Travellers and immigrants on Quora were asked: "What was your biggest culture shock going to Europe?" These are some of the best answers.
1. Your world gets a bit bigger
Multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity. The image of Europe I had in my head before I first came here is that it's filled with white people, and that's pretty much it. What an amazing surprise when I came here and saw people of all kinds of ethnicity and culture. I have never seen anyone of African descent before in my life. And this was how I first learnt that it's more meaningful to assign identity to people not by their skin colour, but by accent and language. This was how I learnt how a Frenchman is not just a white dude, but could be of ANY race and cultural heritage, who identifies his first language as French. Same goes with a Dutch person, a Brit, and so on.
Lilian Darmono
2. Was it two lefts, or a left and a right?
Lack of street signs.The signs are mostly general directions and since they use roundabouts instead of intersections, I'm not sure how it could be any more confusing for someone that doesn't know the lay of the land. GPS is the only way. But don't count on seeing the name of the street anywhere.
Amanda Hernandez
3. The sun'll come out tomorrow
So, having lived in Netherlands, and travelled around a bit of Western Europe for the past one and a half years, I have experienced a wide variety of culture shocks, ranging from minor to intensely surprising. However, this is the one which shocked me the most, and still confuses me sometimes: Long days during summer and short days during winter
As someone from India, a country close to the equator, the sun sets at around 18:3019:00 in the summer, and at around 17:3018:00 in the winters, so there is very little noticeable difference in the length of the day. Here in Europe however, especially further north, in the summers, the sun sometimes sets at 22:00, or even at 23:00 or later!Its even later in the northern regions of the Scandinavian countries. This also means the sunrise is quite early, at around half past 4 in the morning. The other extreme in the winter - sunrise at 08:15and sunset at 17:15or so. This was extremely weird on those days when I had classes from the morning to the evening, so there were some days when I saw little or no daylight.
Sometimes, even now, I find it hard to get to grips with this; in the summer evenings, when I return from the supermarkets or a dinner out with friends, its still bright outside and it feels quite weird!
Varun Adishankar
4. These boots were made for walkin'
The cities were actually walkable!Im sure there are walkable US cities, but the Atlanta area covers about 132.4sq miles, with a population of less than 500,000within the city limits. Compare that to Paris 40.7sq miles, with a population of about 2.224 million as of 2014. The pedestrians in London, Paris, Edinburgh, Berlin, to name a few, were a shock to me. Even calmer cities like Geneva and Rome were lively. In Atlanta, I might walk a couple of blocks without seeing anyone in the middle of the day.
Sherry Chen
5. It never hurts to be polite
"Please, thank you and sorry"People use these 3 words abundantly. At restaurants, waiters are asked like this, can you get me a pizza, please? Theyre thanked when they bring something. This is also applicable to any laborers. Sorry, is used whenever needed. Indians use these words like they have to pay for using them.
Kaushal Barot
6. Quoi?
Language - words like boot, chips, shag, nappy, napkin. Even though in the US we may take a year or two in high school of French, German, or Spanish we really don't learn the language because we don't get a chance to use it. Great to find out most people spoke better English than anything we know.
Joel Oleson
7. I thought this was pretty non-existent these days. Guess not.
I had no idea how much class is discussed in the UK. Just from listening to comedy programs I was pretty surprised. I was also confused over peoples negativity to being (or being perceived as) middle class. (See any joke directed at Jack Whitehall lol) In the U.S. we talk about it as if everyone's middle class whenever or not it's true. So I viewed it in a positive or neutral light. it took me a while to realize that the UK actually had a rigid class system and upper class people had money since like the dawn of time. I mean I knew that existed but I didn't think it still had societal relevance.
Kaitlin Stopyra
8. Your home is an extension of yourself
People take care of their houses here; but public property is treated like a dumpster. Seriously. I've rarely been inside a home in the Czech Republic that wasn't beautifully kept. Czechs with houses spend lots of time in their yards/gardens planting flowers and bushes and keeping it all up: this makes for some beautiful homes. The houses are built with great attention to detail and constructed to last a century or more. Amazingly well built. Windows are underlined with rows of cheery flowers and everything just looks great.
