Living abroad can change a person in many ways. They will likely be more familiar with the culture they’ve assimilated into, maybe even be a fluent speaker of the language that was once foreign to them.
They may also find themselves shocked at the customs of their home country when they return, much like what these American expats went through. They shared their experiences in a recent Reddit thread, revealing how much they no longer recognize their own culture.
Enjoy reading, and feel free to share your reverse culture shock moments in the comments below.
#1
Lived in Japan for 6.5 years, had a kid there, came back to the US in December 2016.
- *Everything* here seems to exist to create profit for someone: your health (or more likely your illness), your poverty, your education, etc.
- There is zero concept of "the greater good" or public welfare here, even when it would make more economic sense to do something collectively.
- In a similar vein, that you put a dollar value on your family's health. I had just started working when my toddler got really sick, and I had to try to figure out "is he sick enough that I can afford the doctor visit?" "Is he sick enough that I can afford a day off work to take him to the doctor?" "How long can I afford his care if it's not just the flu?" etc.
- Given all the above, the conclusion (here come the downvotes) that America is a massive machine designed and perfected to completely and utterly f**k poor people.
Image credits: capnhist
#2
Australia made me realize how much racism in America affected my life. I did the same s**t in Australia that I do in America: teach at a university (USQ!), go to the gym, hang out with friends... normal s**t. But it felt extremely different. White women weren't afraid of me (they actually didn't even notice me mostly). When I met people, there weren't awkward jokes or comments about black people. No one followed me around the store. I even felt comfortable asking police for directions, and they gave them to me and went about their business. I came back to Houston, which is super diverse, and it was the exact opposite. Even my 60 something year old mother (who came to visit me in Australia) noticed it. I felt so.... normal.
Image credits: Chumbolex
#3
The rage. So much anger over the smallest things and not enough anger over big things.
Image credits: sphinxyhiggins
#4
You elected WHO?!?!
Image credits: CauCauCauVole
#5
I lived abroad for 10 years, 4 in Europe and 6 in Asia with a few months in Latin America thrown in for good measure. Others have called out several that I agree with, tipping, obesity, lack of public transport. I could write a book.
The biggest shock, however, is the ignorance of the population. The propaganda and political system here are sophisticated to such an extent that Americans will tell me directly and with no personal experience or seeming review of the facts that a for profit healthcare system is the only way to go. They’ll defend and believe that this is the greatest and freest country on earth. They still believe that most countries outside of the U.S. and Europe are third world. They’re still convinced that running everything, including social services, on a profit motive is the only way to guarantee a positive outcome for society. Many believe that China and Iran are the greatest sources of evil since the N**is. They tell me this without ever having been on the Bangkok metro, to a Taiwanese hospital, or seemingly having ever talked to a Mainland Chinese person.
Americans do travel and in great numbers. For those that do, they’re incredibly insightful and open minded. For the majority, however, they live in the biggest bubble of ignorance I’ve ever encountered.
Image credits: ChubbyAngmo
#6
That people think the US health care system is normal. "GoFundMe" is not meant to pay for your hospital bills. It's insane that literally every other....EVERY OTHER....developed country can find a way to make health care a basic human right. And Americans are just like, "too bad if you're poor and get sick....just go ahead and die, you're going to die anyway." I don't understand the American mentality.
Image credits: Spare-Way7104
#7
People are fatter and more ignorant than I remember. Entitled victim mentality is very prevalent now.
Image credits: randomuser6753
#8
I'm from the US, but moved to Germany when I was 7. Went back to the US for college, then decided on Germany for good. Bread, dude. Americans do not know bread. Germany, there's a bakery on every corner and you will get a decent roll for about 20 cents. Americans have bakeries but like why is there so much sliced bread for sale and so little fresh? Why is everything in the bakery section sweet?
Also, fun fact: Germans call all square, pre-sliced white bread toast. Americans only call it toast when it has been toasted. You do not know how confusing this is.
Image credits: bewires
#9
I spent a semester abroad in Sri Lanka then moved back to the US. What struck me the most was the amount of food people waste. In Sri Lanka it's heavily frowned upon to waste food, even among the wealthy who don't deal with issues of scarcity. Returning to my college dining hall and seeing my friends pile their plates with food to then eat half and throw the rest out was a little jarring and disheartening.
Image credits: AccusedOak04
#10
The extremely processed food. I gained something like 30 pounds in less than a year before I realized I couldn’t eat like I did abroad.
Image credits: Negative-Flight5146
#11
The song and dance of the waiter bringing your bill and leaving, taking your card and leaving, then waiting for them to come back with the receipt so you can give them a tip and finally go home.
In many restaurants in New Zealand you just go to the host station to pay when you’re done, and there is of course no tip.
