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There are tons of things that unite us no matter what corner of the globe we might live in—like forgetting if you locked the door immediately after doing so. At the same time, the closer you look, the more you realize that everyone has their own quirks. All of that individual uniqueness and weirdness adds up with everyone else’s, until you zoom out and you realize that it becomes part of a country’s culture, heritage, and traditions.

This post is all about the small differences that make people’s countries unique, like rolling cheeses down hills for the heck of it, having saunas literally everywhere, and serving hot chocolate with slices of salted cheese, as shared by folks on r/AskReddit in these two delightfully informative threads.

Remember to upvote the posts that you found insightful or that made you laugh as you scroll down, Pandas. And when you’re all done enjoying this list, we’d love to hear about the things that happen only in your country.

Oh, and in case you need something great to read during your next coffee break, check out Bored Panda’s previous post about the peculiar things that seem normal in some countries but not in the rest of the world.

Bored Panda got in touch with author, investor, and mentor Rick Orford, who has traveled extensively around Europe. He told us about what Covid-related regulations look like right now in Italy and how certain inconsistencies have been causing him a lot of stress. After all, it's far harder to enjoy all the unique culture abroad when your travel opportunities are limited and there's a lot of anxiety in the air.

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#1

It's 3:38 AM in the middle of the night.

You're driving your car through the middle of nowhere.

The last person you saw passed by you 20 minutes ago.

You come to a crossroads with traffic lights.

No cars to the left and right for miles.

The traffic light is red.

You stop your car and wait for it to turn green.

You're standing there, contemplating the futility of existance in the middle of the night.

Nobody is there, nobody would care if you just drove on.

At some point during those moments you start to question your own sanity and ability for self-determination.

Still you wait for the green light, because this is Germany and in Germany you follow the rules.

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While many people are celebrating the start of the 'post-pandemic' era, reality isn't as simple. Like Bored Panda mentioned recently, some experts believe that the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over yet. And the fact is that Covid regulations seem to be all over the place, causing a lot of unnecessary stress for travelers and tourists.

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Investment specialist Rick opened up to Bored Panda about his experience with Covid-19 regulations in Italy. "Over the past 12 months, we have stayed within Europe," he said that he and his partner have been enjoying the continent very much. However, "there's been some drama" with the travel arrangements: they had planned to sail to Greece on a cruise ship, but the inconsistent rules have caused them quite a headache.
#2

Belgium. We didn't have a government over a year, and it went suprisingly better than when we did.

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#3

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others United Kingdom. I don't believe any other countries have the annual 'chasing cheese down a hill' competitions.

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Rick told us that he and his partner both tested positive for Covid last week. "We must have a negative covid test to get on a cruise ship. On a plane, at a hotel, restaurant—[it's] not needed. But on a cruise ship... it's mandatory," he pointed out that it doesn't make much sense that air travel doesn't require a negative test, but traveling by sea does.

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He told us that, thankfully, he tested negative for Covid after 3 days. Meanwhile, his partner tested negative only yesterday (i.e. the day before the publication of this article). "So it's really stressful and close," Rick was honest with Bored Panda that the way the rules are structured has brought a lot of stress into their lives.
#4

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others In New Zealand it is normal to be barefoot in public. In the mall, the supermarket, fast food places etc. It's even normal for kids to go to primary school barefoot. It's recognised this is unusual and has become a point of national pride for some people.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like everyone is doing this, but it's a noticeable minority and would be seen on a daily basis, even in winter.

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#5

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others A week-long nationwide water fight in Thailand.

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#6

"Medical debt."

-Americans

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"What I find really fascinating is that one can visit a hotel, or a restaurant, or take a train or a plane here in Italy, and nothing is required. Yet, to get on a cruise ship, one needs to prove vaccination, and give a negative Covid test within 48 hours of sailing," he pointed out that it's very important to read up on Covid regulations before traveling anywhere. The rules don't always make sense and can change very quickly.

