If you’ve ever moved to a different country, you’ve probably experienced your fair share of culture shock. And that’s no exception for those who have come from abroad to settle in the states. So Redditor u/musea00 asked, “Immigrants/expats to the US, what is your funniest ‘coming to America’ story?” Here’s what people said about arriving in the USA.
1.
“A good friend of mine who had just moved to the US kept hearing about ice cream sandwiches, but never actually saw one in person. He decided to try one on his own…by putting ice cream between two pieces of Wonder bread. He didn’t care for it.”
2.
“My father was out smoking when we just moved to the US and he met our mailman. They talked a bit, and when the mailman left he said, ‘see you later.’ My dad stayed outside for about 45 min thinking he was coming back.”
3.
“I moved to the US (California to be exact) in 1985 from Africa, but I also spent six years living in the Philippines. I only knew of one way to eat avocado, which was mashed up with sugar, evaporated milk and some ice. It was a yummy dessert where I grew up. One day my family and I went to a lunch gathering in California and there on the table was a big bowl of mashed up avocado. I dug in and put a spoonful of avocado in my mouth. And that, kids, is how I first learned of the glory of guacamole.”
4.
“When I moved to the US from southeast Asia, I used to think Goldfish crackers were made out of actual goldfish.”
5.
“A friend of mine came to the US from Nepal where people can’t eat beef. He landed in Newark Airport, the first of his family to come to America, and the very first thing he did was go to McDonald’s and have a Big Mac.”
6.
“In Chile where I am from we called tape (like Scotch tape) just ‘scotch.’ So I went up to a teacher in sixth grade and asked her for some scotch, she gave me a real look of disapproval.”
7.
“I came to the US as a preschooler a few days before Halloween. I was thoroughly convinced that in America, kids dress up and go trick or treating every single night. No number of explanations from my parents could dissuade me from this theory.”
8.
“I came to the US four months ago and being from a third world country, everything has been a shock in one way or another. I knew a thing or two about America, but it was another thing to experience it. One of the most pleasant surprises: The ability to choose my own shower temperature!”
9.
“When my family moved here from the Soviet Union we were so amazed at the diverse selection in our new US grocery store that we walked around with a video camera, recording all the fruit. We still have this tape, which adequately documents just how excited we were about the availability of pineapples.”
10.
“A friend of mine moved to the states from Vietnam when he was about six. He was staying at his cousin’s house and saw his first ever two-liter bottle of Coca Cola. He had always heard that portion sizes were bigger in the US so he assumed it was a single serving. Kid tried to drink it all in one sitting.”
11.
“My dad came to the US six months before the rest of my family to get us settled — rent an apartment, buy a car, etc. When the rest of us arrived, he told us about some differences in America. He told us that in the US, the animal ‘tiger’ is pronounced ‘tigger’ in America. Turns out he had overheard some Winnie the Pooh and thought that’s how Americans pronounced the word.”
12.
“Some family friends of mine immigrated to the US from the Philippines. Taking them to Sam’s Club was a hilarious experience. One of them asked for a slice of pizza and got one of those huge slices. He tried to return it, saying he only asked for one slice not the whole pizza. That’s when he realized portion sizes are a little different here.”
13.
“My mother (who went back to college after having children to finish her degree) had a friend who had come to the US from Argentina to attend a university. She took him to a beach bonfire and he watched in utter horror as children lit marshmallows on fire and then ate them. It was his first experience with s’mores.”
14.
“A friend of mine is first generation American. Her parents are Vietnamese and neither can read English. Upon arriving in the US, her father went to goodwill to get some ‘American clothing.’ He bought a bunch of Hooters t-shirts because he loved the owl design. He continued to go to work and pick his kids up from school in Hooters shirts for months before anyone told him what Hooters actually is.”
15.
“When my husband first moved to the U.S. from Latin America, he was incredibly confused by the crosswalk signs near his house that read ‘PED XING.’ He couldn’t understand why the US signs were written in Chinese.”
16.
“My Chinese parents found out about a special needs school in our area, and they tried to enroll me. They had never heard of this back home. When the principal attempted to explain that I wasn’t eligible to attend, they were outraged and thought he was being racist.”
17.
“I moved from South America to New Jersey during high school. I was blown away by how accurately TV shows and movies portrayed the American high school experience. For example, those lunch table cliques were so real. I was also surprised to see that yellow school buses, cheesy homeroom announcements, and the Pledge of Allegiance were not just television fiction.”
18.
“I’m from Nigeria and lived in Norway before coming to the US. I had grown up watching TV shows that featured Texas accents, which I always figured it was a joke. I ended up going to college in Texas and I remember being introduced to an East Texan who shook my hand and spoke in that same accent I always thought was simply comedy. I did everything I could to keep a straight face, but in my head I was screaming to myself, ‘oh my Lord, they actually talk like that!'”
19.
“I took a friend of mine from Kenya to my local Kroger grocery store. He was amazed by everything. He had never even eaten spaghetti sauce before, and he couldn’t we had over 20 kinds to choose from. Then he saw the variety in the cheese aisle…”
20.
“When my Dad first came to the US from Vietnam back in 1975, he believed he would never see many of his native foods ever again. Most important among these local foods was rice. On his first trip to a US supermarket where he saw rice, he was so excited he literally bought out the entire store’s supply.”
21.
“A friend of mine came to the US from the UK and he was truly astonished that in Philadelphia you can shout ‘Go Birds!’ to a group of complete strangers and you’re more than likely to get a ‘Go Birds!’ shouted back at you.”
People who have immigrated to the US, I want to hear your stories! What is something that gave you culture shock, surprised you, or just made you laugh upon arriving in the US? Tell us in the comments.
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