Image credits: Frank_Melena
#12
Not sure this counts as "returning".So, Back and forth. Mexico and US. Currently in Mexico. We flew domestic from one Mexican city to another last week on Volaris. Super orderly getting on the plane. Everyone had their luggage in the overhead and were seated in a weirdly, quiet and efficient manner. I think they closed the doors early and we were off. Then really weird...when we landed...NOBODY stood up. They just sat there. Usually in the US there's about a dozen morons that just stand up and start elbowing to get their stuff out of the overhead and then stand in the aisle breathing on you. Nope. Then the flight attendant would walk down the aisle and open 4 overhead doors on each side and the people under those would stand up in an orderly fashion and get their stuff and walk off the plane. Then the attendant would do the same with the next 4 compartments, rinse and repeat. It was AMAZING. Everyone was off quickly and in a super smooth fashion. Why can't WE do this!!!???
Image credits: Beagle001
#13
I was so annoyed by not being able to pass on the left on the escalator.
In the UK you stand to the right if you're stationary so if people are in a rush they can pass on the left.
In the UK Public transportation was quiet and you avoided eye contact. No one would dare blast music without headphones. Not the case in the US.
It's like once you land back in the US everyone suffers from main character syndrome. The entitlement is palpable.
Image credits: Existing-Ad-4961
#14
Get rid of a for profit medical system, and suddenly our food gets healthier. In the U.S., the fatter and sicker we are, the fatter Big Pharma’s wallet gets. When you have to make something to work for EVERYBODY, you’re forced to maximize it’s efficiency. Cleaning up s****y foods is the easiest way to do that.
Image credits: ShogunLoganXXII
#15
I was in Europe, and I really miss relying on public transportation, or just walking. Sure, it slowed down my day, but that was the normal.
I didn't realize the small but pervasive exhaustion and strain that having to drive everywhere causes on my body and brain.
Image credits: tasteitshane
#16
Everything is super sized. Including the people.
Image credits: TravelerMSY
#17
We put a LOT of ice in drinks.
Image credits: cephalopodomus
#18
America is full of people in a hurry to get to places they don't really want to go. It's very, very odd.
Image credits: Jerry_Westerby_78
#19
This was 20 years ago, so it’s only gotten worse but….
It was the food.
After living in Thailand for a year, losing a ton of weight, and feeling 1000% better in general, the first time I got back to the states the realization hit.
All of the food was terrible, expensive, and basically p****n. It was like the scene from jaws in terms of my perception.
Image credits: Competitive-Cuddling
#20
Crazy healthcare prices, normalization of gun ownership, student debt, tipping culture, size of trucks.
Image credits: snotsdale
#21
The tipping culture and rude a*s people.
Image credits: anon
#22
Trying to figure out the actual price of anything since state and local taxes are never in the listed price.
Image credits: rory_breakers_ganja
#23
Everything in the US is HUGE. I spent three months in Japan, when I returned home, I ordered a small drink from Pizza Hut and it was enormous. I could’ve gone swimming in it. I hadn’t noticed how big portion sizes and homes and vehicles are.
Grocery stores have so many options and bright colors (after coming back from Central America)
People are loud and not concerned with how their behavior affects others (Coming back from Japan)
Horrible public transportation (Coming back from Europe and Japan)
Lots of dirty streets (Japan again haha)
People don’t take pride in their appearances (Guess what? Japan!)
Males aren’t very affectionate toward one another (Middle East and Australia)
Children don’t respect their parents that much (Nigeria, Middle East, Central and South America, and….Japan!).
Image credits: FocusOk6215
#24
The obesity was a complete shocker whenever I came home from Asia. The poor food quality and serving sizes at restaurants was another.
Once I permanently returned to the US the greedy, crappy healthcare system blew my mind and still does today even though I have “great insurance”.
Image credits: Expat111
#25
How freakin' LOUD Americans are.
Image credits: RGJ3x2
#26
Lived in Paris for 2 years, and it has to be how f*****g loud everyone is here. Like two people at a coffee shop sitting across from each other with full outdoor voices.
#27
The lack of public third party spaces that are free to hang out in.
Europe has so many free public spaces and youth/elderly centers for people to spend time with others without paying for entry or having to purchase something. The US is so desperately in need of more spaces like this. Especially for kids. It makes me really sad to see how much pay for play happens here.
Image credits: queenofthepoopyparty
#28
The way local police dress like they're preparing to invade Fallujah and how aggressive they are.
#29
I lived in Germany for a year. When I came back to America, the thing that struck me the most is how HUGE food portions are in restaurants and such. There was a local "American" place in Germany that served food on comically large plates, but after going back home I realized they weren't all that far off.
Image credits: SuperMini
#30
Money seemed really weird when I moved back to the US from Australia. US coins felt light and tiny in my hands, like if monopoly had plastic toy coins. And it suddenly infuriated me that all paper denominations were the same color.
