Friday, February 5, 2021

Americans' Biggest Culture Shocks When Visiting Europe


If you're from America and you've visited anywhere in Europe you've likely dealt with your fair share of culture shocks. Maybe you found yourself shocked at the servings sizes they're rocking over there compared to back home. Or, perhaps it was the sheer oldness of all those beautiful buildings in a place like Rome. You might resonate with a fair number of these. 

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Font - psycmike · 9h How old everything is. G Reply 1 196 ...

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Rectangle - Old_Mr_Wong • 4h It truly is NOT in Texas. The European version of Paris and London are MUCH better. People do not eat cheese with everything A 6 Reply 97 ...

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Organism - klipshklf20 · 6h Visiting Rome, utter and total disregard for traffic laws. Cars stop at lights, scooters cut lanes and go straight through. Cars, scoters all over the sidewalks. Intense graffiti, inside and outside of every train every inch was covered, sharpie tags on marble sculptures and buildings. GReply 92 5 •..

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Font - Expert_Ad9908 · 4h I grew up in a town that dates back to colonial times (first non-Indian inhabitants arrived in the late 1600's) and historic preservation was always a priority. We actually called the historical society the hysterical society, because they would freak out over any proposal that would have changed the character of the town. So I thought I knew old. Well, got to Europe, and saw OLD. Like, good old hometown has absolutely nothing on any small town I visited there. Also - t

5.

Font - giantpotato • 5h It took me a couple days to realize street names were posted on buildings. Where l'm from street names are always on standalone poles. I couldn't find any street names. I was wondering how everyone finds their way around without street signs before facepalming and realizing the street name signs were affixed to the building corners. G Reply 1 167 3 ...

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Smile - oh_look_a_fist • 4h Air conditioning. Even when they have it, it's not on full blast like here in the US. I went to Germany in June. Beautiful, but can get pretty warm. Took my body a few days to adjust to the time zone and the temperature culture. But other than that, 10/10 would go again. G Reply 4 23 ...

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Font - Witness-Worldly · 5h Trains... glorious, glorious trains. G Reply 285 ...

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Handwriting - DenL4242 · 3h I was surprised that normal, "whole" foods (like raw carrots and blueberries) tasted slightly different. I don't know why. G Reply 1 24 3 ...

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Font - Caspers_Shadow • 5h How friendly people outside tourist areas are compared to close to major attractions. Reply 101 3 •.. +

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Font - Wonderful_Parsley_77 • 5h Cars are optional. G Reply 104 ... +B

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Mammal - tennispro94 · 3h Europe has fantastic public transportation. But what surprised me even more than that was how amazing the work life balance is there. Most places are closed Sunday and stores close by 6/7 PM on weekdays. Everyone has more time for family and to enjoy life. G Reply 4 22 3 •..

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Handwriting - Lux_Dr • 6h Not that it was weird or anything but everyone either walks or bikes everywhere, here in America if you go anywhere you are pretty much always driving, it was nice to see people actually out all the time. G Reply 45 ...

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Font - stormbornmother • 4h You pay for drinking water and refills at restaurants. G Reply 38 ...

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Smile - tuenthe463 · 4h No idiot warnings in public. It's assumed you won't do stupid, dangerous things and, if you do, it's on you. G Reply 1 21 + ...

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Handwriting - RyVsWorld · 4h People seemed a lot nicer to me, more accommodating. I remember seeing some guy have a run in with the police in the Netherlands and was completely taken back at how civil the situation was G Reply 14 3 +

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Font - _GameGator_ • 9h Not a lot of food portions. I can see why we are all so fat. Reply 338 ...

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Font - Armchairengineer1960 · 3h The first time I flew to London I was surprised at how good the food was. I've read the stories about bad British food but that wasn't the case. Everything was excellent. The quality of ingredients seemed superior. Even fast food places like Leon and Pret were really good. I also loved Waitrose. What a great grocery chain. G Reply 1 26 ...

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Facial expression - factor_IX · 8h When I was in Spain last winter, pre-rona, I noticed that everyone there was gorgeous, buuuut everyone and their mom had a cigarette in their mouth. It was weird for me to see such a large portion of individuals smoking out and about in public. G Reply 90 ...

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Organism - Different_States · 4h The tiny cars. Walking down the street I really just want to try and roll one over by hand. Since then I actually got a fiat 500 and, spoilers, you cannot just roll one over by hand. And if you succeed with mechanical advantage your wife gets really angry instead of celebrating your successes. G Reply 14 ...

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Font - Erob3031 · 4h The lack of 24 hour convenience stores. Planning ahead of time was a must. Reply 22 5 ...

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Font - secrethoneydrop · 5h As plastic bottles get bigger in volume, they get taller rather than wider Reply 99 ...

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Font - SalamanderG13 · 9h Everything's so old! I'm from the West coast so all the history here was kinda erased y'know? Also, my cousin and I, both 12 or 13, were offered wine which was weird. Also, switzerland speaks 3 languages! And it's like a tiny country! Crazy! And the climate was pretty similar to where live! And the streets were so thin! G Reply 109 ...

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Organism - orangewarner • 5h I love this question and have so many things I want to say but no one ever reads them ha ha. There was a definite noticeable difference between how heavy everyone is in the United States versus Europe. It seems like everything in the US is bigger, the roads the buildings the toilet paper, the people, etc G Reply 28 ...

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