Reverse Culture Shock After 1 Year In Europe

We're back in the USA after 13 months in the UK, Germany, and France! But despite America being our home, we've been whacked with some severe reverse culture shock since getting back. Here are some of the biggest culture shocks we've experienced after 1 year living in Europe!

Have you ever left your home country for a long period of time? What reverse culture shocks did you experience when you went back? Let us know down in the comments!!

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💑 WHO ARE THE WANDERING RAVENS?

Hi! We're Eric & Grace, a couple of travelers who have been wandering around the world for over 3 years. We make videos about travel and British culture and release new episodes 3x per week.

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Our favorite aspect of doing Youtube is interacting with you in the comments, so make sure you stop by and say hi! 😊 Have you ever left your home country for a long period of time? What reverse culture shocks did you experience when you went back? Let us know down in the comments! 😄

#cultureshock #ukvsusa #britishvsamerican

[WanderingRavens]

Want more British culture videos? Watch these next!

[adamev]

I once had an argument with a cab driver in the US when he wouldn't let me pay without a tip.

My response was "So, you are charging to drive me here and you want me to tip you for driving me here?"

[tnskyhawk]

For someone whose in that service industry that relies on tips, tipping is horrible practice. Just pay me a living wage.

[majicjon]

Now you understand why the UK has 230V power - it is to make our kettles boil faster :)

[doegywhail]

you said zebra crossing instead of ZEEEEbra crossing. Something stuck.

[butIwantpewee]

In the UK it is a legal requirement for cars to give way to pedestrians who are on a crossing, but not before. How this generally works is you put one foot on the crossing, even if only by an inch, and cars will stop for you. If however, you are an eighteenth of a millimeter away from the crossing then cars will pretend you don't exist yet. It's like playing a game of Schroedinger's crossing!

[lynnjackson]

In the UK most eggs are from hens that are vaccinated against salmonella ( notified by the little red lion on the egg).
I don't think this is the norm in the USA.

[peterwatts]

Not so much reverse culture shock as reverse culture appreciation but after two years in America I came back to the UK and realised what I had missed whilst I was away. History old boy, history. I had massively under appreciated the many and varied layers of history that make up almost every town or city in this country apart from Milton Keynes. It was like wrapping myself up in a subliminal security blanket of permanence and solidity that I had previously just taken for granted.
PS Topic for future video - America is like Milton Keynes, discuss ! Lol

[nickjeffery]

"We counted over 17 kinds of Cheerios - peanut butter, jam, jelly, toilet paper, dish soap, hand soap, toothpaste, dental floss..."
Some of those flavours of Cheerios sound better than others...

[maccladoz]

I'm from New Zealand and when I moved to the UK I found that drivers were way more courteous, there was a lot more choices in supermarkets and the cost of living is a lot cheaper in the UK, especially on basics at the supermarket.

[bogbrush]

If businesses paid their staff a decent wage then there would be no need for tipping. Considering the USA has (had) such a massive 'eat out culture' tipping seems a ridiculous complication on a grand scale.

[GADGTx]

When I've been in the US I find that tipping and the way that tax is added at the checkout to be stressful. It's so much easier to know what you're paying in the UK. Tax is included in the price you see on everything.

That being said I'm not against tipping if course for good service. But sometimes they do 'take the piss'. When in Orlando my friend ate a simple meal and an automatic 'gratuity' was added at 60%, he went berserk.

I personally didn't experience people smiling at me or greeting me in the street. Everyone was keeping to themselves and it felt as normal as the UK to me. Although most people were probably tourists.

I love this channel by the way!

[rachelburgin]

I’m British and my parents lived in Minnesota for a time. I spent a winter with them - it was a really bad winter even by Minnesotan standards - and the thing that struck me on returning to the UK was how cold it was! No seriously! In Minnesota, you never need to go outdoors. You go from your heated house to your heated garage to your heated car to your heated underground car park to your heated offices / shops and honestly you could go months and the only time you went outdoors was to pick up the mail at the end of the drive. Returning to the UK, I was struck by how necessary it was to walk outdoors and having spent several weeks basically indoors, it felt really cold.

[Jamie_D]

They automatically add a tip without permission, how is that legal, it's clearly theft!!!

[ethelmini]

So, you never made a connection between "everybody has a gun" & "everybody smiles at you" ???

[thearmouredpenguin]

I've been to the US a few times and two things really annoyed me (apart from being totally freaked out by finding myself sitting on a park bench next to a guy with an automatic pistol in a western style holster and wearing a T-shirt with the words "WARNING ARMED CITIZEN" emblazoned on the front and back) one was being expected to tip just about everybody including every hotel bell boy that even looked at my suitcase from a distance, and the other was having no idea how much my groceries were going to actually cost me until I went through the checkout.

[peterbrown]

I'm from the North and cars stop at a crossing even if you are just approaching it, I went to Poland and the cars wouldn't stop even if you were standing at the crossing, I found out you had to take possession by standing on it before they would stop.
I like the way you said "cheers" at the end instead of bye.

[delriogw]

Very cool of you to shout out Evan's video, I know he put a tonne of work into that and spent a long time doing all the research.

Would love to see you do a collab with him someday when things return to normal.

[darrenbuckley]

"Can't be arsed", love it, you are now officially a brit.

[phillipescott]

Because my son lives in Washington State, I have been a fairly frequent visitor to the USA (pre-virus). When someone says ‘How are you?’, my instinctive response (usually suppressed) is ‘What has that got to with you?’ It just feels wrong to ask impertinent questions.