Americans Coming Back From Europe: Reverse Culture Shock

We noticed some crazy cultural differences coming back to America after years living in Italy and France!
#cultureshock #italianculture #frenchculture
I'm an American girl from the Midwest but I've lived in Italy for 7 years now. I'm here to share all things Italy with you and a little in between!
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✘I N S T A G R A M ∼ rivieradreamer
✘C O N T A C T ∼ [e-mail]
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Disregard keywords: american in italy, life in italy, living in italy, italy vlog, expat life, expat in italy, italy travel, travel to italy, riviera dreamer, cinque terre, la spezia, liguria, life in liguria, italian girl, american girl, italian life, italian american, speak italian, learn italian, expat in italy, american expat, american living in italy, move to italy, reverse culture shock, culture shock italy, culture shock france, culture shock america, culture shock europe, culture shock in america, culture shock in usa, reverse culture shock america, reverse culture shock usa, reverse culture shock back to america, reverse culture shock stages, italy vs usa, france vs usa

[@TheChiefEng]

Buying groceries in Europe is much different simply because the various things need to be fresh in Europe. Fresh milk in Europe will not last 10 days in the fridge. Europeans are generally much more quality minded about food and most groceries in general. Especially within EU, the rules and regulations for foods are extremely strict. There is a lot of food that is normal in USA which is banned in EU. There is simply a much higher attention to the general health of people in Europe compared to USA. It is true that Europeans don't small talk with people they don't know simply because Europeans consider small talk like that to be shallow. Europeans really don't consider things like Starbucks as having a coffee culture. Europeans focus of quality, not quantity. Take away coffee is possible in Europe but basically degrades the quality experience so it is not the norm. Quality is much more important to Europeans instead of quantity. That's just the difference in culture. Europeans are much more steeped in cultural behavior patterns and traditions compared to Americans. That has actually changed a lot the past 30-40 years but Europeans definitely pay a lot of attention to tradition and culture.

[@christineperez7562]

Native American's do have a lot of culture. Many immigrants bring their culture with them and share with everyone.

[@arnodobler1096]

Interesting the Point 3 for me as an European (German): To be able to reach everything on foot, by bike, or by public transport is convenience for me - not having to drive a car. Especially by bike it is often even faster. But the infrastructure is just different!

[@TheRockkickass]

Why walk or bike when you can drive?

[@davidhutchinson5233]

@@TheRockkickass Because it's much safer. And better for the environment. And better for your personal health.

[@TheRockkickass]

@@davidhutchinson5233 3 terrible reasons.

[@chriskwakernaat2328]

@@TheRockkickass and better for your wallet..

[@chriskwakernaat2328]

the same here , i was wondering why she didn't bicycle.. America is built to get everywhere with a car though , europe is built more for walking , public transport and cycling.

[@branc2658]

What's the point in drinking a glass full of ice contening something just watered inside? You only taste water with a bit of flavour.

[@davidthompson1069]

The reason, you buy groceries several times a week, is because ,the food is not full of chemicals. Left a loaf out in us. Still OK after 2 weeks.

[@89five3five]

Yeah… what’s in our bread fellow Americans??

[@TheRockkickass]

@@89five3five who cares

[@arnodobler1096]

@@89five3five Among other things, plasticizer, the same as in yoga mats.

[@manfredwilliams3860]

Congratulations! You used the word "like" 8240 times in fourteen minutes. A world record

[@lucylane7397]

French grocery stores are as big if not bigger in France if you go to the outskirts of the cities

[@blabla-rg7ky]

I love these "reverse culture shocks" clips of americans after staying on our continent for a while. They're so funny and revealing :)

[@89five3five]

The cars in the US are really too large for what they are used for. I can understand people who need pickup trucks for their jobs. But why do soccer moms need a suburban??

[@maidenekker]

The US is a car-dependend country, I am amazed that you see this as "convenience". It has such a big influence on the way your cities are designed, is that really the way you like your country to work? That stores are only accecible for people who own cars? The infrastructure in the US is really ugly for people walking or bycicling. Do you think that is all right?

[@TheRockkickass]

I do. It’s way better. I lived in France for two years and couldn’t wait to get back to Denver so I could drive everywhere

[@christineperez7562]

No I hate it. It's the culture now but it was not like this 30-40 years ago. We had mom and pop businesses locally everywhere. Many immigrants brought their culture and traditions with them and shared their difference. Now every community looks the same and even the girls are trying to all look the same. I know cause I an 80s baby and grew a teen in the 90s. It was common for us to walk to the store especially for our parents. It was common to go to a local farmer and get fresh food. There are many places in America you can still do that though but not as many. We had more deep meaningful conversation with people then we do now.

[@christineperez7562]

@@TheRockkickass Sure you did.

