Traveling is a great way to learn and really soak up all the cultures, customs, traditions, etc. that differ from one country to another. It broadens one's horizons and teaches us more about the world we live in. However, sometimes what one experiences in a new place can cause a mild shock due to too much of a difference from their home.

I got curious about what our pandas found surprising while traveling, so I asked our community to share some cultural shocks they've had when visiting another country, and oh boy, they delivered. Scroll down to read all those answers! What cultural shocks have you experienced?

#1

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community The first time I visited Ireland with my wife to visit her family, I was surprised that in Irish culture, it's accepted that family and friends can just drop by without any advance notice. And they are sooo hospitable. Unless they have terribly urgent, pressing business, they will go out of their way to be welcoming.

A great example is that we visited her uncle in Dublin. We drove clear across Ireland to go see him - without calling. We surprised him and his wife early in the morning. He took the day off from work, and drove us around to several local points of interest, and we stayed the night.

Ireland is a beautiful country, and their people are just as wonderful.

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#2

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Went to Quebec, Canada. Everything was so quiet!

Here in Mexico we've got so damn much noise pollution (from vehicles, street vendors, people talking loudly, stores and homes blasting music so freaking loud), everything seems to scream at you!

I absolutely loved the silence, more than anything!

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Margaret Weaver
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I feel this to my BONES. All the world is screaming when I go out of the house. Quebec sounds marvelous. Maybe a quiet Vancouver suburb otherwise. Close enough to humans to have fiber internet, but off in a quiet corner close to nature. The cottage from Twilight for example.

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#3

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community I am German and live in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Both countries are typically considered rather orderly and clean, but I was completely smitten with the Japanese trash culture. The streets are super clean, and there are no trash bins anywhere except at the train/metro stations and at the hotel (not on the street, not in a museum, not at a department store). Everybody just carries their trash with them. Once in the town of Uji I went past three small pearly white truck serviced by white-clad gentlemen—that was the garbage collection for the neighborhood, without any noise, smell, or dirt. First thing I noticed after I landed in Frankfurt: trash bins in the middle of the walkway every 5 meters, it was strangely disturbing to look at all that prominently displayed garbage.

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Slune
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, same experience. Streets of Tokyo are so clean, I could wear my long, baggy linen pants for 4 days in a row! The seam was scruffy but not dirty-dirty. I'm still impressed:)))

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#4

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Children in Cairo playing in the dirtiest water in the Nile but waving and smiling like crazy at the tourist buses going by, not for money but they were just so excited to see people waving back.

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#5

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community In the Gambia, if your husband dies, you are supposed to marry his brother. Found this out the day after my Gambian husband died. Luckily it turned out not to be mandatory but to help widows who have no means of survival without a husband.

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#6

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Went to Mexico and the moment I left the tourist area the prices went down, like really down. My dad and I got a meal with tacos and drinks for $3.50 US dollars for the both of us. For a broke teenager it was heaven!!

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Kona Pake
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Try going to Bangkok where are you can get a tiny bowl of wonton min in a back alley in Chinatown for under a dollar.

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#7

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community The lack of billboards when I visited Wales. It was wonderful to view the gorgeous countryside without obstruction. Billboards are everywhere in the U.S.

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t c w
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in the Mid Atlantic US and rarely see billboards in scenic rural areas.

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#8

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community USA - everything is HUGE. You have to drive 9 hours to get from one side of Texas and still end up in Texas. Do you know how many countries I could drive through in Europe in that time? Food portions, buildings, roads...your nature is awesome btw and also huge

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Niall Mac Iomera
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in western Australia. We drove for 16 hours and only went about halfway up the state.

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Robert Trebor
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interstate Highway 10 goes from Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida, 2460.34 miles (3959.53 km). Texas's portion is 881 miles (1417.83 km). The sun is riz, the sun is set, and you is still in Texas yet.

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Madre_Dr4gnZFly
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So true! My family & I drove from upstate Pennsylvania to El Paso, TX(3 day trip). We got to the "Welcome to Texas" sign in Texarkana and the kids got all excited. Until they saw the sign: "El Paso 798 miles". And that was taking I10 all the way across Texas...no shortcuts.

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Joe S
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, to go from El Paso, TX. (West) to Texarkana, TX. (East) it takes 12 hours and is 814 miles / 1310 km.

