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Someone In This Online Group Asked “What Was Something That Shocked You When You Visited A Foreign Country?” And 35 People Delivered
Being in a place where things are done differently than you are used to can cause confusion, anxiety and a feeling of uncertainty, even if the environment you are in is actually better than the one you feel more comfortable in. All those feelings can be described as a culture shock as a person is cut off from the cultural patterns that are familiar and has to adapt to something new.
Most often the term is used when talking about moving to another country or traveling. There are ways to soften the culture shock and one of them is asking people to share their own experiences on Reddit so you can prepare for it. We’re not sure what was the motivation of Kampfhamster248 to ask “What was something that shocked you when you visited a foreign country?” but it sure does help to know what people in the thread had to say before going somewhere for the first time.
Which one of these surprised you the most? Maybe you are from the aforementioned countries and can deny or confirm these claims? What would you personally answer if asked the question? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
More info: Reddit
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#1
When I went to Japan I went to a bathhouse and my leg started spasming violently when I got in a tub. I thought I was having a stroke, but it turns out they have pools with electrical currents to promote longevity. That was literally my most shocking experience overseas
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#2
Falling snow. I'm Australian so while we have snow the chances of experiencing falling snow when you're on holidays is slim.
The first time I experienced falling snow was when I was in Paris at the age of 20. I LOST MY S**T. Squealing and had a ball. Everyone probably thought I was crazy but for me it was magical and amazing.
MarmotArchivist 3 years ago
How wounderfull, that you got to experience a new country and your first snowfall at the same time.
#3
How f**king clean Japan is. You can walk around Tokyo for a day and struggle to find as much as a gum wrapper on the ground. It is truly incredible.
#4
When I moved to the Netherlands a few years ago from the USA I deliberately wrote down the things that struck me as strange a few weeks into it because I knew I wouldn't remember later, and here are a few.
Bicycles are everywhere and are a far more common mode of transport than cars... yet no one wears helmets.
A Dutch person telling you "I speak a little English" is like Stephen Hawking saying "I know a little physics." I really had no idea it could be so easy to move to another country where you don't speak the language, and that's because the Dutch are so amazing at English (unlike other countries, for example, TV here isn't dubbed but instead in original language and just subtitled).
Big Bird is blue in Holland! I mean, they claim he's Pino, Big Bird's cousin, but I'm not fooled. You know he really just moved here to explore an alternative lifestyle.
#5
How price tags in America do not include Taxes!
#6
Swedish babies are hardcore. And people are awesomely chill and friendly. In mid-January, it was knee-deep snow everywhere, yet in Stockholm is was pretty common to see parents enjoying a drink at a cafe, with a queue of prams outside in the snow.
The babies are wrapped up heavily yes, but they are fully comfortable leaving them outside like that. No fears over child-thievery, or worries about the cold. These kids are brought up to be metal right from the word go. It's awesome.
I imagine if you tried that in the UK (or especially US) there'd be hysteria and child services would relieve you of your parenting.
May 3 years ago
They grow up healthy, it's very good for them to sleep outside in the fresh air, and nobody steals babies in the Nordic countries. Or almost nobody, one time a mentally ill Danish lady took one (she thought it was hers) but the police found it within a couple of hours and the baby was fine. That's the only case I know of.
#8
How many homeless people there are in the USA. I've been to 30+ countries and I've seen more homeless in the US than anywhere else. I'd say even more than homeless dogs in Mexico. It's was extremely shocking.
LH25 3 years ago
It might seem that way, based on where you visited, but actually the US doesn't have the highest homeless rate, from what I could find. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population One link I found. The US is down the list a bit. Granted, it’s hard to compare since countries may have different ways of defining and counting the homeless, but this chart has the US with a lower rate than the UK, Australia, France, Sweden, Mexico, Israel, Germany and Austria for example.
#9
Living in Germany I have recently talked to an exchange student from Bangladesh. He was seriously shocked that people would stop at red traffic lights although there were no other cars/pedestrians around. Gave me a good laugh.
#10
How truly polite the Japanese are. And how unbelievably clean the cities of Japan are.
#11
How corrupt the police force is in Mexico.
#12
This is silly, but in 2003 I visited Germany and was absolutely blown away that the escalators didn't start moving until you approached them (like automatic sliding doors). In America they're always just going. I thought it was genius.
#14
Trains in India. Furious fighting, shoving, scratching, and clawing to get on, then for the rest of the eight hour journey scrupulous "I'm so sorry I brushed your foot with mine" politeness.
Chinmayee Kalghatgi 3 years ago
I have never taken a train but I see people hanging out of the train I think because of the lack of space. There are at least 4 or 5 people hanging out the doors and everything looks so cramped
#15
How small all of the fruit was in England. One apple in the US is like two UK apples. I went through a lot of apples.
everyone's favorite person 3 years ago
I think that's because the US sells a lot of genetically modified fruit...