[@TheRockkickass]

@@christineperez7562 yea, I sure fucking did

[@christineperez7562]

In America you can't work if you don't have a car. America has turned into a capitalist dictatorship. Our government let's companies posion us with food, pills, and the products we use. I just learned that store brand baby food has high levels of metals and some harmful ingredients. In our schools for decades they feed our children's growing brain's junk food. We pay for healthcare and then the insurance companies not our doctor's tell us what care we can get. We pay taxes and our government tells us that we are mooching with our own money. They do nothing for us but spend on wars, capitalism, and in their own pockets. America is not what it use to be and it's horrible.

[@MCoelloF]

In Spain, lunch is around 2-3 pm, and dinner 9:30pm-10pm.

[@BICIeCOMPUTERconGabriele]

True! You even had to change time zone (from your natural GMT+0, given your geographical position, to GMT+1) to try to accomodate your habits with the sunlight!!! ahahah!

[@MCoelloF]

Well the time change was due to Franco (he wanted Spain to be same time as Berlin in 1940). It was supposed to be for a short period, but at the end, it was left like that GMT +1. And even today, they still can´t agree whether to adopt GMT again, or keep things as they are.

[@hunchbackaudio]

Buying in bulk is probably the main reason the USA has by far the biggest food waste in the world. Late dinners is predominantly in southern Europe. In Northern Europe, making people wait till 8 or 9 before they get food is considered torture. From my experience Europeans might do two ice cubes in your drink if asked for, Americans put a bit of drink in their cup of ice cubes.

[@WienerVL]

USA has a Coffee Culture? You believe it?😁😁😁

[@I.Toverheks]

swampwater culture 😎👍

[@grahamsmith9541]

I read that Starbucks is exploring the idea of selling up to get out of the UK. It was on Reuters and Bloomberg so likely to be true.

[@anxen]

I just really enjoyed how you were both still dressing as Italian/ Parisian. One of the culture shocks I tend to experience going from UK to west coast is how differently people dress. especially in Bay area, there's a weird dress code of faux homeless couture that just freaks me out 😂

[@heart_beat_s354]

LoL Is that true? When I go to New Jersey/ New York, people there tend to dress nicely. Which made me realize how casual the dress code is in Texas. Jeans 👖 and a t-shirt 👕 is perfectly fine. Flip flops, sandals, too.

[@amossutandi]

just camouflage, to blend in, if you don't want to get attacked by the homeless roaming and defecating on the streets.

[@stevenkeller3047]

Love to see young Americans traveling and experiencing different places and cultures. I was happy to see that your video's point was to highlight "differences" and not necessarily say that one is better than the other. I'd like to point-out something that would make some sense of some of the differences. Not knowing what city you are in Nebraska I feel pretty confident it is nothing like Paris, Rome, or Florence. The age and density of European cities make them hard to compare. The grocery stores are smaller, but there are many more within a particular area. Sizes and quantities of items are smaller usually because homes, thus storage space, are smaller. Plus, as you said, most people are carrying things on the metro, or bus, or walking. And in general, these older cities are built for people and not cars - YEAH! So driving and parking is much more difficult. I did enjoy the discussion on dinner times. I usually found dinner times in many European cities were closer to 10PM. When I was in Lisbon this past Sept. Across the way from the place I was staying, was a party that went-on till 5AM. I so wanted to be there. Great job, and get more of your friends to travel. After all, what's better than having a friend living abroad?

[@branc2658]

Do you really believe that what you drink in the USA can be called "coffe"?

[@I.Toverheks]

swamp water😎

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

Lets not forget who brought coffee to America, the Italians and French

[@amossutandi]

@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 actually the dutch initially brought coffee to the english, that's why the english word is the dutch word but with english spelling.

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

@@amossutandi the majority of Dutch words are English though, not to mention they're sister languages so often sound alike. A Bulgarian guy I worked with said he got confused hearing Dutch because he said it sounds like someone speaking English, French and German all at once

[@amossutandi]

@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 what nonsense, why do you make up stuff about that? the majority of dutch is not english, nobody credible and serious would claim that. and altho english is in origin a germanic language like dutch and frisian, partly because of the french colonisation of england, and the brits being there before the angles saxon colonisation, roughly 30% of the english vocabulary has a french origin and an additional 30% has a roman origin. and only 26% is germanic. but more modern words like coffee, cookie, yacht, deck, dock, dollar, landscape, luck, frolic are from dutch and not a common germanic motherlanguage.

[@lucylane7397]

I feel some of these things are not country differences just large city to remote rural small towns

[@ThomasKossatz]

Have you ever thought how much a minimum wage earning cassier for real cares about how your day was. Guess hw long he remembers your answer ? 15 seconds? 20 seconds ? It i okay if you like these retuals, but please don't call it friendliness. Europe has a point to call it fake. A voice computer with a bit of artificial intelligence could do the same. Why do we tend to have dinner later? The further you move to the north in Europe, the longer the days get in simmer. Having dinner at 5 if sundown is at 11doesn't work.

