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“Not Sure If It Was A Joke, A Statement, Or What”: 40 Biggest Cultural Shocks, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community

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?

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#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.

Final score:

313points

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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!

Final score:

232points

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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.

Final score:

203points

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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.

Final score:

192points

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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.

Final score:

181points

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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!!

Final score:

174points

Isaac7lego🇺🇸

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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.

Final score:

173points

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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

Final score:

164points

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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?

Final score:

147points

Thorfin Wolfsbane

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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

Final score:

142points

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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.

Final score:

142points

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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.

Final score:

137points

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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

Final score:

135points

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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

Final score:

129points

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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.

Final score:

127points

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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!

Final score:

115points

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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.

Final score:

114points

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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.

Final score:

106points

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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.

Final score:

104points

Diana Lopetaitė

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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.

Final score:

100points

Catherine Cronin

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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.

Final score:

99points

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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.

Final score:

92points

Bored Lady On The Run

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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.

Final score:

88points

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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.

Final score:

87points

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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.

Final score:

85points

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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)

Final score:

80points

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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.

Final score:

74points

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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.

Final score:

71points

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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.

Final score:

69points

Martina Vitmanová

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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.

Final score:

60points

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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.

Final score:

50points

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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.

Final score:

50points

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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.

Final score:

47points

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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

Final score:

46points

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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.

Final score:

39points

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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.

Final score:

39points

By Deleted User

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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

Final score:

34points

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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

Final score:

33points

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#39

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

Final score:

25points

Torben Møller-Nielsen

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#40

In Tanzania a room was used as showers for the campground during the day and urinals for the bar in the evening.

Final score:

12points

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#41

I went to Krakow,Poland on a surprise trip from my family for my 60th birthday to visit Auschwitz/Birkenau. I was very humbled and also heartbroken by what I seen. The little boutique hotel I stayed in was beautiful and nothing was too much trouble. There was no kettle in the rooms but one would be supplied if you ask, the people are so friendly but they do warn visitors who are driving to be careful of the police as they have been known to pull people over , give them spot fines but pocket the money! I don’t know if this is true. Beautiful town with lots of history. Heartbreaking to see the poorer parts. The synagogues were amazing and the Jewish people very very respectful, also in the cafes and restaurants, the waiting staff cannot do enough for you and you practically have to force them to accept a tip, well I got used to one certain little cafe and the young lad that served me was so pleasant and helpful and it was him that I had to force tips on. It got to the point where I just left it under the plate for him and he would always smile and thank me. I was sad to leave. Can’t wait to go back. The roads can be a bit dangerous though as they drive extremely fast.

Final score:

12points

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#42

A positive shock were the prices in Poland and the quality of food you get when shopping. They might produce lower grade products formall Europe, but obviously produce better quality stufd for themselves. And if you get off the highway, it's a wonderful country with diverse nature. Fell in love with Krakow and Zakopane. Been there many times now and plan to go back this winter.

Malta is a recent thing. People are noisy and sometimes seem even rude. There's dog s**t on streets and traffic is pretty mad. Also the quality of food in the shops is not the best kind. Better to eat out - cheaper and better food. Also I'm a huge coffee fan and it isn't a big thing there. But this place grows on you so bad that you want to go back there again and again... Crystal blue waters, Valletta, smaller fishing villages, the taste of really ripe fruits, fireworks... Wonderful place.

Final score:

10points

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#43

Friend of my parents had a Malaysian delegation for dinner back when we lived in Kuala Lumpur, including a sitting minister. Apparently all went well until the amuse was served -- melon wrapped in parmaham -- and the host toasted his guests with a glass of champagne. As you might imagine, pork and alcohol did not go down well with the staunchly muslim minister, and he had the whole table cleared.

Final score:

9points

Margaret Weaver

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#44

I was staying in Boston with some friends of friends, when I was 16, and I went to Concord to visit Louisa May Alcott's house. There was a thunderstorm, and I thought, "Wow! Even their thunderstorms are bigger!"

Final score:

9points

#45

I’m from the United States. When I visited England there were a few things that caught me off guard. 1. No ice in water. 2. McDonald’s did not serve sodas in the morning. Only water, juice, or tea/coffee. And 3. The no taxes on groceries and paying what was on the price tag.

Final score:

8points

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#46

Restroom hygiene habits in the US.
1- (Generally) those who present as male tend to stand when using a sit down lavatory, no matter whose restroom they are using.
2- no bidet or washing. My understanding is that the only (generally) use tp.

Final score:

7points

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#47

I'm from the US and I went to Jamaica for a week. The amount of people who ask for money blew me away. Constantly being approached to buy necklaces, drugs, help with your bags, taking your pictures. It was so abrasive, when we flew back into the US it was almost a shock that people weren't constantly coming up to us.

Also how beautiful the country is, but how it's not taken care of.

Final score:

7points

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#48

Traveled to China 25 years ago to adopt my daughter. Get off the plane and there are guards in the airport with machine guns! Knew we were no longer in Kansas....

Final score:

7points

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#49

UK: That crisps have small packages inside packages or you can just buy small package separately. It is not common in the country where I am from at all.