#16
The tap water in Vienna. Holy s**t it was delicious.
Don't Look 3 years ago
Try Sweden. You can’t even buy bottled water in Stockholm. I tried. They politely told me to just get water from a public fountain. Cleanest water ever. And I know there’s a lot of bottled water in the first district in Vienna.
#17
French people (or Parisians, at least) are INTENSE about escalators. Your options are to either stand to one side (the right side, I think?) or sprint up the other side like an angry baboon is chasing you. If any part of you sticks out into the passing lane - you'll hear all about it.
#18
When I went to New York I couldn't get over how familiar everything looked on my first day there. I must have seen way more films and TV shows filmed in Manhattan than I realized, but pretty much everywhere looked exactly as I expected it to.
#19
Originally from Canada, spent a few weeks in China. I was shocked when I regularly saw kids squat down on the sidewalk and take a dump.
Omi bub 3 years ago
They're babies & toddler's. It's part of their toilet training & parent encpurages them to use toilet regularly but when they need to go outside the patent picks up the poo. Alternative to creating masses of toxic landfill in disposal nappies. Think about how many nappies a baby gets through in a week- then over 3 years then multiply that by the billions of babies. Just because we aren't seeing severe affect of climate crisis in West doesn't mean it isn't an emergency costing people their lived.
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I'm Kid A 3 years ago
I've heard of "squat toilets" but c'mon, there are limits, people... I assume it was at least a ways away from any and all water sources? I'd hope their parents would've taught them not to *ahem* defecate where you eat. Or drink. Literally.
Omi bub 3 years ago
Yeah instead we just use oil to make plastic nappies, fill billions of these nappies a year with s**t then pile them high or ship them with our rubbish to developing countries where they pollute water course & destroy ecosystem. How do you think this is better system?
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Delilah Wharton 3 years ago
Yup, not uncommon. Where I lived , the kid would do the dookie, run off to play then the carer would pick it up
Rachel W B 3 years ago
Studied in Hong Kong for 8 months. Its quite common to see this, and there doesn't seem to be any difference of status. Seen nannies do this a lot
charli 3 years ago
i'm from australia and went to china for a couple of weeks. for starters i was shocked by the squat toilets. and the difference in cleanliness. at a shopping mall they were very dirty but at a school i went to they were cleaned as soon as a person left. i also found it weird that you couldn't flash toilet paper, we had to put it in a bin beside the toilet
Kira Okah 3 years ago
I found it the other way around - the shopping centre toilets were squeaky clean and the uni toilets a bit less pleasant. Squat toilet plumbing can't handle paper and all the western toilets I knew of in Beijing were low flow and couldn't handle toilet paper either.
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Kelzbelz79 3 years ago
Yeah toddlers wear bottoms (bit like crotchless panties) that allow them to go potty easily when needed.
jolie laide 3 years ago
I love squirrels so much. Sorry, had to say that. This pic is beyond cute.
Jill Hojnacki 3 years ago
Clothing for small children often does not come with the crotch sewn shut in order to facilitate this very thing. Part of it has to do with how early they start toilet training (like w/in the baby’s 1st month), but there’s a whole (rather interesting) history around it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-crotch_pants#Use
Bob Standen 3 years ago
No public toilets in China. Worse in the county side, you can smell a village downwind for miles. And Korea was worse still only a few decades ago.
Steve Allen 3 years ago
Bodily functions are perceived quite differently in parts of China. They have no issue with farting, spitting, belching, urinating, and yes, babies s**tting on the sidewalk (which the parents do pick up, but ewww). You absolutely do *not* want to lean on pretty much any wall, never mind sit on the ground.
Amanda Hunter 3 years ago
China is a horrible place, they do horrible things, not to mention starting pandemics.
MimSorensson 3 years ago
Well, people don’t die painful deaths on aspirators due to pooping kids as a rule. There’s that.
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Wang Zhuang 3 years ago
I haven't seen a child take a s**t, but I have seen them urinate. Once in Shanghai, I saw a guy holding his daughter over a sewer drain to pee, in broad daylight
CatGirl 3 years ago
Been to China several times and always been appalled by pretty much everything. I get that Communism tried to raise the general standard of living for everyone, but I can't believe that the kind of drudgery and terrible conditions now in so many cities (and there are a LOT of cities) are better than the life of a rural peasant before the Revolution. Most of my Chinese friends agree
Doug the Special one 3 years ago
No don't be silly. Everyone knows chinese kids s**t squirrels. Where else would they come from.
Odd Ragnar Deng Lerstøl 3 years ago
More sustainable than diapers, some hygienically challenges though.
