Have you ever traveled abroad and experienced something that shocked, delighted, or confused you? Well, Redditor u/AppleberryJames asked, "Europeans who’ve visited the US, what made you go 'WTF'?" Here are some of the responses.
1. "Free refills. I was confused when a waiter asked if I was drinking Pepsi, but I replied with a hesitant "yeah," while looking at my still half-full glass of soda. Then he took away my glass, leaving me even more confused, before returning seconds later with a clean, totally full glass of Pepsi."
2. "Complete strangers asking me how I'm doing."
3. "The obsession with putting ranch or Ketchup on everything."
4. "Raccoons stealing our bread overnight on a camping trip. The box was closed and we put weights on it, yet these clever little trash pandas found a way in and out."
5. "There's so much water in your toilet bowls...you could go for a swim in there."
6. "When I discovered Fruit Loops with marshmallows. I genuinely did not think it was possible to make Fruit Loops more unhealthy, but you guys did it. I love your work."
7. "The size and distance between everything. It still shocks me that driving from New York City to Cleveland takes twice as long as it takes to drive across my whole home country."
8. "The number of American flags flying. I was going to count the number of flags I saw during my two weeks in Florida, but I gave up on the ride from Miami Airport to South Beach."
9. "Just the general weird attitude about alcohol. I was carded to get into a bar in the US when I was 29 years old...meanwhile I'd been drinking in pubs in England for 13 years without having to show ID."
10. "Walmart. I went to buy a SIM card and some groceries, but I also discovered that I could also buy pet fish, car parts and shoes...all in one building?!?!"
11. "Learning that the extremely stereotypical accents you hear on comedy shows (Jewish mother, southerner with a very serious drawl, etc...) are actually real."
12. "The fact that in Europe, we have never thought of the concept of a drive-thru restaurant like Sonic. That blew my mind."
13. "Free water at every restaurant. I am from Italy, and back home water costs about €1.50 wherever you go out to eat."
14. "The portion sizes. A meal in a restaurant back home will usually leave me fairly full, but I felt as if I had to be rolled out of everywhere I ate in the US."
15. "Almost all food in the US tastes sweet, including bread."
16. "Grocery stores that stay open 24 hours per day, so you have no excuse if you forgot to buy milk. In the Netherlands, it's common for markets to close at 6pm and in many European countries, they don't even open on Sundays."
17. "I went to pay with a credit card in a restaurant and the waiter just took it and walked off."
18. "The Big Gulp cups that contain like, a whole liter of soda. And donuts for breakfast. I gain weight every time I go to America."
19. Roadside billboards scattered along the interstates in the South advertising things like Jesus, strippers, booze, and guns."
20. "TV commercial for prescription drugs. It's a a ridiculous concept that a patient should tell his doctor what medicine he should be prescribed... all based off of an advertisement by that medicine."
21. "I always thought the gap under bathroom stall doors was a myth, but I hardly had privacy for the five days I was in the US. How do you go to the bathroom when someone can basically look you in the eye?!"
22. "Jello salad. It was hands down the weirdest thing I have ever eaten."
23. "The fact that tipping is obligatory whether or not you get good service."
24. "The tennis ball-sized scoop of ice cream on top of the stack of pancakes I ordered that actually turned out to be butter."
25. "24/7 breakfast at McDonalds. America is officially better than Europe."
26. "Processed cheese. There are so many delicious cheeses that are actual cheese. Why eat the gross fake stuff?"
27. "Free and plentiful ice! Now that I'm back in Europe I miss complementary ice in hotels and ice in my water glass at restaurants."
28. "The yellow school buses. I couldn't believe they were actually a thing when I first went to the US."
29. "The darn prices not actually reflecting what I have to pay. When I go to a restaurant and order a meal that says $20 I want to pay $20... not $20 plus tax plus service."
30. "I was doing a home exchange in New Jersey from the UK and on the second day, a neighbor came to the door with an actual cherry pie to welcome us and invite us to dinner. It was really touching and sweet (and the pie was wonderful) but it was a huge confirmation of a stereotype."