[@wora1111]

In winter the days are shorter the farther north you go. But dinner time stays about the same, so it is not a question of geography. In southern countries it often is a matter of day temperatures though. If you have a siesta during noon you probably want to use more of the afternoon/evening for doing things.

[@reginapolo3357]

@@wora1111 right. And in the US and Panama the cashier is being friendly not fake.

[@siriosstar4789]

Moving from anywhere within the US to Nebraska would be culture shock.

[@caregiverinitaly]

Midwest in general (I'm from South Dakota)

[@timnewman1172]

As long as you know what "GBR" means, you're good...

[@jimjungle1397]

I was an American that stayed in Europe as a student, mostly in Belgium, but also Italy and France. Personal space talking distance in Europe is usually handshake distance, while in America, it is handshake plus each person takes one step back. In Europe people tend to stay at handshake distance, while in America, both people will take one step back, or if one person doesn't step back, then the other will take two steps back. Also in America, when a man passes a woman going the other way on the sidewalk, the man goes to the street side, while the woman goes to side furthest from the street. In Europe, regardless of gender, everybody passes on the right side, or keeps to their right. The UK may have the gender based passing though. Same as when a man is walking with a woman, the man stays to the street side. A friend from Spain told me, in London women would give him a funny look when he passed them, as he was always trying to keep right, regardless which side was nearest the street. Maybe it was that, or maybe he was passing to closely, personal space distance maybe.

[@wora1111]

True, as a guy I always walk on the side the cars are passing and women or kids go to the "safe" side. But I do not remember when I was told to do so any more. Definitely not this century though.

[@jimjungle1397]

@@wora1111 We watched a film in health class in 10th grade with such instructions.

[@wisteria3032]

The personal distance is always related to arms. In Europe your personal distance is about as much as your upper arm, in America as your whole arm. In Japan, for example, it's your upper arm again but the arms count while in Europe they don't (eg: If I stand still and put my arm in front of me and touch you that's ok in most of Europe, while in Japan that would bring me into your personal space). Also personal distance diminishes a lot on the sides and the back.

[@BICIeCOMPUTERconGabriele]

In UK they naturally keep left, regardless of gender, because they drive on the left so it's their natural way to discipline "traffic" also walking. Like we in Italy walk on the right.

[@jimjungle1397]

@@BICIeCOMPUTERconGabriele In continental Europe people walk on the right, but looking at stairways in the London Underground, walking is on the right also. Only for driving do they keep left. Britain and America do have gender walking conventions that are not used in continental Europe. Men walk to the street side when passing women or walking with women.

[@mirna-garcia]

Small talk is Sooooo common in Spain, being friendly is also part of our DNA. European countries are very diferent.

[@annaiuga]

In Romania too. And is not unusual to go have a cofee with friends in Italy, my mother inlaw always does it with her friend.

[@wisteria3032]

I think when they say small talk they imply something else because small talk is very much part of my everyday life in Italy. I think they mean "casually start a conversation with a stranger when you have no need for it just because you are in the same place at the same time". But on a more intimate level than what I'd do in that same situation.

[@noabakker3848]

Agreed , greetings from the netherlands.

[@RR-dl8lw]

In Spain from Madrid to the south we have ice with drinks always. In the north you have to ask for it. I guess it's due to the weather.

[@ThePixel1983]

MacDonald's is one of the few places with a drive through in Europe, at least in Germany.

[@caregiverinitaly]

Same in Italy. Now even Burger King has followed suit. Otherwise there is not the drive thru culture here, thankfully.

[@hunchbackaudio]

Always wondered why you would like to eat in your car?

[@rikulappi9664]

So fun and true! Thanks!

[@jpassen5980]

If I might ask; do you believe that people in cities react differently to country folk? In my small village location in England, everyone greets passers-by with a smile and a few words regardless as to whether they are acquainted.

[@pongesz2000]

personal space varies a lot even in europe. i find french people more reserved than italians. in general, if you go from south to north people become more reserved and the distance grows between people. an other rule, if you go from west to east, the people tend to smile less on strangers, so as mid-westerns you would find estonia or finnland very unfriendly (but this is just the tip of the iceberg, thoose people are nice but they express themself differently).

[@marcello_fi]

Did you realize the difference of space and people there is between USA and European countries? To use the own car is confortable but it's also the reason of pollution we have to fight everywhere. 🇮🇹🥰😘

[@010Astroboy]

How could you miss them Kayla? There are huge hypermarkets everywhere in France...like Carrefour.