Image credits: 0Coke
#31
After a year living in South Korea, I’d forgotten how people don’t have that sense of mindfulness of others in the US. I had also grown accustomed to handing payment over with two hands, which looks weird in the US but felt so impolite when I stopped doing it.
Image credits: DustyKnives
#32
Zero public transportation unless you live in about three major cities.
Image credits: No_Individual_672
#33
12 weeks of maternity leave (if you're lucky, not guilt-tripped to do less) - it's up to 18 months in Canada, can be used intermittently / spread out, and can be split with the dad.
#34
D**g ads and the amount of salt and/or sugar in all food.
#35
I went to high school outside the US and came back to go to college while my parents still lived abroad. (They moved back the summer before my junior year.)
1. I felt really “out of the loop” in terms of pop culture. I had never seen an episode of ‘Friends’ or ‘Seinfeld.’ I had never heard of any of the popular bands or singers. People would quote lines from the show or lyrics to a song and I would just stare blankly.
2. I had no idea what the “in” brands were for clothing, electronics, cars, or anything else. People would say “I just bought a __” and I would have to fake smile and say something neutral because I didn’t know if they were talking about a handbag or a car.
3. I was shocked at how poorly my college classmates (and sometimes professors) understood geography. During introductions, I would give the name of the European country where I had been living and I would be met with blank stares. Several people asked me “Did you drive here?” (From Europe to America).
#36
How mean and self absorbed everyone is.
The separation between everyone. Both physically, as in we keep to ourselves and are not generally social, and culturally, as in we are not really a melting pot as much as a bunch of different cultures living in the same place that do not blend.
How bad the food makes you feel.
How bad the healthcare system is.
Good ones:
Very rarely have to worry about purchasing counterfeit products.
….
#37
Lived in Europe and the Middle East with the family for about 9 years, then came back home to Littleton, Colorado in early April of 1999. Our new house was about a mile and a half from Columbine HS.
The guns. The f*****g guns. Why does a presumably civilized society need so many god damned guns?
#38
I spent over a decade in South Africa and here's what hit me the hardest:
* Nobody in the US seems to know much about the rest of the world. I feel like people in other countries are much more of a 'global community'.
* There's so much of everything! There's a whole aisle in the grocery store just for cake mix! JUST CAKE MIX! I used to get panic attacks because I was overwhelmed by all the choices.
* Everything is about 30% easier to accomplish. More online shopping, stores and businesses are open later, etc.
* Many Americans seem to assume that whatever way the US does it is the best. They can't fathom the idea that other countries may have done some things better.
* There's way more premade 'ready to eat' unhealthy food that's cheap and easily available. Suddenly it's actually more time and money to eat healthy, which feels weird. I gained a lot of weight my first year back.
* Racism is just as prevalent, it's just more subtle.
#39
Fat people. There are so many fat people in the US. Plus crumbling infrastructure and homelessness. It’s weird I never saw it before.
#40
I was so overstimulated the first time I walked into a Walmart I thought I was going to die. The shops here are so much bigger, brighter, louder, more going on.
Image credits: ButterscotchOk3498
#41
American arrogance and entitlement is high, and a danger to continued prosperity - compared to countries that are ok with being humble and hungry to work hard ….
#42
I came back from Mexico to attend a family members wedding in Dallas:
1- Literally could not walk to the book store that was 1/4 mile from my hotel as it crossed a freeway and another major intersection. Ended up doing a 30 min loop to get there, which I could see from my hotel window.
2- We went to the Cheesecake Factory on my first night back- got a massive stomachache.
#43
I lived in Japan for a year. When I came back to the US (Houston) it was the diversity that struck me almost immediately.
Image credits: anon
#44
My fiancee was in Japan for a year. When she got back, the train that goes from Newark Airport to the NJ Transit train broke down in the middle of the tracks before the stop. Well, stopped for 45 minutes, then started again. If the trains in Japan are more than a few minutes late, they are all over themselves apologizing. I don't know if that was her biggest culture shock, but it was what she commented on immediately.
Image credits: vizard0
#45
The US: Shocked that im not able to go from the airport and just simply hop on a train/bus/tram and get to my home. The public transportation systems in South Korea and the Netherlands really spoiled me, and made me realise how terrible the US infrastructure is in this regard.
Logistically going to my home town is a nightmare, must rent a car (expensive!) or arrange for someone to pick me up each time. No uber or anything to take me to the rural part of my state where im from either.
Now i understand one of the reasons why people in rural America don’t really travel much.
#46
I never realized how loud Americans were until I moved abroad and went back to visit. I find it really annoying now, especially when as soon as I step off the plane into the noisy airport I hear everyone yelling and talking so loudly. Very different from where I live now.
