat at the hawker centre!