Even the smaller flats in the [unattractive] apartment blocks that some people live in are cozy usually comfy and people pay attention to making them look nice and airy. They have a special system where everyone on the floor and building take turns to sweep and keep the entry halls and stairwells spic and span.
But if I go downtown to the centre where the shops are it's a bit of a mess: cigarette butts, wrappings, a bit of graffiti that is never painted over. Lawns in parks or surrounding apartment blocks go unmown for what would be an unacceptable amount of time in the US...
Lance LaSalle
9. It's like living in a musical!
Tremendous amount of spontaneity relating to art, culture, music, etc. No such thing as street musicians in Singapore, and in Indonesia most buskers are poor, doing this just to get money. In Europe, street artists are so good at their craft! Whether they're playing guitar and singing, or painting portraits, it's all done with such love and care. Standard is pretty high. True they do it for the money as well, but that's not the only reason. They want to share their art with people in the streets, and this is a big part why they're doing it.
Even as a teenager I could tell the difference, and I found it so inspiring. It was also the first time I saw amazing street art. Graffiti is a severely punishable offence in Singapore, who doesn't even allow chewing gum, and in Jakarta, they're all just tags and scrawls. In Europe you see beautiful artwork and gallery-grade paintings all over public places!
Lilian Darmono
10. Why would you go all the way to Europe and then eat a taco?!
Distinct culinary practices. Every country had a distinct culinary experience. French pastries, Londons array of pub foods, Italian pizza and gelato, German bratwurst. I know, I know, Im grossly oversimplifying. But every place had a distinct food-culture. Problem was, I couldnt find anything resembling a taco or tamale in most cities. Or good Chinese takeout. But doner kebabs kept me satisfied for the time being.
Sherry Chen
11. Don't do drugs and stay in school!
I was pretty surprised that just outside my school tons of middle and high-schoolers would smoke like it was nothing. I only knew about some smokers in my high school in the US (never in middle school!!) and they would never smoke in front of everyone like that. You would probably get suspended for smoking on school property in the US, but in France, it wouldnt be surprising to share a smoke with your teacher!
Asya Grechka
12. It looks so cute!
Cars stood out as much much smaller. Many smart cars and tiny vehicles on tiny roads. I was driving in England which was already a shocker being on the other side of the road, but had to drive through narrow metal posts going through an old village. The car barely squeezed through. In Amsterdam one of the vehicles looked like a toy.
Joel Oleson
13. This person knows how to shop!
In European cities, I can go to the markets and buy enough high-quality ingredients to make a nice meal for two for around $20 - 25. In the U.S., Id be hard pressed to walk away with the same stuff for less than $30 - 40, and the quality of many ingredients would be inferior, to boot. Its terribly interesting to see how the prices of certain products reflect local markets and habits: at the supermarket in one Swiss town, I was able to find good Alpkse (alpine cheese) and fresh produce for astoundingly low prices, while cans of beans or mushrooms were about five times more expensive than in the U.S. In Europe, it is affordable to eat fresh. Processed and packaged foods often cost more, not less, which is backwards from the way many U.S. markets work. Europe is a cooks heaven, and a microwave warriors hell.
Curtis Lindsay
14. Sad to hear that this happens globally
When I first moved here I was hanging out with a young crowd; still at university or around that age. I was surprised to find out how badly low-paid workers were treated. Stories of having worked for weeks and then being refused wages, mass sexual harassment and general abuse of workers were rampant. I've moved into higher social spheres since then and I think that a lot of these things have changed in the last decade, but it was clear that the most unfortunate had far less respect for their own labor than in the USA, where many of these practices would have reported to the Better Business Bureau. Maybe this has changed. But the poorest workers here live on shockingly low wages. Happily, the middle class is actually pretty big: most people make the average wage, which is livable and comfortable.
Lance LaSalle
15. I feel like this should be the standard, not the exception
Traffic rules: Coming from India, I was surprised that even pedestrians need to follow the traffic signals. It was even more liberating to see that no more matter be it a Mercedes, Audi or a BMW, the driver comes to a screeching halt, if he has to, at the zebra crossings. That never happens back home.
