What's the biggest culture shock you've experienced?

[Sacredhandbag]

Good or bad?

For me it was definitely the bike culture in Amsterdam - and I loved it.

But also, the over enthusiasm of shop workers in America, the silence in the streets in Japan, and the way Australians are so outdoorsy but can't handle the rain 😅

In some countries the cafes serve as coffee shops/tea rooms during the day and become more like pubs in the evening so no reason why they wouldn't be open in the morning for before work coffee.
You can get breakfast at the Spoons.

I've lived in France for over 20 years, this has only happened to me once! Completely unthreatening as it happened, luckily.

" And then we were told that they parked their cars with their handbrakes off so that cars could be shunted by other cars when trying to park. Not sure how true this is or was and it kind of makes sense bit I assume they all drive round with dented"

This was true when I worked in Paris many years ago. And many of the cars were dented!

I was in Copenhagen for a football game and it was exactly as you said. My friend lost his wallet, literally everything in it, someone had so kindly handed it in to the nearest Catholic church assuming that was our religion due to 1, Irish surname & 2 being Celtic supporters & that we would be at mass on the Sunday morning. They left a note with the surrounding hotels .

What is Leeds like? I think it's similar to London.

So good to buy Paul Newman’s Own products as profits go to Newman’s Own Foundation which ‘is a private foundation funded through profits and royalties from the sale of Newman’s Own products’.

It isn't. It doesn't have a heart. There are too many bits of it and no centre. It quickly becomes leafy and suburban Adel/All Woodly or grim and poverty ridden Armley.

Nowhere in the UK is similar to London.

Often the cake cutting signifies the end of the party and guests take it as a signal to clear off once they’ve been given the cake-containing party bag. 😂 To be fair, back in my day guests will already have eaten a ton of sugar during the party so it wasn’t a big deal. These days where party food is healthy carrot sticks and cucumber I can imagine it’s more disappointing.

@Gwenhwyfar

Hence my trying to help the American poster living in the UK who mentioned it

If anything like that ever happens again I’ve got the simplest most effective solution. Just say ‘bit rude!’ In a slightly incredulous tone. Then they have to defend themselves not you. Just keep saying it repeatedly and don’t add anything. They very soon give up. Works a treat.

For me, it was moving to UK and discovering how it is considered negatively if you get a higher degree, buy your own home or have private medical insurance. Oh and let’s not forget the cardinal sin of sending your children to private school.

In an Arab country I won’t say which , on a moon lit evening stroll on the beach a distinguished looking man asking my boyfriend if he could buy me. I was 18 at the time and ridiculously I was hugely flattered. Not sure how I’d feel if I heard that in reference to one of my own daughters of the same age tho!!!! I’d probably be arrested for brawling.

Sounds perfectly normal to me. You’re moving in the wrong circles.

@tempname1234 I really dont recognise your point about buying your own home. In fact I think it’s the opposite in the UK. Until recent economic difficulties forced the matter, most people expect to own their own home here.

I LOVE this thread! So many fascinating experiences, good & bad, mine have mostly been mentioned, hole to wee in in a beautiful, air con, marbled Cairo airport, the poverty vs wealth & the guilt that goes with that, I was only short of getting a beach towel thrown at me in Dom Republic for having the temerity to ask for one, also being told "do not stop at traffic lights!" if we left our hotel it was a very tense& I would never recommend it

The heat hitting you like a brick wall in so many countries & the smells & also the reverse, landing in Vancouver with snow up to the windows of the other planes at the terminal, I also loved hearing the call to prayer when I was in Egypt

I'm Irish & the funeral thing doesn't bother me, in fact I think I'd find it hard if we had to wait weeks before our loved ones were buried or cremated, it is quick but it helps the grieving process to have it done rather than having it hanging over the family/friends imo, as for the open coffins, I hate that part & I have stayed back, paid my respects but definitely not touched or kissed the deceased, even family members, it's incredibly personal so there's no right or wrong

Swearing... it is cultural but there's a time & a place, god knows I don't eff & blind around my son or in school but it's second nature to us but in a way it's so incorporated that even our radio broadcasters throw in a few for emphasis, not fuck or cunt but pretty much anything else

Of course Leeds has a centre! In fact I think they actually called it Leeds city centre 😀. I lived in the centre for almost 20 years. Brewery Wharf, Grabnary Wharf , etc all housing around the central shopping/hospitality zone, city square ,library museum etc

As a 12 year-old, I left home in Northern Ireland to go to boarding school in the South East of England (a few months after DM passed away). I was from a family that would have been considered wealthy there, two large farms plus a successful business, "big" house and so on. My DF was ex-army, very conservative, religious. The culture shocks for me were:

• Diversity of people. I'd never traveled, only been in a few times England for some extended family funerals, once to Germany (but that was at an army base). People seemed so cold and unfriendly there compared to home
• Our family was poor! Or at least compared to the others in the school. They has so much money to spend. We lived in a really nice house, but we actually had very little disposable money I now know.
• Religion was a huge thing in my life growing up (and still is), and it was not a factor in most people's lives
• No sectarianism! My DF had no time for all that rubbish, but it was (and still is) deeply embedded in the community back home

Buying your own home is considered normal and what everyone should aspire to in the UK. People are even obsessed by it, so you've obviously met an unusual person there.

I have come across a certain bemusement about higher degrees from people who couldn't imagine what they're for and think they're a waste of public money so I'd agree there's an anti-intellectual culture in some places.

Private health is becoming much more common now, but the reason it's frowned upon or used to be is because it uses the same doctors so is a way of jumping the queue.

I won't get into the other one you mentioned.

@DonnaHadDee I love your user name! 🤣

Same - and I couldn't believe the lack of security in England, or 'normality' as it was known. It just seemed so weird not to have bag searches in shops, guards searching buses, and soldiers everywhere.

Leaving home and seeing whole towns that seemed pretty wealthy, rather than run down. Meeting people who thought owning a semi detached house was normal and had no idea about how lots of people in the UK live. Parents finding it strange that other parents do not offer other food if their child does not want their dinner. With zero understanding that they may not have any other food to offer - pretty normal where I grew up.

I also love Spanish draining cupboards, so practical.

I've just been reminded of a very strange open plan toaster that was in the house we stayed in, just outside Malaga last year. It was terrifying. I bet they bought it in a Ferreteria (if you know, you know).

I don't know and I'm hoping it's not a ferret shop.

2 times, don't know if culture shock would be the best descriptor.

Coming back to London after spending some time in Malawi and the abundance of everything.

Going to stay with a friend of a friend who didn't speak any English and I didn't speak their language well and I was there for about a week before my friend turned up.

It's a proper old fashioned ironmongers where you can buy everything household, tools, gardening equipment etc.

The name derives from ferrous which means iron, but it's also apt because you have to ferret around to find anything.