[@matikaevur6299]

haha .. fastfood drive-troughs .. i constantly abuse those when walking dogs ;) for some reason they have policy "no pedestrians can be served" so if they refuse i politely ask to check with manager witch option is better : they serve me outdoors, they let me in with dog or i go to next joint that has no problem with dogs inside (but does not serve hot apple pie;)

[@fenman7147]

Here we go again like like like

[@ravenous_gaming8266]

After living in Germany for four years, I had a similar experience!

[@arnodobler1096]

Kaffee und Kuchen 😍

[@dudoklasovity2093]

I know that Americans buy food in bulk because it's so inconvenient to shop (drive, park, burn gas,...) whereas in Europe the store is around every corner. But how in Earth is a single person able to drink a gallon of milk before it goes bad? Or does the milk in USA last for weeks? How much chemicals are in there and how harmful is it to drink or eat food that's not fresh, overprocesses and full of preservatives? I'd take quality over quantity any day.

[@lauracaruso2524]

It was a little annoying to hear you both say "we" as if you were French or Italian. You are both come off so American. Obviously, more than you think.

[@mygetawayart]

The thing about Italians not really talking to strangers is true in the north moreso than in the south. I come from Sicily and it's totally ok to say hi to strangers and have a little conversation, especially in small little cornershops, the cashiers will interact with you (usually only if there is no queue). In general, southerners are a lot more open, honest and personal than in northeners. Also, we drink cocktails either at the clubs or for aperitif/apericena which is more of a thing in the north and it's usually at around 6:30/7:00 PM, comprised of a selection of various dishes and a cocktail of choice.

[@trgoohileshea2820]

Where in Nebraska?

[@RivieraDreamer]

Omaha!

[@timnewman1172]

@@RivieraDreamer I figured so, rural Nebraska culture is much different from Omaha...

[@vickiemahdavi7778]

nice video the friendly attitude of America is the best part. I was in France for a month, the only random person I talked with turned out to be American it was in a museum we were both admirint the same thing and started talking about it.

[@user-hr5pc3rt2n]

Clerks are definitely not polite or friendly. Everyone I know complains about it. You are lucky to get a grunt.

[@peterdaniels2417]

I tried to count the number of "likes" but failed

[@RivieraDreamer]

😂😂😂

[@capplusent]

🤪

[@annaiuga]

In Italy I had to ask not to put ice in my crodino

[@kevingrant7098]

Is small talk in the USA the same thing over and over again hello how are you .how was your day have a nice day?

[@reginapolo3357]

And in Europe; countries like England had to commission a minister of loneliness......we don't need it in The Americas (North, Central and South), we get good old fashion human conection just by doing errands.

[@arnodobler1096]

@@reginapolo3357 What does small talk have to do with loneliness - nothing. I find small talk more exhausting than a deep conversation. You can also be lonely among 100 people. I can call a friend at 4 o'clock in the morning and tell him my worries, or he drives 50km and picks me up, and certainly no "Facebook friends"! Are you seriously suggesting that there are no lonely people in your area? How do you know that? You hardly have any contact with lonely people.

[@RodneyEnt]

About the coffee shop culture:"More European". No, it is not. My experience is with N nd NE Europe and paying extra for a table, or having your coffee standing at the counter is unheard of. maybe it's more mediterranean thing?

[@annaiuga]

Not even. Is just that people like to stay at the bar or outside chating with friends. In the morning coffee is a real quiq thing.

[@dxdiag1x]

but still dont get it why put ice in everything? more ice is less drink!

[@RivieraDreamer]

True!

[@abel6846]

Why do so many American girls have such creaky voices?

[@timnewman1172]

It's called "vocal fry", and it is annoying...

[@gwen-bleiz8141]

There is not such thing as COFFEE in the US....

[@TheRockkickass]

I’ll bet you $100,000 we do

[@timnewman1172]

No Runza's or Dorothy Lynch in Europe!

[@arnodobler1096]

less fast food chains in Europe thank god

[@mufaguiar]

ice coffee???? what have you done?

[@Teddymusho]

Come to Germany and you see what distance is 😂😂

[@sally8234]

Too many "likes".

[@AndreaPiepoli]

E non dimenticate il bidè/And don't forget the bidet

[@butatrifle]

Lol US culture....

[@luckyluckydog123]

if Nebraskans are so friendly and nice, how come the majority votes for an orange man who's the embodiment of boorishness and crassitude?

[@reginapolo3357]

Friendliness in The Americas (North, Central and South) is mostly genuine. The proof? We don't need a Minister of Loneliness like some Countries like England and Findland do. We can get our fundamental human connection just by doing our errands. When I decided to move to Europe, I choose Southern Italy for the same reason. Being so stiff face with someone "just" for being a stranger, has got to wear you out.

[@simonpowell2559]

What the hell is a minister of loneliness. I'm English and have never heard of such a thing.

[@Jontor11]

So, to summarize, you went to Europea for all these years, and you learned nothing??

[@lenr7068]

How do people forget to be American?

[@timnewman1172]

I wish we all would!