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Adam C
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

you have to drive 9 hours to get from one side of a parking lot and still end up in the same parking lot

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Nikki Sevven
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are only 5 states smaller than mine (Massachusetts), and it still takes 4 hours to drive from the westernmost point to the easternmost point, and 4 hours to drive from the northernmost point to the southernmost.

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Duane Ringlein
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Years ago I was stationed in Texas and told my friends that it took a day to drive out of Texas

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Nimues Child
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In 9 hours, you could hit all six of the New England states and then some.

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EQXL
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So you took the second largest state to compare it with the smallest countries in Europe eventhough the largest state is about half the size of the biggest european country?

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Richard
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably because most of Alaska is like northern Canada or Greenland. The only way to travel is by plane unless you are near the coast.

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Sol
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in the Bay Area- the drive from here to only Vegas is 8 hours!

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gerard julien
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

" Do you know how many countries I could drive through in Europe in that time? " Well RUSSIA is in Europe ! have you seen the size of RUSSIA ? lol

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American Panda
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Us Americans can also be shocked by how big the states are. I live in Maine (New England) and can drive through 8 states in about 10 hours. But the first time I went to California?! I drove for 13 hours and was still in California! Incredible.

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GayBoi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Used to live in West Texas and I can confirm this 🤣

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Stephanie Paich
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can drive 9 hours across PENNSYLVANIA and still be in that state, Texas is WAY bigger across than a 9 hour drive.

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Betty
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Germany, Germans cut in line at cashier checkout, then give a glare as if to say 'I dare you to say anything!' I let them cut in line & never said a thing.

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Nikki Angulo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you drive from one side of Ontario to the other, eight hours a day, it would take you over three days to do it. More if you had to go to someone here in NW Ontario. My mom and I will be doing that this week!

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EzzyStu
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you think Texas is big check out Alaska. Cut it in a half and Texas would be the third largest state.

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Nikki Hilton
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not to be rude, but it take at least 12 hours driving east to west and 12 hours driving north to south. If you make it in 9 hours, you're breaking all kinds of speed limits.

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Bruce Pummeroy
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

did you know that in Australia we have a cattle ranch bigger than the state of Texas.

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Octavia Hansen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a Texas joke about driving all day and never leaving the state . . . Yeah, I had a car like that once!

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gila the night/sand
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I feel this one- went on a road trip recently, left from Dallas at about 8 am, by 4 pm we were still in Texas (we were driving west towards Amarillo). It was pain.

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Hill Branda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was in college, during summer break, I had to drive from LA to my parent's home in Texas every year. It would take one full day to drive from LA to the Texas border. Then it took another full day to get 2/3 of the way across Texas.

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Bruce Horton
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's nothing, drive from the east to western border of Ontario, 22 hours.

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El Dee
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my country you can do exactly the same over much shorter distances - we're only now getting proper roads..

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Melvyn McManus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am Anglo Israel & didn't visit America until I worked there when I was 49. It's huge, beautiful, cheap, giving service is culturally embedded in them. BUT, after work, the "you have a nice day now" is b******t! They never invited me home for a cup of tea. Never cared! They really didn't care if I died.

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Babyoda42 (he him)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah….there’s a lot more that lies beneath the surface. Crappy healthcare, minimum wage, inflation, and a lot more

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Kay Phillips
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

China - everything is HUGE. Well, in big cities.. The buildings overwhelm, when I went back to Europe some of the capitals felt like... Suburbs... Everything seemed so tiny!

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Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A few years ago I was driving home from a national convention in California. I decided to see if I could cross Texas in the hours of a single day. I started bright and early at a Motel 6 in New Mexico, and got to Louisiana before bedtime. One more thing checked off my bucket list.

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David Brown
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love it when people from outside the United States thinks it's awesome here. I've lived in the u.s. my whole life and can honestly say that only about 10% of it is actually awesome.

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Brian Michael
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seems to me you haven't traveled in the states bud. Between the many national parks you have vibrant cities that are each different. Chicago is different from NYC which is different than San Francisco to Los Angeles to Dallas to Miami to Boulder to Salt Lake City to Detroit. How about cultures? You can literally snowboard in the morning in Cali and than surf in the evening down south. You can go from giant Rocky Mountains to desert valleys to red wood forests back to beaches and lush forests. Take all the political c**p out of the arguments and America is a beautiful place to visit. The problem is I saw a survey that showed most Americans will love their entire lives in the state they were born in and most Americans will have only visited 2 states outside of their own by their mid 30's. That's a waste.

