Culture shock by Aleksandra Virovkic

Alex

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:10:37 UTC

I am happy to say that I have traveled a lot in my life. Even as a child I have lived abroad, and I have met many people from different cultures. At the moment I live and work in China, Beijing, and I can tell you that the culture I come from is very different from Chinese. First of all, Serbian people are very straightforward, and although it's not always good to hear what someone thinks, especially if it's about you, at least you know what they think. On the other hand, Chinese people are more closed when it comes to sharing their feelings, because making you loose your face is a big part of their culture, and they avoid it...

Emily

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:10:47 UTC

I had go at least thirteen country，any country I have been to has points that can make me feel cultural shock. For example，in the United States, traffic regulations require children under the age of 9 to ride in child seats, but I was just 8 years old，I have never had such an experience in China, which makes me very angry. About the UK，the food in the UK has given me a great cultural shock. The food there is very greasy and has some disgusting combinations, such as pudding that looks like a petri dish and has little flavor, and oats that look like mud. I quite like to eat oats, but the shadow left by that time makes me not want to eat them anymore. The good cultural shock for me is that the weather and ecological environment in the UK are also more comfortable than in China. While taking a shower, a gecko ran in. The weather is unpredictable, but there is hardly any haze

Angela

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:10:53 UTC

Ashley

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:10:59 UTC

I have traveled to many countries before, but I never felt a strong cultural difference until one time in Japan. when I was shopped，I had too many things in my hands, so it was hard for me to take out small change. Instead, I handed the salesperson a 10,000-yen banknote. However, the price of my item wasn't that high, so the salesperson refused to accept the banknote and insisted that I take out small change. It was only after this incident that I realized this behavior is impolite locally. In China, I usually use mobile payment, so I never thought about such things before.

Yoonie

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:11:04 UTC

Mark

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:11:09 UTC

I have never been abroad, but the domestic lifestyle is quite different from that of Australians described in the article.

In Australia some students may be critical of other who they perceive as doing nothing but study,but in China This is the opposite.

In China, many people like to ask others relatively private questions such as family and income, even if they are not very familiar with each other. This is usually not considered offensive.But in Australia people very notice of privacy They would find it quite offensive for strangers to ask such questions.

Yolanda

aleksandravirovkic — 2025-10-12 12:11:17 UTC

I felt "cultural shock" for the first time during a trip to the UK. During that trip, I realized how different people from different cultures and countries are.

First, eating food is definitely an important part of every day. In the UK, I tried food that was totally different from Chinese food, such as fish and chips, beans with tomatoes (I'm not sure about the name—maybe it's canned beans with a tomato flavor), cold water, cold sandwiches, and even cold milk! Actually, I have to admit some of the food was delicious. But for me, I couldn't accept any cold food except ice cream, iced juice and iced coffee. I think (or my parents think) some cold food can make our bodies unhealthy and even make us sick! But eating cold food seems to be a very common thing in the UK.

Second, some daily life things in the UK are also totally different from those in China. For example, when I wanted to take a fast transport to go somewhere, in China, I would probably choose a taxi because it's fast and cheap. But it's totally different in the UK. When I looked at the meter in the taxi, I found it jumped very fast, just like my heart (of course, I paid a lot of money for the taxi ride in the end).