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Reply to "I'm living abroad in the UK and I hate it."
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It truly amazes me how many people who have NEVER lived in a place feel qualified to weigh in and claim there are absolutely NO cultural differences and blame it all on the OP. That's a dead giveaway for someone who has really not stepped out of their comfort zone much in life. Or who is extremely socially dense and unaware [/quote] Exactly. When I first started traveling and living abroad, I was sooo open to the experience. All the differences were fascinating and beautiful. Now, I just want my American-sized large coffee at an American price. I want air conditioning (and I want Europe to stop pretending it doesn't get hot in the summer. IT HAPPENS EVERY SUMMER.) I want appliances that aren't built for a single person. I want people to shower every day. Now that I'm indisputably well traveled, I am more American than I've ever been. [/quote] Yes, you are going through perfectly normal culture shock. Honeymoon period is over and everything is irritating! When I lived in France, a friend and I hit this stage and we made a long, ridiculous list of everything we hated. It was very therapeutic! We had a total American experience where we just cranked about the expense, the smell, the rude people, the tiny coffee, the fish on pizza (?? what France!?), it went on and on. But we also could make even longer lists of everything we loved and the people were actually all very lovely. We just had that cranky period of pure hate :-D I'm sure expats living in the US get it too. I would love to see their lists of what they hate about us! :-D[/quote] I think this happens to people who move abroad with the America sucks , Europe isi a utopia attitude. [b]It's shocking when you learn they are also human and won't instantly dall in love with you because you are an open-minded American[/b].[/quote] That's exactly what it is. I actually find the "I'm a special American that hates other Americans so the British will love me" attitude to be the most condescending at all. And when I lived in France in college, I was the only one in our group that truly became good friends with a bunch of French people. They liked me because I always defended America and I didn't do the "Oh, I know, America is so awful" routine (which is actually fairly smug and superior). They said I "wasn't like most Americans" and I think that's because so many Americans who live abroad try to suck up to the locals by bashing their home country and it's pathetic and irritating and funnily does the exact opposite of what they're so desperate for. [/quote]
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