Omi bub 3 years ago
I was in China for about 6 months & only ever saw wees. Basically instead of creating masses of toxic landfill with disposal nappies, babies & toddlers wear trousers with a flap that can be opened. This is how they are toilet trained early. But parents get to know their kid's "rhythms" & sit them on the toilet regularly.
another one 3 years ago
They do it even right beside public restrooms. I was in a public restroom in Hong Kong and the mother brought a toddler in and held the kid up while the kid dumped and then peed on the floor. This is RIGHT BESIDE THE STALLS.
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Potato 3 years ago
I think that was just your specific host. That's why you can't trust Craigslist for hookups.
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Quaumsy 3 years ago
I’m not sure having access to a bathroom is related to a lack of education.
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#20
I lived in Japan for a year. The satellite radio at my school had a channel called "Rokki" that played the Rocky theme song on a loop 24:7.
#22
I don't carry coins with me usually, which makes it tough to pee in a lot of Europe.
Ivana Bašić 3 years ago
Yeah, in my family we call them pee coins and we don't use them to pay for things because we know we'll need them for a real emergency. We have a small kid and spend a lot of time out of the house. :D
#23
How much Indian food there was in London.
Chinmayee Kalghatgi 3 years ago
I mean, Indians have been emigrating to the UK for years now. I think it is partially because they used to rule over our country for nearly 200 years
#24
The traffic in Rome.
I live in Finland and it's unusual if my trip to university is delayed by a single second by other people, so people wasting over one hour stuck in traffic every day would be the most frustrating thing I can imagine.
#25
Slovakia -> Austria. how clean can a country be. lack of dirt, roads and sidewalks in good condition, flowers everywhere. no old torn posters, no billboards on every lamp post.
I like to think that their state or police make them clean up against their own will but most probably they just like it that way and we got used to our dirt during communism.
julien 3 years ago
Researchers at Yale University and Columbia University collaborated with the World Economic Forum to measure the cleanliness and environmental friendliness of over 180 countries around the world. Cleanest Countries in the World 2021 : 1. Denmark 2. Luxembourg 3. Switzerland 4. United Kingdom 5. France 6. Austria 7. Finland 8. Sweden 9. Norway 10. Germany
#26
When I visited Hollywood, I couldn't believe how disgustingly dirty it was, and how unsafe I felt! It may just have been that I was unlucky enough to experience a couple of crazy incidents in my first two nights, but it definitely wasn't all the glitz and
ALSO: people seem to be assuming that Hollywood Boulevard was the only place I saw in the whole of LA, and that I've condemned the city because of this one area. This isn't true. I was just stating that it was shocking to me that it was so different to my expectations, but I had an awesome time in LA, ventured around to multiple different area, and even had a great night out in Hollywood at an insane nightclub. Hell, even though it was shocking at first, I even like that I now have some crazy stories to tell from my time there!
Don't Look 3 years ago
It’s the most plastic, fake place I have ever been. Strange because just north in Ventura County it’s not quite the same.
#27
Sheep being transported on motorbikes in Morocco.
#28
Shops are closed on Sunday in France except Subway and McDonalds
MarmotArchivist 3 years ago
There are a lot of European countries where stores are closed on sunday.
#29
When I went to America McDonalds had refillable Dr Pepper. I was in heaven.
#30
The parking in Portugal is shocking the whole country seems to park their cars like they have stolen them.
#31
Germany, how dare you charge for ketchup?
#32
Spotted a Ferris Wheel & Resort surrounding a reservoir in Afghanistan. Wasn't prepared for that at all.
Also, the social aggressiveness of Females in Iceland! They will court a male in a heartbeat.
#33
In South Korea there is no seperate shower in the bathroom. The showerhead sprays directly on the floor and there is a drain in the corner of the room.
#34
How expensive the alcohol is in Australia. I had to sit down after I saw the 40 dollar crate of beer.
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What do you think ?
Chinmayee Kalghatgi 3 years ago
When I was very young I was suprised about how many buildings were there in Hong Kong. It was also suprising about how we had to use the subway system a lot.
Don't Look 3 years ago
Worlds most vertical city. I say that because HK island has more vertical buildings than Kowloon, New Territories…
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אריאל רז 3 years ago
US: You can turn right in red light, but if you turn left in green light, you may easily get a car crash if not careful...
Heather Pobicki 3 years ago
Some places it's illegal to turn right on red. And yes, turning left on green, there are no turns at some lights, we have jug handles (nj). My brother was in a serious motorcycle accident because someone turned left at a light right in front of him, my brother had the right of way. Almost cost him his life.
Load More Replies...
Jill Chambers 3 years ago
I'm glad everywhere has toilets now. I was really shocked by Spanish toilets in the 1990s.
Trisec 3 years ago
I live in New England. Driving down I-95 to Florida is like visiting a foreign country.