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Kona Pake
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Have you seen the size of those Texans? While traveling in Europe, four of them took up eight seats on a bus.

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jpaul
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

size doesn't matter. I could quote several small European countries that are some of the most beautiful of the world, if not the most beautiful. I've also gone to Miami in the 80s, and what got me in love forever with that town it's that it didn't look to a big city. in general the larger in size means the larger the disconnection is

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Daniel Marsh
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow. You really had to lecture people on that. Actually, a lot of America's "problems" come from its size: transportation energy use being the most obvious... physical isolation from other countries... But greater disconnect? No, America has enough room for tens of thousands of small towns where people are interconnected within a town, and yet share so much in common with thousands of other towns. By the way, Miami is America's 8th largest metro area... a very small portion of Americans live in bigger cities, let alone bigger metro areas.

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Victoria Woodhull
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2 years ago

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Try Rhode Island or Connecticut. Our States ARE equal to some European countries. And Texas is our largest state! 😉

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Pat Miller
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No the largest is Alaska. It's so big that maps use a different scale for Alaska

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SomePeopleCallMeMaurice
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2 years ago

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Please don’t bring up Texas! If we could just sever Texas from our country, we would be so much better off!

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Margaret Weaver
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2 years ago

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Weeeeeell... not everything. That biological warfare campaign (smallpox, I believe it was?) did prove exceedingly effective at wiping out the indigenous population. Go outside and try finding them. I bet you'll find five different kinds of asian nationalities before you find any First Nation.

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madbakes
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You really had to stretch for that segueway. What had happened with Natives is awful, but wtf

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Concept-Peter Roosdorp
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2 years ago

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USA (and especially texas) thinks that bigger is always better.

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#9

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community As a little child, my parents took the family to Jamaica. Apparently, it's normal there for shopkeepers to grab your child (in this case, my sister) and run off into their store as a ploy to get you inside their store. I guess you get your child back and then decide to buy something?

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#10

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community I haven't been to any countries abroad but i had friends coming to Turkey from other countries and they are usually surprised with how much we insist on nearly everything. Like, eat this try that, buy this buy that, go this place or never go that place.. We are trying to be kind and helpful but i see that other people may find it overwhelming

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Margaret Weaver
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I could imagine it would feel bothersome and intrusive to have personal decisionmaking constantly overwritten by well meaning busyboddies.

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#11

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Went to rural India for three months. Discovered that a LOT of people have never seen a white person and wanted to touch me and talk to me. It was very weird to be the foreigner for once. I learned a lot.

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#12

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Egyptians don't usually form lines. I found this out at a government building, where my host family started encouraging me to "push, push!" As I was slowly being squeezed out by adamant lil old ladies.

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#13

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community The hot chocolates in Italy are thick. Almost as if they got some chocolate shoved it in the microwave and put it in a glass along with some sweet butter (the thick cream). But hey I’m not complaining it was delicious

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#14

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community People in Denmark find it rude to tip the waiter because they actually get paid well unlike in America where waiters have to depend on strangers to pay rent

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#15

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Lived on the island of Malta for a bit over 2 years. Lovely place but far too noisy! A typical thing there is for people to just shout at each other through their balconies. Oh its 7 am on a Saturday? I don't care, "Ma! HEY MAAA, I FORGOT MY KEYS!..Forgot whaaat?..MY KEEEEYSS!". Yes, there are doorbells and phones, but what fun is that.
Also the fireworks. Wonderful sight if you just arrived, but when you get woken up by an explosion at 8 am every...single....day, it gets to you. Also every evening for several months there are fireworks until midnight, due to most villages celebrating their patron saints on different days. It becomes maddening after a month or so, just pray that you have proper doors/windows and AC so you can close yourself inside.

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Kat
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have been to Malta 2 times now. Second time we stayed for a month. The fireworks are amazing, true. Malta is a weird place, it's noisy, quite expensive, food quality in shops is poor, better and cheaper to eat out etc. And when you leave, you already miss back there.

