An American woman visiting the UK has left Brits in stitches after sharing a series of culture shocks she encountered during her travels. The student, known online as '@alwaysdressbest', has been exploring England over the past few weeks, taking in sights like Buckingham Palace and catching some of the Euros action. Despite enjoying her trip and even declaring York 'cooler than New York', she highlighted several peculiarities about the nation.
First on her list was the early closing times of shops outside London, with most shutting their doors by 5-6pm. This stark contrast to the 24/7 US-based Walmart 'Supercenters' left her baffled. She also noted that she had 'legit seen nobody, no European, take a sip of water', even in restaurants, where only Americans order water.
Her third shock was the public nature of smoking and vaping in the UK. 'In America, if you want to have a cigarette or take a hit of your vape, you usually go to like the side of the street or in a corner,' she said. 'But here, I'll be walking and the person legit next to me, the smoke and vape is just like flying in my face.'
Finally, she was stunned by Britain's perception of time. A three-hour car journey prompted two 'mandatory' breaks for the bus driver, which she found incomprehensible. 'Three hours might be considered a long time here, but it baffles me that it was considered long enough to have not one but two breaks,' she added.
The post stirred up a reaction online, with some Brits denying the claims. One joked, 'Scottish person here. Nobody in England drinks water cause it's polluted c***. Scottish water is all pure glacial water and we drink it by the gallon daily.' Another wrote, 'Haha the bus driver is trolling you. That's not true.'
