I've been all over the place and places like India, Vietnam, Cambodia , the middle east have definitely felt different and eye opening but the only place I ever feel that is a true culture shock is the USA.
So many flags, as another poster pointed out so much Jesus. In Orlando you regularly see a crucifix in the sky created by a sign writing plane.
The bizarrely slavsh patriotism. Watching grown adults come to a complete halt and put their hands on their chests when the national anthem starts playing is arresting.
The terrible build quality of cars and sheer size of cars in the USA and the fact they are so fuel inefficient. The general complete lack of environmental awareness. Widespread use of single user plastics. Lots of polystyrene. Motels serving breakfasts on polystyrene plates. Single glazing in areas that rely heavily on air con. The general lack of design. Oven and kitchen appliances look huge and seriously out of date. I flew through stuttgart airport and miami airport in quick succession and miami just seemed so antiquated and utterly lacking in any style by comparison.
The way the TV news is a combination of alarmism and entertainment, but also when watching it you'd barely know any other country exists.
The TV adverts, there's so many, so frequently and they last so long and so many of them are for pharmaceuticals and they always have a disclaimer at the end read at breathtaking speed that usually says something like may cause debilitating wind, blindness and/or death.
The lack of food choices. So many carbon copy menus, chicken wings, burgers, tilapia, ribs, steaks. So little diversity of vegetables. The crazy portion sizes. The food often bring served luke warm. Having your bill shoved in your face when eating out, no you are not allowed to order a coffee and linger! Not that you'd want to hiven the volume that Americans converse at and the inevitable TV noise because so many restaurants have tvs.
How incredibly fat a lot of people are and i say that as a properly tubby bastard myself but watching parents pour packets of sugar into their kids ginormous cups of full sugar coke is utterly wild.
The crazy tipping culture. The faux friendliness of waiting staff compared to the general unfriendlinss of most people. The poor customer service when you're dealing with anyone who isnt tip dependent.
The misogyny, men really talk down to you in the USA. I've had a man run into me when jogging. He had diverted around a group of men into my path but thought I should shift and that's just one example of many. Shouldn't be surprised really given the lack of women's rights in the USA.
The toilet stalls, why are the gaps so high and the toilets so low? Being laughed at for asking where the toilet was and being told it was the bathroom. It wasn't. There was definitely no bath in there just bogs. And if there had been a bath in the USA it would have been weirdly shallow anyway
The insane consumerism. Watching people take suitcases to the boxing day sales is certainly different.
The total lack of social provision and care for others, just north of miami we saw some little benches by the beach, you had to ring a private company to rent them. God forbid the general populace might want to sit on a bench and enjoy their coastline. Unless you can pay for it, you get nothing. The poor are barely considered and are treated as barely human.
The way Americans are so class obsessed. They can't wait to size each other up in the social hierarchy. I was in munich recently and there was an NFL game on so lots of Americans The number of conversations we heard between Americans where they immediately told each other their jobs was eye popping.
The absolute inability to queue properly. So many of them jumped the queue at passport control at Munich airport. Seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of others waiting. Last time I was in the states I was queuing for a restaurant a young lady waltzed in past the very obvious queue and started telling the receptionist what size table she wanted. In the UK i think she would have probably pointed out that there were people alreadty waiting but no, the receptionist immediately started noting her details until I intervened and told her in no uncertain terms that she should wait her turn. In san francisco there were so many people jumping the queue to get on the cable cars i was surprised there wasn't a riot
The vocal rascism, last time in the states we heard an American loudly congratulating a hungarian on their lack of black population shortly after asking him where he was from. He looked as shocked as we were.
The poverty in some areas in mind blowing but also in general the infrastructure is in a shit state. Manhatten looked so shabby and dirty last time I was there and it stank of bins.
The American obsession with germs. Seeing apples individually plastic wrapped yet I have never seen people decimate public toilets in the way American women do. If you go in at the start of the day somewhere like a museum or a national parkv the toilets will be clean, but by the end of the dsy the floors will be covered with litter and tissue. Perhaps its always seen as someone else's job to pick up rather than do it yourself.
I had so many preconceived notions about the USA being this incredibly shiny, advanced, world leading country but every time I go it's such a shock just how sad and dysfunctional a place it seems and how me, me, me it all is..it is so different to Europe in really every way it really represents a proper culture shock.