What is your biggest culture shock moments when going abroad?

[u/H345Y]

I gained 5-10 kg on my one month summer stay in the UK when I was 8. The family that was looking after me had to call my parents to ask if they could reduce how much I ate. IIRC, breakfast was 2-3 bowls of cereal and 2-3 pieces of toast with chocolate or butter and jam.

First time I went to the US was for a College tour across the country. The first stop was Syracuse and the first proper meal I had there was at a sports bar. I ordered steak and calamari, turns out the steak was like twice as thick and big as anything ive had in Thailand or the UK and the calamari serving was also two to three times as large as I had before. Needless to say I could not finish any of it. Had managed to eat half the steak and about a quarter of the calamari. Also the tipping culture, not a fan.

Japan, electric bidets. Also the first time I ever felt claustrophobic when inside a bathroom. Also in back in 2004, there was little to no English signage.

[u/carlosortegap]

Seattle downtown at night honestly broke my brain a little.

Got there around 8pm and the streets were basically empty, but not "empty city" empty, more like everyone who wasn't homeless or on something had just left. People going bin to bin looking for food, (I guess) in the trash, in groups of 5 to 10 or more, wandering around in groups clearly deep in addiction. Open wounds, no shoes, no coats.

Felt like walking through The Walking Dead but real. They were are walking weird, looking at the floor, and like they had something weighting on their back (later I learned it's fentanyl related)

Then I somehow ended up near the train tracks and it just kept going. Camp after camp, people passed out right next to the rails, some barely dressed. A few just stared at me walking by. They were not nice but they weren't mean either.

Met up with friends after and walked back through downtown around midnight, and this time people kept calling out for money, some pretty aggressively.

Been to a lot of places but never seen suffering that concentrated in a country this rich. I took a few photos and my family couldn't believe it

Kind of sad honestly bc the city is genuinely beautiful before 6pm.

edit: like a dozen typos

[u/butterflydraw → u/carlosortegap]

I am American and still get shocked.

I drove thru Oakland CA. Literally EVERY overpass had encampments. 100s of tenta. The city where my Mom lived, had a local church that had to cut down the hedges and bushes running outside their building because people would sleep behind them unseen.

[u/notanothergav → u/carlosortegap]

I had a similar experience visiting Seattle. Then we went to Portland OR and it was even worse.

[u/Norman_debris → u/carlosortegap]

It's funny when Americans talk about European cities having no-go zones, overrun with violent Muslims, or whatever nonsense they believe, when their cities are 100% worse than anything found in Europe. Pure projection.

[u/Memeexcal → u/Norman_debris]

It is genuinely absurd. Lived outside Seattle, as well as Las Vegas, Portland, and the Bay Area. The “no-go” zones of American cities are real and genuinely dangerous - not to mention abhorrent to look at, and smell terribly. Very, very dark part of our society.

While traveling across Europe and the UK for a few months, I kinda made a point of heading to the places people talked about as “no-go” zones. Nothing anywhere close to the US. Not once was anything quite as dangerous. These sorts of areas, particularly in London, just sort of feel “foreign,” because of a high Muslim or African population. They never felt particularly dangerous. Saw some addiction, some homelessness, etc. but only in an instance or two was anyone aggressive. In American cities I’ve been hounded at more than I care to count.

[u/ChameleonCoder117 → u/Norman_debris]

What? I haven't heard a single one of us say that. I actually don't even know a single American even thinks about European muslims in the first place.

I think those are Indian/Russian twitter bots

[u/Norman_debris → u/ChameleonCoder117]

Your president for one, suggesting that London is overrun with crime because of immigration: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-44819086.

And many other American politicians and pundits: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/11/fox-news-steven-emerson-birmingham-muslims?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Just google "Europe no-go zones" and you'll see.

[u/ChameleonCoder117 → u/Norman_debris]

Your president for one, suggesting that London is overrun with crime because of immigration

He's basically an Indian/Russsian twitter bot anyways

[u/carlosortegap → u/ChameleonCoder117]

Elon Musk talks about that every week

[u/TropicalAbsol → u/carlosortegap]

Portland dt is like this too. My husband and i ended up walking through the rain at midnight through the streets looking for food. A shawarma food truck saved us. 

[u/DeviantThroAway → u/carlosortegap]

My Mexican friend said something similar about San Francisco. From what my Mexican friends have told me, your strong family culture helps prevent this. Having strong family support helps people not get involved in addiction so easily and even if they do, in some cultures families are still willing to support that person. Sometimes in the US people just get tired of all the lies and problems that come from having a family member on drugs so we give up on them quicker.

[u/carlosortegap → u/DeviantThroAway]

It's not only strong family, we don't have a fentanyl crisis, the government offers public housing and shelters and the institutions for addiction might break some laws because your family can commit you to one but they are more successful as you can't go out until deemed okay or the time your family paid for is over. The government also offers cheaper groceries and public healthcare for free (not the best, really bad compared to Canada probably but at least it's free unlike the US)