Devang Sanghani
16. My plan: eat BOTH dinners
Early dinner. I guess this is more common in Western Europe. I have noticed the Dutch, and even some people in Germany, happen to eat dinner at around 17:00 or 18:00. As an Indian, this is quite early! We normally have some snacks at around that time, and eat our dinner at around 20:00 or so. So I was surprised when I visited some of my friends places and they had dinner quite early.
Varun Adishankar
17. The last part of this comment is so important for Americans to hear
Something like suburban sprawl can be observed here and there in Europe, particularly around the very largest cities, but its of a different nature and is much less prominent than it is in the U.S. On my first visit to France, I remember being absolutely shocked to see that when cities end, they stop, and then the countryside begins. Things that ought to be near each other in the major cities usually are, and there is a logic to why things are located where they are. Also, Europeans dont often unceremoniously rip down historic structures just to make room for prefabricated commercial buildings. Fascinating concept!
Curtis Lindsay
18. A completely different culture
Freedom of children and the elderly.Elderly women going about their business in Rome, riding bikes in Amsterdam. In Berlin parks and the Paris metro, I saw children running about with their friends, unattended by adults. Now compare this to the U.S. Helicopter parents everywhere. In high school, I had friends whose parents required them to text them whenever they got somewhere. I had (female) friends whose parents wouldnt let them ride in cars with female drivers (?!?!) Parents here wouldnt dream of letting their children loose on the city.
Sherry Chen
19. I feel like this is how it should be everywhere
The news in Europe is what the US news used to be about 30 or 40 years ago-free of talking heads giving their own opinions. CNN Europe and Sky TV don't have any shows with anchors la MSNBC or FOX or CNN even-it's just news and sports and weather updates with nothing else. An anchor might give a throwaway opinion on something in between news stories, but it's not an hour of discussion and analysis with a particular political bent like the US.
Charlotte Lang
20. It sounds like people just keep to themselves more
I am Russian and was never raised to believe in God. I was always atheist but I learned to avoid this question growing up in the US. People would become pretty aggressive if they found out I was atheist, and many would try to save me. If someone did ask what my religion was, I often just said I was a Christian to avoid conflict.
In France, it is the complete opposite. Wearing any sort of religious symbols (such as a small cross necklace) is prohibited in schools. Most of the people I know here actively resent religious and I have not met a single person that has tried to show me the light in all of my 8 years living here.
Asya Grechka
21. Frankly I want a continent wear sweatpants are the norm
Europeans tend to dress more stylishly and up for everyday activities than Americans do. The difference isnt drastic, but its definitely noticeable until you get accustomed to it. I found that locals reacted much differently to me when I wore slacks and a collared shirt than when I was knocking about in shorts and T-shirt. In Europe, gym clothes are usually only for the gym, although you may see many college students dressed down," especially in the summer months.
Curtis Lindsay
22. Too many rules to remember!
Greeting new people, esp. the opposite sex - this is something I still find hard to get used to, because it is not really the same in different European countries! When I went to Switzerland, whenever I had to meet my Swiss friends girlfriend/mother/other female friends, I had to get used to a new greeting - three cheek kisses on alternate cheeks (either left-right-left or right-left-right). I found it rather hard to get used to at first! I think the three-kiss greeting exists here in Netherlands too, when you meet a woman, and I still dont know how different the greetings are in other countries! Bottom line - very confusing for a foreigner!
Varun Adishankar
23. Let the sunshine in!
I got into the habit of checking the weekly weather updates and would feel extremely happy on days that it would be sunny and warm. I would see even more happier people than myself who would just lay on the parks or town centers soaking in the sun right from the afternoons upto nights with little cares for anything around. They seemed to be in bliss!
Devang Sanghani
24. It sounds like the latter would cause HUGE indigestion
People eat out at restaurants to have some quality time with friends and family. They will order a drink and sit for hours and talk to each other and after sometime they will order a meal. A family dinner on a weekend may last up to 3 hours easily.
In India, people go out to eat, just eat. They sit in a restaurant, order food, food arrives, 20 minutes and dinner is over. In that 20 minutes, everybody concentrates on eating, they barely talk.
In Europe, even after finishing your meal and paying bill, you can sit and talk, nobody bothers you. In India we always have waiting lines outside good restaurants.
Kaushal Barot
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.