Final score:

6points

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#50

The pollution in some European cities. Coming from North America, and having been to places like LA and New York that are notorious, I was kind of surprised to find that places like Paris, Rome, and Athens surpass them in a number of ways. Usually not garbage on the ground, but air quality, graffiti, etc. One major Western European city smells like urine year round and is literally sticky everywhere.

Final score:

6points

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#51

Switzerland was super expensive. We were charged 3 Swiss Francs (3$) for a glass of tap water. A resort restaurant menu bragged about a 50 Francs
Hamburger. Nope. Hotels very expensive, so we stayed in budget hotels that had no amenities but charged 150 Fr. We put our food outside the window in a bag. ( cold in early May). Still incredibly beautiful though

Final score:

5points

#52

The first time i went to Mexico when i was around 8/7 and i was surprised by how they did everything there. How they washed their clothes, how my dad had friends everywhere from when he grew up there. I loved it. I go there every year now for around a week or so.

Final score:

4points

Enby.Minecraft.Bee.

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#53

The use of latrines in China. I was there for work and had a terrible time balancing while wearing heels.

Having dinner between 5 and 6 pm while at uni in the US. I usually have dinner between 8.30 and 10 pm. It took a while to get used to it.

Final score:

4points

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#54

I’ve never been outside of the U.S. but my dad lived in England. So I’ll tell you what surprised me from his stories of 1980’s England.
1. You have to hold your knife and fork a certain way. Even if you were left handed.

2. You ate peas with forks. How do you stab a small spherical pea?

3. Ditches that were big enough to fit my uncles lower half. He was abt 4’ 6” when that happened.

Final score:

3points

Happi doggi (all pronouns)

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#55

Nicely-dressed guy in London, walking along the street, take out container in one hand, fork in the other, eating as he walked.

Final score:

2points

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Deutschland Mädchen

Hey I’m Deutschland Mädchen! I'm a musician, author, and artist. I love musicals and theater! I play the clarinet and the piano mainly, but I did play flute for a year. My favorite key signature (for piano) is Eb. Don't be fooled by my profile picture, I'm not a very fierce person (unless you mess with my instruments). I chose that wolf picture because I liked the colors in the background. I've thought about changing it but someone told me that it would be harder for them to recognize me so it's gonna stay the same for now. If you have any book recommendations, let me know! I love to read and I love talking about a shared series with friends.

Hey I’m Deutschland Mädchen! I'm a musician, author, and artist. I love musicals and theater! I play the clarinet and the piano mainly, but I did play flute for a year. My favorite key signature (for piano) is Eb. Don't be fooled by my profile picture, I'm not a very fierce person (unless you mess with my instruments). I chose that wolf picture because I liked the colors in the background. I've thought about changing it but someone told me that it would be harder for them to recognize me so it's gonna stay the same for now. If you have any book recommendations, let me know! I love to read and I love talking about a shared series with friends.

Gabrielė Malukaitė

Hi there! I'm Gabrielė, but you can also catch me responding to Gab, Gabi, Gabert, or Gabe – take your pick. Professionally, I'm the senior community manager over at Bored Panda, helping people share their awesome work and connecting artists with a worldwide audience. Beyond work, you'll catch me traveling, listening to vinyl and diving into movies, art exhibitions, and concerts. I'm a culture buff at heart, always eager to explore and embrace the richness of the human experience.

Hi there! I'm Gabrielė, but you can also catch me responding to Gab, Gabi, Gabert, or Gabe – take your pick. Professionally, I'm the senior community manager over at Bored Panda, helping people share their awesome work and connecting artists with a worldwide audience. Beyond work, you'll catch me traveling, listening to vinyl and diving into movies, art exhibitions, and concerts. I'm a culture buff at heart, always eager to explore and embrace the richness of the human experience.

What do you think ?

Caro Caro 3 years ago

I have to say that a lot are not really culture "shocks" just differences and quirky funny things.

14points

Deutschland Mädchen (Post author) 3 years ago

Yeah the title was kind of a hyperbole, now that I look back on it.

7points

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Lovin' Life 3 years ago

Very interesting! I one day hope to travel the world.

8points

Caro Caro 3 years ago

You're welcome to come visit us here in europe !

4points

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Carrie Whitaker 2 years ago

Why has this popped back up, marked an hour ago, when it still has comments from nearly a year ago? Find new content, srsly.

5points

Megan Curl 2 years ago

Right! Annoying AF.

2points

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Caro Caro 3 years ago

I have to say that a lot are not really culture "shocks" just differences and quirky funny things.

14points

Deutschland Mädchen (Post author) 3 years ago

Yeah the title was kind of a hyperbole, now that I look back on it.

7points

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Lovin' Life 3 years ago

Very interesting! I one day hope to travel the world.

8points

Caro Caro 3 years ago

You're welcome to come visit us here in europe !

4points

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Carrie Whitaker 2 years ago

Why has this popped back up, marked an hour ago, when it still has comments from nearly a year ago? Find new content, srsly.

5points

Megan Curl 2 years ago

Right! Annoying AF.

2points

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