Rick suggested that if anyone's visiting Italy, Verona is definitely worth going to. The city is full of historical and architectural masterpieces, and even has an arena that is thousands of years old, and "you really get the feeling of being a Roman during the concerts!"

Traveling is one of the best things that you can do. It’s a real eye-opener! Not only do you get to expand your arsenal of awesome experiences, but you also get to see what makes other cultures and countries unique.

What’s more, when you go on a trip, even a small one, you start to become more and more aware of what makes you, well, you. You start picking up on your own cultural quirks. And the moment you get back home? Well, you’ve got a fresh set of eyes to see your home with. Traveling means having an adventure that’s educational through and through, even if you don’t feel that you’re actively learning something new.

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#7

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Have farms larger than Connecticut (14,357km2)

Australia has 4 of them. The largest is larger than Israel, 44 of them are larger than Delaware, and this is still more than three times the size of the largest Ranch in the US, the Waggoner Ranch in Texas.

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#8

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others People count out loud the number of fouettés in the theater at the live performance of Swan Lake.

In Cuba, due to reasons too long to explain but definitely having to do with communism, classical ballet is a popular art form in the sense of "not bourgeois". So the social composition of the crowd that comes to the theater for the classical ballet is not what you would expect in any other country. Mix that with natural latin irreverence and what happens is that people have ended up cheering the ballet dancers as if it was a sport. In particular, in the classical choreography of Swan Lake, there is a point where the black swan does about 30 fouettés or so and the crowd (that has seen the choreography before) goes like "ONE! TWO! .... SIXTEEN! SEVENTEEN! ... THIRTY!!"

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#9

Canada. When our national hockey team makes the Olympic finals, the government changes liquor laws THE SAME DAY to allow bars to open at 6am.

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As you travel abroad, you realize that there are so many things that everyone on Planet Earth has in common. Like how nearly everyone around the globe enjoys eating fried dough in some shape or form.

At the same time, you also come to the inescapable conclusion that some of the behaviors and perspectives that you might have taken for granted are far from common. In fact, they might just be limited to your home country, county, or even town. Unique? Absolutely!

Professor Christine Vogt, the Director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism at Arizona State University, explained to Bored Panda during an earlier interview that anyone planning on going abroad should take the time to do some research about the country and culture of their destination.

“More than likely that is what draws a person to visit a certain place. The more local knowledge a traveler has, the more a traveler can feel like a local and fit in," she told Bored Panda that the more you embrace other cultures on your trip, the more enjoyable the entire experience tends to be. And locals really do appreciate foreigners putting in the effort to respect their traditions and beliefs. Knowing the local customs can also protect you from a serious headache further down the line.

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#10

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Wales. Place names like this llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

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#11

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Faroe Islands. More sheep than people in my country.

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#12

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others I live in Belgium and I doubt there are many other countries where two people who are both lifelong citizens of the same country cannot speak to each other.

This happened to my friend, a Walloon, who met an old Flemish lady. She didn't speak English or French, he didn't speak Dutch. They legit could not speak to each other, but they were both Belgians through and through.

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"Local customs can include how a traveler dresses, eats, uses a cell phone, etc. When a traveler is out in a community such as walking in a downtown area or eating in a restaurant, these local customs can come into play,” Professor Vogt said.

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“For example, in Buddhist countries, a woman who has not covered her shoulders or legs may not be allowed into temples or even a restaurant. Learn as many local customs as you can and a few key words to enhance your experience," she said that it’s important to be aware of local customs and to try and get along with the locals.
#13

Italy here.

Road rage is as present here as everywhere else, but all drivers magically get together when a cop is nearby. Seriously, there are so many ways fellow drivers will alert you so you won't get a ticket. Panic headlight flashing, lowkey honks and nudges from bystanders when you park in a risky spot. It's actually pretty dope.

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#14

Its rush hour. I tap someone's bumper while coming to a stop when my shoe gets stuck under the brake for a second too long. He apologizes for 'stopping so abruptly' at the red. I offer to exchange info, he says 'don't worry about it, I think I need a new bumper anyways, this one's wonky'. Then he tells me to have a nice day eh?

