People might not fully understand how deeply rooted some cultural things are until they submerge themselves in a completely different environment. Whether it’s something they miss about home when being abroad or something they wish home had, it only accentuates that no two places in the world are the same.
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In Ireland right now, it’s cruel that we force our grocery store clerks to stand up for their entire shift. They are allowed to sit in Ireland when scanning items, and I don’t see any good reason why we don’t allow that back home.
Ketchup. There’s only one bottle of ketchup in France. They pass it around from restaurant to restaurant when an American requests it.
The walk-ability of non-American cities is something out of a utopian dream.
Paying for ambulances and health care…
Sugar. When I visited Japan, even some of their sweetest desserts pale in comparison to how much sugar is in American food.
When I traveled overseas I was surprised at how the public bathroom stalls gave so much more privacy. Like a full door to the floor in most places.
The fact that tax is calculated on top of the price on the tag. I’d assume that every foreigner would think they’re getting ripped off at the register because it costs more than the price tag. Every other place I’ve been, the price is the price. (And coins have numbers on them!).
Tipping. I had a waitress in Okinawa chase me into the parking lot with some change I left on the table.sunlover010:Went to Europe and tipped 20% and the servers acted extremely grateful. Like, a weird amount. After a while we finally asked a server what was up with that, and they said that in their country they are paid a living wage so tips don’t really mean much for them. They were very happy even with 10%.
A bizarre obsession with the national flag.It’s not like countries dislike their own flags—you’ll see plenty of them at political events or international sporting events like the World Cup or Olympics—but they don’t typically fly a 6-foot flag from their trucks or hang them up in their churches. I don’t think most of them have a big national anthem ceremony at their domestic sporting events or have the military jets fly over them.
Obesity.There are obese people everywhere and obesity is unfortunately apparently on the rise in most Western countries at least, but the obesity rate in the US is particularly remarkable, and not in a good way. I’ve had the good fortune of traveling to Europe three times in the last three years and I’ve gone to Brazil every year since 2010 to visit my in-laws. Do I see obese people in Europe and in Brazil? Absolutely, but they are often Americans visiting. And it’s interesting because I never really seem to notice all the fit people in Europe and Brazil when I arrive there, but I do notice all the obese people when I return to the US. Very striking.
Lived abroad 7 years. We’re LOUD. I can hear my countrymen coming up the street going on about how they just had to pay to use the RESTROOM. :D
How ignorant we are, particularly of world history and geography.
Minimum parking laws and garbage public transportation.Going to Japan and seeing how accessible everything is made me question my whole life. Bikes and trains are just the better option and I’ll resent oil executives for the rest of my life for the way they sabotaged the US transportation system.
When I moved to the UK, my flatmates asked how in movies people would stick their hands in the sink drain and it be ripped apart. I told them about sink garbage disposals and they were very weirded out.
Ranch dressing. I guess I was vaguely aware that it was American, but I hadn’t realized how much.If you want to hear a whole pub stop and glare at you, go to Ireland and ask for ranch for your fries.
I remember the Germans all being shocked that to do anything like drinking or smoking you needed to be 21 but to buy a rifle you only need to be 18. Well they were also just shocked you can just go buy a gun in most places here whenever you like pretty much.
Eating so damn fast. It seemed in Europe it’s normal to spend 2 hours at a restaurant, at least every time we sat down it took 2-2.5 hours. In America you’re rushed out of your table as fast as possible so the waiter can make more tips.
Went to Mexico. It was a hot day so we stopped at a bar to grab some cold sodas. They came in glass bottles, so we paid and just left the bar to continue walking. About 5 minutes later, the bartender chased us down and made us pour the soda into paper cups and he took the bottles to return for a deposit.Realized how much America is a throwaway society.
Pharmaceutical commercials.Murbella0909:It scared me so much when I was in the USA for the first time! Is like those happy people doing happy things while someone described the most terrifying side effects ever!
