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I have always assumed I'd be in for quite a culture shock if I moved to Japan, and that it'd be a bigger shock than if I moved to Cuba. This also depends on how you define "1st world".
I experienced culture shock moving from the US to UK. I wasn't really expecting so many differences, like language (especially in Scotland), and the humour. Some of the language differences can be very embarrassing when you don't realize what they are. My first job was an office temp and I felt like an idiot when someone said something about A4 and I hadn't a clue what they were talking about. It's the normal paper size.
I experienced culture shock moving from the US to UK. I wasn't really expecting so many differences, like language (especially in Scotland), and the humour. Some of the language differences can be very embarrassing when you don't realize what they are. My first job was an office temp and I felt like an idiot when someone said something about A4 and I hadn't a clue what they were talking about. It's the normal paper size.
What are the differences you found regarding the humour?
I experienced culture shock moving from the US to UK. I wasn't really expecting so many differences, like language (especially in Scotland), and the humour. Some of the language differences can be very embarrassing when you don't realize what they are. My first job was an office temp and I felt like an idiot when someone said something about A4 and I hadn't a clue what they were talking about. It's the normal paper size.
Are most Americans not aware of the types of paper sizes? (e.g. A4, B4, etc.)
I think the closest thing I've ever felt to culture shock was after spending five months in the Eastern Bloc in 1968, I arrived on the bus back in Greece, and saw all the brightly lit advertising billboards and heavy car traffic and store windows full of glitzy fashionable junk. It made me feel very uncomfortable, like I wanted to pull the covers up over my head.
Is it common for people who live in a 1st world nation to experience culture shock when moving to another 1st world nation?
To me the lifestyles are very similar that making it easy to adjust to the minor differences.
Culture shock? Not for me when I made the move. Adjustments to be made, sure; but anything like "shock," no. However, I can imagine that if a person is inclined to be inflexible, and assumes that the ways of dealing with the business of living as he knows them are a universal should-this-way, that any transition would be traumatic.
I can remember when my mother removed herself from the NE to Florida in the Seventies, several of our longtime neighbors had done the same. My gawd for the first couple of years they behaved as if they had moved to the other side of the world.
It all comes down to knowledge of the place (history, language, economy, among other things), personal preparation, and, above all, based on the previous two, expectations management.
If one gets those three points about right, then certainly no shock, though there still may be disappointments and dislikes once you start doing things like standing on line to pay taxes, search for parking, and grocery shopping.
8 1/2" x 11".
All the best!
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