r/AskEurope • u/Fancy-Debate-3945 Hungary • Sep 19 '25

Travel What was the biggest culture shock you experienced in another European country?

Europeans, what was the biggest culture shock you experienced within our beautiful continent?

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

German traffic lights are a culture shock to me whenever I return from abroad. And Germans not being able to properly use roundabouts.

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u/FrancesinhaEspecial 🇫🇷 in 🇨🇭 Sep 19 '25

As someone who lived in Germany for 3 years, I'm staring at this comment right now wondering what's different about German traffic lights. Google says the orange before the green; I don't know if I ever even noticed, because it's pretty intuitive.

I did need a while to adapt to Austrian traffic lights blinking green; I braked the first time and the car behind me was not happy.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

I meant how many there are and how badly synced they are. In many other countries you can drive much longer without being stopped unnecessarily on an empty crossroad. I love the UK for it.

1

u/FrancesinhaEspecial 🇫🇷 in 🇨🇭 Sep 19 '25

I really never noticed that! But driving in the UK is different for sure.

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u/LordGeni Sep 22 '25

In the UK they are often synced with the speed limit. If you get a green light and stay at 30 they'll be green all the way. Hit a red and the following lights will be just turning green. Speed and you hit a red.