I was born in America, then we moved to Japan from the time I was 4 until I was 8 (my dad was military) when we moved back to America, the first place we went was Dennys. I vividly remember asking my parents why the waitress kept coming to check on us, and if she thought we were doing something wrong because she seemed suspicious of us. As far as I’m aware, most countries outside of the US just leave you be and let you eat in peace. You get them when you’re ready. America is very pushy because they survive on tips and need the next table to come along to make sure they can have a livelihood.
Our portion sizes in restaurants.
Air conditioning so cold in public spaces that you need a jacket. It’s one example of how wasteful we are with electricity.
Yellow school buses. They are all over the US and Canada, but apparently not in the rest of the world.
I didn’t realize how much less common baseball hats were, I studied abroad in Prague and my teacher said that’s a good way to spot an American.
Lack of personal space. I was in India and when lineing /queuing up people were so close I thought they were trying to pick poket me. Then I saw they did that to everyone. I’m used to my bubble of space in America.
Constant competition. I realize that competition exists around the world in one form or another, but the concept of “best vs worst”, or “good, better, best” is deeply engrained in the American psyche. Things can’t be simply different, there must be good vs bad.
Whenever I order a soda in Europe and it arrives with no ice in it, a bald eagle dies.
Hearing gunshots all the time. My wife and I were in the UK, and there was a holiday happening in one of the boroughs in London (can’t remember which one). We were staying in an Airbnb and we asked our host if it was a dangerous neighborhood . We got a look as if we were aliens and she said something along the lines of, “are you scared of fireworks?” My wife and I laughed saying, “we thought they were gunshots.” Our poor host looked so horrified at how cavalier we were about how many “gunshots” there were (it was not a lot of fireworks, maybe a bang every 10-20 seconds). We had to explain that it’s not out of the ordinary to hear gunshots most days where we live in the US. I hope she’s ok and we didn’t cause her any permanent damage. She may never visit the US though….
Feeling unsafe when you went outside. deep in germany, even during the anti-american protests, i felt way safer than i ever have in America. I know there are other turbulent places of course, but living here you worry about what unhinged ae has a gun and wants to fk st up today. just a few weeks ago my sister was at work at chapel hill in NC when someone went and shot up the science center and she was on lockdown, f****n hiding and just hoping she would make it out to pick her daughter up from school. FK that s*t.
Is no one talking about health insurance yet? It blew my mind coming to the UK and people go to the same doctor every time. I don’t think I ever went to the same doctor twice in the US because of changing insurance so often working various jobs.
The cost of medication and how easily accessible it is.The stupid hoops I had to go through to get my prescription in America is so frustrating. I’ve been on the same medication for well over a decade, and my last refill, my insurance decided to deny it for some stupid reason. Took 3 weeks for them to refill it.When I was in South Korea, took less than an hour.
Free refills on soft drinks. On our study abroad trip to Italy we jokingly called Hard Rock Cafe the US Embassy because that was the only place for it.
Eye contact while speaking to people. Americans don’t break eye contact easily so depending where you go, I’ve been told it comes off as aggressive.
I didn’t go abroad to learn this, but I worked on staff for a Very Big International Sporting Event (but not the one with the rings) and we provided lockers with built in combination locks like you’d see in any American public school for journalists to store equipment (computers, cameras etc.) in.What no one realized was that if you didn’t attend public school in North America, you’ve apparently never seen such a thing before, and the whole “go three times past zero to the right and stop on the first number, turn past zero once to the left and stop in the second number, then back to the right immediately to the third number” is an incomprehensible system.After a few days of hearing cursing in every language you can imagine, and seeing grown adults brought to tears or rage or both, we ended up assigning a troop of volunteers whose entire job for two weeks was opening lockers for non-North Americans.Lesson learned!
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Root beer is apparently disgusting and an offense to most of the world’s palate.
Not american but I’m surprised to not see americans mention going outside dressed like s**t… In France it may take 20 minutes to get ready to go grab something for breakfast or walk the dog, but nobody would go out in PJs or kinda-workout clothes…
I learned that American fast food is disgusting and way overpriced.Out in Seoul you can almost guarantee that you’ll find a fried chicken and beer place, and barely pay anything for a delicious meal. Korea changed my world on food.
Half and half. I watched an American family try to order coffee in London with half and half and the server just kept saying “half what?” and neither side understood what was happening.