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#16

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Had a fry up in America. There was sugar in the sausages!

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Tami
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or worse, high-fructose corn syrup. It's a crime, but apparently that's what many people like, sweetness in everything.

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#17

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community I visited India twice in the 1990s. And both times my culture shock happened when I returned to the US. In the US, I missed the sound of people singing at all times of the day. I missed the amazing smells of food, incense, etc in the streets. I missed the openness of people toward one another. I missed the proliferation of bright colors in clothing and decorations everywhere.

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Pille P
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember coming back from India the first time, it was on a Sunday morning during Easter in Germany. It was as if the whole town was asleep and me and the taxi driver were the only people in the world. Total silence, barely any people on the streets.

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#18

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community I was really surprised at all the trash/litter along the rural coastal highways of Peru.

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Slune
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's sometimes unbelievable that people don't take care about it. It's overwhelming!!

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#19

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community When I came to the UK I was absolutely shocked to find out people refuse to drink their tea without milk, I've had people ask me what kind of tea is green tea and why would you drink it without milk.

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Eunice Probert
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My daughter drinks green tea without milk. It is not a universal thing in the UK to want milk in everything.

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#20

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community In Tokyo, I saw a Christmas tree decorated with crucifixes.

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#21

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community I went to the USA. I was surprised how loud people are, in the restaurants, on the street, in the hotels, everybody is always shouting.

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#22

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Visiting Aruba for the summer. Found out they keep their milk outside of refrigerators. Which is strange for my family and myself.

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Fat Harry
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's probably UHT milk. Plenty of countries drink more UHT thank fresh milk.

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#23

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Clean air! I live in the US near the mills. Spent like 2 weeks in Costa Rica. 2 weeks it took to get used to the clean air. Get home n step outside the air port and broke into a fit of coughing n gagging from the air. And had bad allergy flare ups for a week.

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Donkey boi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When my wife and I arrived in Costa Rica and got to our Hotel to check-in, the guy behind the counter said (after finding out we live near London) said, 'You will snore heavily tonight!... But tomorrow, you will snore not once!'. He was right, my wife didn't snore past the first night!

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#24

Not another country but a different part of the U.S. . I'm a city girl from the southwest. When I married (my now ex husband) he had just gotten out of the military and wanted to move back to his home state in the rural upper midwest. Nothing prepared me for the culture shock. I come from not only a very diverse family, but a very diverse area, where people are simply people. Up there though wow...I honestly didn't know racism still existed in America until we moved there. There were a lot of wannabe skinheads who just had so much hate for everyone who wasn't just like them. Needless to say I didn't fit in (I made a few good friends 3 total) but other than that it was the worst 7 years of my life. I finally packed up and left and I couldn't be happier.

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Jonathan
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You must have had an extremely sheltered life to think racism was a thing of the past.

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#25

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Went to one of the Mayan sites in Belize, near the border with Guatamala. At first glance it looked similar any Canadian national park as far as washrooms and signs went. Then I saw the armed soldiers standing guard everywhere. That was a bit of a shock.

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#26

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community The big gaps around toilet cubicle doors in the US so that people can see you having a wee! Us Brits tend to prefer a bit more privacy. (Absolutely love America though)

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#27

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Seeing a Santa Claus figure attached to a cross at a store in Japan. Not sure if it was a joke, a statement about the commercialization of Christmas, or what. I thought it was hilarious.

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#28

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community I live in Spain now, so my biggest culture shock going home to the US is and has always been the hugging, as a greeting and goodbye to people you don’t know well or have just met. So weird to me now. I do miss the friendliness of Americans, just not that friendly bit.

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#29

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community England, 20 years ago, in a hostel: two faucets, one with scorching hot water, other with really cold. Bed with sort of sewn up sheet instead of a single cover with a really scratchy and heavy blanket on top. Bread for breakfast so SOFT it had to be toasted to be able to smear butter on it. Saying "hello" instead of "good morning" in a shop. Tube being so unbelievably small inside. It was a time when most information about the country were given by my teachers, internet was not that common. So yes, I was shocked in many ways.

