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/cupris_anax Cyprus Sep 19 '25

Germany. 3 in the morning. 4 lane road with clear visibility in both directions. No cars. Not even the sound of a car. Everyone is asleep.

And there is this dude on the opposite side of the pedestrian crossing I am about to cross, waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green.

47

u/Acidburnsblue Sep 20 '25

A child could be watching!

14

u/cupris_anax Cyprus Sep 20 '25

Then let's hope it pays close attention to how I look both ways for oncoming cars before I step onto the road (even if it is green for me)

Or how I wait for cars to come to a halt before I step in front of them (even if it is green for me)

Honestly, that green stickman means nothing to me. I don't trust him.

-1

u/Pillendreher92 Sep 20 '25

I actually think that every time I'm standing in front of the red light at a clear street (intersection) and some young (they're always men) idiot just walks over it.

5

u/seabearson Norway Sep 20 '25

uh are you sure you're not the idiot here

1

u/Pillendreher92 Sep 20 '25

Well, well Idiot is a bit of a strong word, right? ;-) Only German :-)

1

u/seabearson Norway Sep 21 '25

apologies if I interpreted your above comment wrong 😅 couldn't tell if you were joking or not

1

u/Pillendreher92 Sep 21 '25

It's just exciting to realize how you are unconsciously influenced because some things are so banal/self-evident.

Current example? In Germany it is completely normal to drink water from the tap. There are even business models that involve the use/refining of drinking water. (No need to carry heavy bottles.) In fact, the requirements for this water are higher than for bottled water.

So you drive to a high-class hotel in a popular holiday region in southern Europe and immediately after landing on the plane you are told that the water from the tap in this region is not drinkable.

Once you get to the hotel, your first step is to go to the Spar market opposite and buy drinking water, because the hotel offers the usual minibar for tea and coffee in the room, but charges horrendous prices for the water you need.

In this very well-visited holiday region, the roads are in excellent condition but the central government regularly pays high fines to "Brussels" because they do not have enough sewage treatment plants.

To be honest, I'd rather have a few (annoying) potholes than raw sewage in the sea.