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In America , we’ve normalized bad restaurants. For example, when I go to a restaurant in the US, I do so with the expectation that there’s at least a 50% chance it will suck. I’ve been to Italy and Japan. In both places I could go to restaurants expecting them to be good nearly 100% of the time. American restaurants on the whole just take food less seriously.
To-go cups and coffee. It’s EVERYWHERE in the states… but after a red-eye to Barcelona I just wanted to get a huge coffee and walk around. Wrong. Get a table at a cafe.. order a tiny coffee and a croissant, and relax for an hour. This is the Spanish way. The only place I ever saw ‘to-go’ like I was used to is Costa Cofee and Starbucks, which were only in a few touristy areas (thankfully).Also drive-thru. Apparently it’s not a thing most places in Europe (obviously driving for everything is less common). One person we met said that after they had lived in the states for 20 years and moved back to Europe they were spotted eating in their car. Apparently this was such a rare sight that a total stranger stopped to ask if she was OK. When she replied ‘yes’ the only response was “wow, you must have been REALLY hungry to eat in your car”.
How trustworthy they are in places like Iceland. My buddy and I went to Iceland and he left his ATM card on top of the ATM when we first got there because it was a redeye flight and we hadn’t really slept. We went to get our car from the car rental place realize he didn’t have it, went back, and despite being in a public place for about an hour no one had touched it.
This probably isn’t exclusive to America, just places with certain plumbing, but I took it for granted that we can flush our toilet paper. Going to Ecuador it was a shock to see that they had trash cans in each stall for throwing it away. Definitely smelled terrible.
I have no idea how to ride a train.
Red Solo Cups.I went to an American themed party once and the hostess was super excited that she was able to order the cups off of Amazon for the party.
Free public toilets everywhere you go. I cannot believe the rest of the world is a “pay to pee” society.
Having coin money with NO value written on it in numerals. Also the dime looks insanely small compared to most coins.
Bumper stickers.sumosloths:Any kind of car customization in general, even down to license plate frames. Pretty much every car I saw in Europe looked super generic.
Sit-down bookstores.
Escalator Etiquette.I cannot speak for every country, but in the UK, it’s strongly frowned upon to stand in the middle or left side of the escalator; that side is meant for walkers only. Think of it as a fast lane. Supposedly, if you stand in the way, you’re liable to get pushed aside or exaggeratingly huffed at.I pride myself on a high social IQ so if this is common sense in America and I just didn’t know about it I apologize!
Large parking lots and always having guaranteed free parking available wherever you go.
SUVs. I only saw three in France, and one had Florida tags.
Accessibility of public places. ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is incredible.
To go bags after dinner!
Clothing dryer machines. Outside of the US, most dryers in many countries are very weak. They tumble with gentle heat to get most of the moisture out but they don’t dry clothes completely to “dry”, they’re still damp. Usually after “drying” one finishes them on a clothes line. Many view the kind of full dryers we have in America to be extremely wasteful of electricity.
I doubt this is restricted to America in any way, but when I studied abroad in the UK, the lack of public drinking laws was a bit of a culture shock. Being able to walk outside with a bottle of beer was very freeing.
Also, leaning. I lean on everything.
We refrigerate a lot more things than in the Caribbean and UK. It was surprising to see things like yogurt & freshly squeezed fruit juices simply on ice on Barbados instead of a proper refrigerator.
This is about 25 years ago, but when i lived in South Korea, i was once asked if i wanted some dessert. My options was cola or cider (like sprite). As an American i never thought of soda as a dessert.
Screens on windows!
Construction safety. Walking around cities in France, I’d often find that building construction work would just spill out into the sidewalk, with nothing done to steer pedestrians away. You have to be a lot more mindful about not getting something dropped on your head, tools littering the sidewalk, sparks from welding, etc.
Easy access to drinking water. I once asked for a cup of water at a coffee shop and they acted like I’d asked to eat their garbage. Also in a restaurant I asked for just plain tap water and they kept saying no we don’t have that. I know damn well you have running water, just put some in a glass, jeez.
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