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James Game
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK scorching hot water has been common since outbreaks of Legionnaires disease in the mid 1980's, the water is kept that hot to kill bacteria

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#30

"Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What": 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community Love hotels in Japan, they rent rooms by the hour, I thought I was staying in a rough part of Tokyo. Turns out they're everywhere and it's a pretty normal thing in Japan.

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Ozacoter
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wish that this would be normal in europe in decent hotels. Sometimes I just need a place where to rest or take a nap.

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#31

Married a Peruvian, so I have been there often...love the country, epecially the
Andes but Lima is not my favorite place. It reminds me of LA but dirtier, people litter all the time, the roads are torn up with no safety cones and the people drive like lunatics. We were being driven on one of the few freeways in Lima when the driver passed the exit we needed. They stopped in the lane and backed up to get back to the exit. We were sure we were dead... Also, its frowned upon to burp in public yet, walking in the financial district and a well
dressed man walking down the sidewalk stops, whips it out and pees on the wall of the building we were walking by. The disparity between those with money and the poor is saddening. My American friend married a well to do Peruvian and had an amazing home in a gated community, with guards with machine guns at the gates. She loved her home but felt like she had a target on her back every time she left home. There are also guards with machine guns outside banks...its just a little unnerving.

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2x4b523p
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have never seen such a dirty city as Lima. Did not notice too much trash compared to other big cities, but the grime and dust everywhere due to lack of rain. Inches of dust, grime and goop on everything, esp. around the main highway. Never realized how much good the rain does and I now appreciate we get so much of it in UK.

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#32

Greece. Amazingly beautiful country with astonishing nature and historical sites but trash everywhere. Around roads, in the forests, seashore, even near archelogical monuments there was a trash dump. Like seriously, Greece, whats the matter? No recycling, everything goes to the same dumpster.

Also you have to throw toilet paper into the the trash can and not to the toilet.

And the traffic... abyssmal.

Otherwise really nice place with friendly and warm people, and the sea is surprisingly clean taken how much trash is everywhere else.

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Eglė Bukauskaitė
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My similar experience to Sicily. Paid roads, flowers arte trimmed, a painting of the view almost anywhere on the road. Yet it's a dumpster, literally.

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#33

Soweto, South Africa. Under the bridge there were men cooking the donated food for the poor in barrels and such. Also the difference between the housing in Soweto, I never realized that there could be million dollar villas in Soweto smack bang next to a shack. I loved it there though, the people are fantastic.

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OhBlahDi OhBlahDa
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First time I visited Soweto as well I was astonished to learn that it's a whole city on its own. The media depicts it as a homogenous slum, but no, it has very affluent suburbs as well as less well off areas.

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#34

I'm french and i've recently gone to Guadeloupe, which is also french. But i had the feeling to be in Africa. And i found it full of charm personnally. lot of things were cooler than in the metropolis. like people selling coco water right in the middle of the road, or chicken roaming the town centers. it was really cool

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Viviane
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I saw free-roaming chickens in a town in Ecuador. They looked a lot like their ancestors, the junglefowl. I had chicken there once and the taste was amazingly good, much better than what I'd get in Canada.

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#35

UK: I was surprised that you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner in the pubs and there are even those specialized in pizza. In the country where I am from pubs are just places to drink and maybe have some nibbles such as crisps, nuts. Maybe if smoking wouldn't be allowed then it would be possible in "our" pubs too.

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#36

Had been in Rishikesh, India. It’s not aloud to eat meat there and forbidden to use plastic bags and straws.
I was really surprised by it because the common expactation is that Indias Environment ist the worst.

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Whawhawhatsis
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My parents lived in South India (Madurai in Tamil Nadu State) for five years in the 1950s, and in those days there was almost no refrigeration, so they became vegetarians by choice so they wouldn't get poisoned by bad meat!

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#37

When I went to Germany if there were three tellers people would wait in 3 lines instead of one common line for the first available teller

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#38

Prague. 14 yeas ago quite well dressed retired loving people wandering along would casually look into even bin. I assume to see if anything worth selling for recycling

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#39

Visiting Rome, Italy and discovering that you can actually get a pizza with Nutella (chocolate spread).

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Diolla
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Will never understand what's this obsession with Nutella. In Amsterdam nowadays there are dozens of Nutella shops, all catering to tourists. To us locals it's just something you put on bread and mostly for kids. It's sooo unhealthy!

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