 Like someone can seem so excited to talk to you, but then you will literally never see them again. Hi, Freddie, and welcome back to my channel. My name is Katie. If you're new here, I talk about study abroad topics, talk about like gap years and all those kinds of things. So if you're interested, subscribe or get this video a like. So today we're gonna be talking about the biggest culture shocks or I guess reverse culture shocks that I had when I came back to the U.S. And I came back to the U.S. probably about like three weeks ago at this point. And if you don't know, I studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. I am back now and I've had some experiences that not that I had never experienced before, but I had never known how odd they can feel if you haven't experienced them in a while. So this is just kind of like a silly video, silly things that I have noticed. That's what we're gonna be talking about today. Okay, the number one, number one, customer service. There is a huge difference between European and American customer service. I anytime I'll go into a store in Edinburgh, I mean, sometimes they would say hello or they would do that like a little smile. Like that one, it really made me laugh because sometimes if you got in somebody's way, you know when like you're in the, you're in an elevator and like one person is trying to come in, one person is trying to go out and there's like that weird moment where you're like, like I don't know where you're going. I had so many instances like that where like nobody said anything. So I would just be like going in the elevator and we'd have that awkward moment and like it would be like a. Like it would sort of just be like a silent exchange. And I remember having this thought where I was like, that is so odd that like, why wouldn't somebody to say just like, oh, like, sorry, oh, sorry, let me get it out of your way. Like both like say anything. And then I also realized that like I am that person, but it's not a little technical customer service. Okay, yeah. Nobody really asks you if you have any questions. I've worked many customer service jobs and they tell you to say good morning or how to help the customer in the best way possible. And yeah, over there you just go into a shop and that's that. If you want something, you get something. And if you don't, you leave. And it's just that. I went to go get takeout the other day and I was ordering takeout from this girl and the whole time she was just like, hi, can I get your order? The whole time she was smiling like this. It was giving elf. She just really enjoyed smiling. It was very, very sweet. Definitely a jarring experience now but I have been away from that. Also the amount of times that if you're at a restaurant the waiter comes over to your table. It just kind of seems excessive now. Usually when you go out to dinner over there, it's maybe they come over a couple of times to like greet you, to take your order. And then you kind of have to wave them down to get the check. They just let you sort of stay as long as you like. And I really sort of liked that attitude. Sometimes I can feel a bit rushed in certain scenarios. So that is something that I did really like about culture in the UK and just Europe in general. But we definitely have like much sunnier dispositions here when it comes to customer service. Number two is going to be the size of the food and portion. This is like such a classic one that people always say but I really forgot. Every single time I went out in the UK I pretty much never had leftovers. I would just eat the whole thing which I never did before. Coming back here, I went out to dinner with my parents and I really could only finish about half of my portion and that's pretty much with everything here. I have a lot of leftovers again which is kind of nice. I love leftovers and especially like if it's something really that you enjoyed in the restaurant American kind of slaps for that. Number three is something that I experienced driving down to South Carolina. I am originally from Washington DC but I go to school in Charleston, South Carolina. And so it's about a 10 hour drive from city to city and going down to the South once you pass about maybe North Carolina you just start to see all of these billboards for Jesus. Definitely kind of a funny experience seeing a billboard that just says like Jesus or some of them sometimes said repent in all caps which I feel like they maybe knew because I've made this drive like two and a half years ago. When I started college I made this drive a lot and I don't remember seeing as many but maybe that's just my, maybe I just forgot. I don't know. But yeah, those billboards are just really kind of funny to me now because it just feels like, I don't know, advertising for Jesus just feels a little lot. Number four is going to be small town people saying hello to you. So I was just up in Maine for a week with my parents and we were in a very small town going out and I'm gonna say this is a generalization about Americans. This doesn't happen in big cities. In Charleston it can happen from time to time not all the time, especially when the city's really busy or packed with tourists. But if you're walking around like a Sunday morning people will smile at you or say good morning especially if you're like one of the only people on the sidewalk. But when we went up to the small town in Maine every single person that we passed at full volume said good morning, how are you? And I didn't know what to say. I did know what to say about a year ago. I'm not expecting it anymore. So when it was happening it just kind of felt a little odd because people do not say, people did not say good morning even if you're like the only person on the sidewalk. Sometimes in the Highlands we would go for like a hike or something and people would say good morning or just say hello but other than that, no it's sort of looked at is a little bit odd to say hello to people that you don't know which as a reverse culture shock thing I'm like, yeah, that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense but it is something very sweet. In this town we were walking down the street and somebody actually in a car rolled down their window to say good morning to us which is just, it's kind of nice, it's kind of nice. I'm definitely more of an introvert so I'm like nobody talked to me but I will happily say good morning. I think it's very nice. Number five is small talk. Small talk is a skill. It is a game, it is a religion. People really will just stop you on the side of the street here and tell you their whole life story. People that you meet, you know, just for a couple of minutes even in customer service interactions you can get somebody's like whole life story in like 30 seconds. Yeah, that's just, there's less of that. There's still small talk but maybe it's just in a different sort of form. A lot of these things I like don't really know how to articulate because there is still small talk in the UK but it's just not the same and you can be like super duper cheery with a stranger. Like someone can be like, seem so excited to talk to you but then you will literally never see them again. That's maybe the best way to put it. Number six, this was at my college. This was just a really fun moment to walk back to and it was this no firearms allowed sign in front of my college buildings. I'm not gonna get into anything political on my channel but definitely just something that is a little sad that we have to have in front of a classroom. Definitely a good sign to have but one that you would just absolutely never see because they're not allowed but the fact that we have signs for that I can imagine if you've never been to the US before it would be a very jarring experience. Okay, number seven is a little bit lighter and this is going to be busy culture. So it's definitely interesting how many people already it's always like a sort of a humble brag to be like, oh, I'm feeling so busy. I've definitely started to notice that a lot more. I am a pretty busy person this year. However, I really relish in moments where I don't have anything to do now and I don't know, just something that I have noticed that people are very much proud of having a lot to do and having a lot on their plate. If you liked this video, please give it a like and comment down below if you want me to maybe do like a part two or if you have experienced any other like reverse culture shocks or just culture shocks if you've ever been to America or you know, anywhere else. Subscribe if you are not already and give this video a like and I will see you next week. Okay.