9 Culture Shocks That Slapped Me In The Face While Living Abroad

What Guidebooks Never Warn You About and Why Being Prepared Still Won’t Save You

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Image Created by the Author and Dall-E

Have you ever walked into a bakery in Eastern Europe and accidentally ordered a brick?

I have.

It was called “bread.”

Apparently, chewing through drywall in the shape of a football is a local delicacy.

I thought I was prepared for culture shock.

After all, I’d lived in Ukraine for nearly two decades, wandered through mountain towns in northern Spain, gotten lost in the streets of Tbilisi, and even survived the French attitude toward customer service in Paris.

I spoke some Russian, some French, some Spanish. I wasn’t new to this.

But then came the pizza with mayonnaise.

Not just a drizzle. A Jackson Pollock masterpiece of eggy white goo right on top of what should have been a pepperoni slice.

That’s when I realized something.

No language, no Lonely Planet guide, and certainly no YouTube influencer with a drone and…