Omi bub 3 years ago
By far my biggest shock was the lack of universal healthcare in other countries (I'm british) & also lack of basic social support. Seeing disabled people begging in the street was shocking & I couldn't understand why all the people who saw it didn't feel deeply ashamed. (Plus when I saw a McDonald's with an armed guard in Manilla)
NAVYA PRASAD 3 years ago
I live in India, you should not give money to disabled people, few of them are acting, many will buy alcohol few belong to a group that kidnaps kids and make them beg for profits and make them disabled. It's hideous.
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ChickyChicky 3 years ago
India: how locals didn't know their neighborhoods. We needed to get to a street nearby and no one we asked knew what we were talking about. It turned out it was three streets over.
JK Rowling 3 years ago
It's less that they don't know the names, and more that they're never told. Streets in India don't have signs with their names on them. My mom, who'd lived in Pune's Kothrud district for 3 decades, didn't know most of the street names until she heard them on Google Maps. Instead of asking for street locations, it's better to just go with landmarks.
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LagoonaBlueColleen 3 years ago
I feel like this should be one of those lists Pandas could add their own post to. One shock when I was visiting Manchester, UK, was how much litter was everywhere, including in the parks. Not that there's no litter in Canada. It was the amount that shocked me. I watch a lot of British media and did some research before I went, so some things I was prepared for.
Pezor Zass 3 years ago
I've heard this from other people recently; that the litter situation in the UK is surprisingly bad. Anybody know why that is?
Load More Replies...
Mazer 3 years ago
Getting a haircut in England. 😳 Total eye opener. Tip the washer grrrrrl, and never EVER say “It’s okay, I will just towel dry it” eep. Then I mistakenly opened my banana to eat while standing on the sidewalk watching an antinuclear demonstration. One would have thought I slapped the Queen. Truth is I had horrible jet lag, having flown in from Hawaii and honestly if the Queen had shown up and given me the side eye, I probably wouldn’t have noticed
Chinmayee Kalghatgi 3 years ago
When I was very young I was suprised about how many buildings were there in Hong Kong. It was also suprising about how we had to use the subway system a lot.
Don't Look 3 years ago
Worlds most vertical city. I say that because HK island has more vertical buildings than Kowloon, New Territories…
Load More Replies... אריאל רז 3 years ago
US: You can turn right in red light, but if you turn left in green light, you may easily get a car crash if not careful...
Heather Pobicki 3 years ago
Some places it's illegal to turn right on red. And yes, turning left on green, there are no turns at some lights, we have jug handles (nj). My brother was in a serious motorcycle accident because someone turned left at a light right in front of him, my brother had the right of way. Almost cost him his life.
Load More Replies... Jill Chambers 3 years ago
I'm glad everywhere has toilets now. I was really shocked by Spanish toilets in the 1990s.
Trisec 3 years ago
I live in New England. Driving down I-95 to Florida is like visiting a foreign country.
Omi bub 3 years ago
By far my biggest shock was the lack of universal healthcare in other countries (I'm british) & also lack of basic social support. Seeing disabled people begging in the street was shocking & I couldn't understand why all the people who saw it didn't feel deeply ashamed. (Plus when I saw a McDonald's with an armed guard in Manilla)
NAVYA PRASAD 3 years ago
I live in India, you should not give money to disabled people, few of them are acting, many will buy alcohol few belong to a group that kidnaps kids and make them beg for profits and make them disabled. It's hideous.
Load More Replies... ChickyChicky 3 years ago
India: how locals didn't know their neighborhoods. We needed to get to a street nearby and no one we asked knew what we were talking about. It turned out it was three streets over.
JK Rowling 3 years ago
It's less that they don't know the names, and more that they're never told. Streets in India don't have signs with their names on them. My mom, who'd lived in Pune's Kothrud district for 3 decades, didn't know most of the street names until she heard them on Google Maps. Instead of asking for street locations, it's better to just go with landmarks.
Load More Replies... LagoonaBlueColleen 3 years ago
I feel like this should be one of those lists Pandas could add their own post to. One shock when I was visiting Manchester, UK, was how much litter was everywhere, including in the parks. Not that there's no litter in Canada. It was the amount that shocked me. I watch a lot of British media and did some research before I went, so some things I was prepared for.
Pezor Zass 3 years ago
I've heard this from other people recently; that the litter situation in the UK is surprisingly bad. Anybody know why that is?
Load More Replies... Mazer 3 years ago
Getting a haircut in England. 😳 Total eye opener. Tip the washer grrrrrl, and never EVER say “It’s okay, I will just towel dry it” eep. Then I mistakenly opened my banana to eat while standing on the sidewalk watching an antinuclear demonstration. One would have thought I slapped the Queen. Truth is I had horrible jet lag, having flown in from Hawaii and honestly if the Queen had shown up and given me the side eye, I probably wouldn’t have noticed
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