Canada is a place where everyone is sorry for everything, their fault or not.

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#15

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Such cheap olive oil. And eating incredibly late. Lunch is more or less at 1-3 pm, and dinner at 9-10 pm. That is why in Spain we have snacks between foods.

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#16

Australia. Entering Eurovision as a country from Oceania.

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#17

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Luxembourg. People who speak 4-5 languages fluently.

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#18

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Finland. Saunas in most apartments or at least apartment buildings, haven’t lived in a building that doesn’t have one.

A lot of great well known (and underground) metal bands.

And a nuclear power plant that is at this point 11 years behind schedule and according to Wikipedia the 3rd most expensive building in the world.

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#19

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Milk dispensers at school cafeterias (or restaurants but it's not as common). I live in Sweden where food and drinks such as water and milk is provided free for students. Whenever i tell someone outside of Scandinavia that we have milk dispensers they're always very surprised.

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#20

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others USA. The imperial measurement system.

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#21

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others National Crate day! In NZ we have Crate day to celebrate the first day summer which is basically celebrated with a crate of local beer, a bbq and sports, usually at a mates flat or the beach.

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#22

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others South Africa. Scheduled blackouts to reduce pressure on the electrical grid.

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#23

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others United Kingdom.

Pantomimes at Christmas.

Real ale.

Separate hot and cold taps.

Mint sauce.

Brown sauce.

Thanking the bus driver (with a 'Cheers, drive' in my neck of the woods).

Apologising when someone else steps on your foot.

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#24

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others In Colombia, hot chocolate is served with slices of salted cheese in it.

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#25

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others South Africa. Calling traffic lights 'robots'. Caught myself doing this with foreign friends and being treated like an idiot.

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#26

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others In Mexico we experience paranormal stuff very close. Even people like me, who doesn't believe in it, have parents, siblings, children or grandparents who have experienced ghosts or other entities very close.

Not in the "friend of my friend" kind of way. It is really really common to be in the same room, and someone just says: "I saw my great-grandfather coming out from the well" or stuff like that. And nobody makes a fuss about it. We just process it and move on. But really, I don't know anybody who hasn't experienced a close encounter with something paranormal in one way or another.

And again, I'm an atheist and a skeptic. I haven't experienced something at first hand. And that makes me an exception. Not the average.

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#27

South Africa. Our constitutional court can rule that our president has broken the highest law of the land and stole tax payer money to make upgrades to his private home, and our parliament will still vote not to impeach him.

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#28

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Iceland here. We have a music festival held inside a glacier and deep inside a volcano. We also charge $1,000,000 for a ticket too

Bonus fact: This was the same festival where last year Bam Margera was knocked out.

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#29

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others In India, it's normal for your parents to find your life partner and there's a chance you could get killed if you love someone.

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#30

As far as I know, this only happens in the Philippines. Correct me if I'm wrong.

We have a law here called number coding, known casually as color coding, for some reason, which makes vehicles with certain license plates unable to be run on certain hours of certain days.

If your plate number ends in a certain number, let's say 1, you can't drive your car (without a fine) on Mondays. 0 and 1 are Monday, 2 and 3 are tuesday, etc. You can only drive it on that day from 10am to 3pm. So, if your license number is ABC 123, then you can't drive on tuesdays from midnight to 9:59am, and 3pm to midnight the next day. If you're caught by the traffic cops, you need to pay a fine. (or bribe the dude, that's fine too, I guess)

It was the government's attempted solution to lessen traffic on roads, but what many people ended up doing was buying another car for the off day. So here, if you aren't commuting or carpooling, which you might not want to do, since many areas here are polluted and have some thieves running about, you're going to need to own two vehicles.

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#31

Scotland. Every year, large men gather in various places to throw trees around and girls dance around swords.

