After 7 Years In Germany This Shocks Me About The USA

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You call it "friendliness", Europeans call it "I survived smalltalk" 😂😂😂

Now I understand that in Germany people complain when there are chemicals in their food, while in the US there is a hint of food in the chemicals. I'm shocked at how expensive healthy fruit is there.

After living for almost 5 years in Germany, words can't tell you how hard it was to come back and living in the US. The culture shock when returning to the US was unreal.

My friend was in the military stationed in Germany. He came back to Dayton Ohio after he was out. He stayed home for about 2 months and left the states and moved back to Germany. He has a job there and said he is never coming back😊

I was buying some cheese in an American super market a few days ago. One label proudly exclaimed: "WITH REAL DAIRY!" Geez, dude, what do you make cheese out of BESIDES dairy? And would I wanna EAT it?

As an 18 year old, I enlisted in the USAF and was sent to Spangdahlem AB in the Eiffel region of Western Germany. An amazing, maturing experience! I went from living with parents to paying rent, utilities, restaurants etc in (then) Deutsche Marks! I learned how to work on cars, and so much more in German! I knew auto parts and tools in German. I didn't know the English words! I loved the pride in their local community and how well they treat their elders. My reverse culture shock still remains and it's been decades!

It's kind of bizarre, that raw food prices are more expensive than processed food sometimes. Gives me Orwell vibes that everyone has to take his daily dose of "special ingredients"... X-D But as a German, the biggest culture shock when I visit the US comes from that smalltalk thing you mentioned. I immediately feel very uncomfortable when asked "how are you?" because I'm not used to smalltalk and don't wanna lie to anybody. So I sometimes come up with typical German answers like "tired", "hungry", "in a hurry", etc. - which are completely inappropriate because the anticipated answer is something positive with questioning back to give everybody a good feeling. This type of "constructed dialogue" is very weird for me... 😛

As an American new to Germany, going to the local famers market is a gourmet experience. I was so thrilled to discover that they're everywhere, and every week year round! Real cheese like brie, gouda and roquefort and fresh crusty bread are, for most people, special occasion or restaurant foods, not an every day thing. Its just too expensive. Only mass produced american cheddar, grated mozzarella, and preservative laden packaged bread are in the realm of everyday affordable. And the cost of fruit and veg - especially organic - is a top 10%er type of indulgance.

I just got back from Japan, shocked at what groceries cost in Japan vs. USA. Food in Japan is healthy, fresh and cost about a third of groceries in the USA. We are doing something very wrong here.

When I got close to retirement -- in Switzerland -- I had to decide: Move back Stateside? Stay here? And a stupid little sentence started running through my head: "I do NOT want to grow old and frail in a country without SIDEWALKS!" Here, you can walk (or bike) anywhere. If it's too far, there's public transport. In the States, there are many -- just GAPS -- in the net of pedestrian / bike paths -- and everything is SO spread out!

I was in the US a few years ago. My sons begged me to bring back some flavors of M&m’s that we don’t have in the EU. One of them got a major allergic shock to something that was in them. He never had that before. They all went in the bin. I can also confirm I was shocked by the prices of basic healthy food in the supermarket.

when i went to the US for the first time (as a Swiss who can't drive), i went and asked the receptionist of there is a supermarket nearby and she was very happy to let me know that it was "very close"... shortly after i realised, she didn't even think of the possibility that i wanted to walk there... it was "just" a 20mins walk ;P

The whole high school/college football thing is so weird. Nobody in Germany would even think about going to a high school/college game of any sport unless a family member or friend was playing.

A friend of a friend, who lived in California for a loooong time, summed it up like this: The US are the most drugged up, worst-fed, most consumeristic country, with the most corrupt and insane politics in the western hemisphere - but he loves and misses all the madness terribly.

Regarding pedestrians being scarcely considered in the US I must say I had the very same impression. The first time I visited the US, over 25 years ago, I came to Los Angeles on a work trip. It was late may and we were staying in the Beverly Hills area, so what with the good weather and the pleasant neighbourhood we would tend to walk around, as we would usually do in Europe (I live in Italy). First thing I noticed was that, unless we were close to shops or some sort of business area, we would hardly meet anyone else walking around. One evening I walked for about a mile to get to a restaurant from where we were staying and the only other person I met on the pavement during the whole journey was a guy who'd just popped out of the house to put out the bins for collection. The next thing I realised was that to cross Santa Monica Blvd (4 lanes of traffic both ways, which is already incredible to see inside a city to european eyes), you had to take it in two legs, because the green light for pedestrians only lasted around 10 secs. This meant that you had to cross to the centre isle and wait for another green to get to the other side, while the wait in between the two was waaaaay longer. No wonder Carl Lewis and the Santa Monica Athletic Club won all those sprinting medals, you need to be fast if you want to survive crossing the streets down there... 🤣

I just got back from Germany a few days ago. I was only there for a week and I saw enough to realize the differences and I even have a slight hint at the culture shock coming home. I cannot wait to go back. I did experience small talk a few times from Germans, which I didn't think they were known for and it was very nice. I was in areas where I don't think many Americans go, so maybe that was it. It's an amazing and beautiful country with very nice people, stunning architecture, great food, and really good beer. I would encourage anyone who can go, to go! It WILL change your perspective on life in the US..

Fußgängerzone...what a word for an english speaking person. Very well done :)

This difference between car-centric and made for pedestrians is incredible.

I was stationed in Schweinfurt 70-72 and had the greatest German's as landlords. They did so much for us and when I went out on 2 Reforgers I knew my family was safe. I created a "lot of curiosity " when, as an officer, I rolled up my sleeves and moved mortar and cement blocks in a wheel barrow from the front yard to the back. The landlord laid the blocks in a wall while his son-in-law mixed the mortar in the front yard. The Germans had never seen an American officer do manual labor. I just looked at the project and said they need a third person. At that time many American families lived in military housing and they complained at everything not having ever left the states; "There is no McDonalds here."