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#32

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others India. Cheap Streaming subscriptions. In my country a pack for Disney+, HBO, Showtime, ABC, Live Sports and a lot more, costs less than 2 dollars a month. Yes 2 dollars TOTAL.

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#33

Israel. Every single building has a safe room in case rockets start falling. I was pretty surprised this wasn't a thing in other countries when I first learned about that.

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#34

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Germany. Driving 300km/h and still getting passed.

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#35

China. Probably blocking Google, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and other websites...

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#36

Australia, specifically Melbourne. Having 40+ degrees celsius days drop to less than 20 with rain over a period of two hours maximum

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#37

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others In Canada tax is not included in advertised price.

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#38

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Canada. Bagged milk, legal weed and fermented maple syrup.

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#39

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others USA. Screens in your windows.

I didn’t know that wasn’t a thing all over the world until I commented on a post here on reddit.

There was a post showing a person with a personal bug net around their bed to keep the bugs out. I was like “wait why don’t you guys have window screens to prevent bugs getting in your house in the first place”

Apparently a ton of people don’t? I never knew that, thought it was interesting

Mosquitos, black flies, and horse and moose flys here in Maine are super bad during the summer, I can’t imagine somewhere like the tropics.

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#40

Norway. They look like snowballs in size and shape, but they're made of potatoes and boiled, with a piece of meat inside for flavoring. You eat it with sausage, fat'n'bacon and kohlrabi/carrot puree.

It's not as common as it used to be because it's mainly grandmas that used to make it.

Also known as "komle". In some places they simply refer to them as "potato balls."

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#41

USA. Have a "World Series" and only occasionally invite Canada.

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#42

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Canada. Poutine. Goddamn are you guys missing out on poutine. Seriously unhealthy, but also good for the soul, so is it really unhealthy? Yes. Yes it is. But you're still missing out.

For those wondering, it's fries topped with gravy and cheese curds.

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#43

Corpses get dug up, heart gets cut out and burned, then buried with the body again so the dead won't come back to haunt it's people - Romania.

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#44

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Germany. Tiltable windows, apparently.

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#45

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Maple Syrup Heists in Canada.

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#46

Argentina. Drinking a hot drink from an hollowed pumpkin through a metal straw and sharing it with others all drinking from the same straw.

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#47

The Philippines. The citizens vote an actor as a president who has made it into the list of the World's Most Corrupt after his impeachment. Then proceed to vote him as a Mayor for a major city a decade later...

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#48

New Zealand. $26M spent on a flag referendum.

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#49

The Netherlands. Gouda cheese and windmills

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#50

We love to put fat in our bread and eat it, especially with some red peppers. If the fat is used to fry meat in that before, just tastes better. Hungary

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#51

Singapore; Reserving seats with tissues. Shaming people online for falling sleeping on priority seats on the train instead of waking them up.

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#52

USA. Pick up some paper towels, toilet paper, new underwear, and shotgun from your local Walmart.

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#53

South Africa. We very regularly use a wood fire to grill meat and call it a braai.

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#54

Production and enjoyment of Surstromming.

(Sweden).

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#55

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Italy. Bidet, apparently.

Also, the fact that every supermarket here has a section with fresh cold cuts, cheeses and bread-like products. Couldn't find a single one in California

Lunch break is an actual break, where you sit at a table and have a 2/3 course meal. People won't likely just eat a sandwich and get back to work.

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#56

Apparently people are unusually friendly in the USA.

I thought it was normal to say hello or give a compliment to someone you pass on the sidewalk but I guess not

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#57

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others South Africa. Biltong, spiced dried meat.

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#58

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others Root beer. In America this is widely available and basically universally liked, but give it to someone from another country, especially a European country, and they will hate it.

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#59

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others USA. Full-size pickup trucks.

Also, full-size lifted pickup trucks.

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#60

USA. One of the leading causes of death amongst the poor is obesity.

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#61

30 Common Things In These People’s Countries That Are Very Rare In Others USA. Tipping and gun ownership.

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