The modern world is a world of movement and people are constantly moving from one country to another. Clearly dissatisfaction with one’s life causes this migration as they desperately try to find a higher quality of life, freedom, and security in developed countries.
Unfortunately even nowadays, the standard of living in the developed and so-called third world countries is incomparable. What people in the US or UK, for instance, take for granted sometimes seems like a real miracle to migrants.
There is a Reddit thread where people are trying to find out what was the biggest surprise or even shock for newcomers after moving into a developed country. The thread has amassed around 61.7K upvotes and over 21K comments so far, so the topic seems to be more than interesting.
Bored Panda made a curated list with the most impressive and sometimes unexpected revelations. So please scroll to the end, watch and share your comments. Who knows, maybe your story, or the story of someone you know, would become just as popular.
More info: Reddit
#1 Snow And Ice In Canada
So I knew this guy who used to live in the middle of nowhere in Africa. For unknown reasons his family moved to Montreal, Canada when he was a teenager. I met him in highschool.
Everyday he’d bring a glass of water and sit by the window and all he would do is watch the glass of water throughout the whole course.
Eventually my friends and I started noticing so we went up to him and asked him about the glass of water and the open window.
He looked at us with big round eyes and told us “I’ve heard that if you leave water next to the window and it gets cold enough outside… The water turns INTO ICE!”
We all had a laugh and everyday came for an update on his water cup. Eventually winter did arrive. The teachers let us keep our winter coat in the classroom so that he could leave his glass of water next to the open window. Surely enough after a little while ice was starting to appear on top of the water.
He was so happy.
Image credits: Error_404s
#2 The Postal System
The postal system. The logistics of delivering millions of letters to millions of homes on a daily basis is astonishing. Especially at that price. The idea that I can send a letter across the country and have it reliably delivered the next or possibly even same day is truly impressive.
Image credits: FreshPrinceOfH
#3 Multilingual People
Atash wrote:
When I first came to The Netherlands, I took the train from Schiphol Airport to Rotterdam. As I was sitting in the train, wondering how a country could be so flat, a guy, that looked like an obvious beggar, approached me and told me something in Dutch. I told him in English that I do not speak Dutch. Without hesitation, the guy proceeded to beg in fluent English. That was such a cultural shock…
Even after all these years in The Netherlands, I can not speak Dutch all that well, not for lack of trying but because Dutch people absolutely have no problem switching to English instantly the moment they realize I am not a native speaker.
ifeardolphins18 answered:
To be fair the Netherlands has a higher literacy rate in English than most English speaking countries. A Dutch friend told me that if you’re under the age of 40 and can’t speak English you’re basically shamed for it.
Image credits: Atash
#4 4-Way Stops
My wife’s first time in the U.S she burst out laughing at how a 4-way stop worked, and just couldn’t believe people actually followed the rules.
Image credits: 0m3gaMan5513
#5 Garbage Truck With A Motorised Arm
LazerMoonCentaur wrote:
A Tsongan African man who was staying with me came rushing in the first week he was staying me and woke me up. He was extremely excited that there was a garbage truck with a motorised arm and was picking up the wheely bins as it went down the street “Have you seen this! Have you seen this!” He kept exclaiming over and over again, “Amazing, amazing!” It made me laugh very hard, but he was a lovely guy.
XandelSA answered:
South African here. The thought of a garbage truck with a motorised arm literally blows my mind. There’s absolutely no rules here that state where our bins should be placed which I imagine is the foundation you need before you can have a truck pick em up by itself.
Image credits: LazerMoonCentaur
#6 Free Protest Culture
You can speak up against the government without being threatened or kidnapped
Image credits: glyraed
#7 Houses Without Walls Around Them
I visited my cousins in the U.S once. I was suprised that your houses don’t have walls around them. There were only those fences at the side and back that pretty much anyone can jump over. Where I live the only houses who dont have walls surrounding them are those in compounds or subdivisions that have roaming security guards. Paid security guards not volunteers like the neighborhood watch kind of thing
edit: To the people asking I’m from the Philippines but its n̶i̶c̶e̶ interesting to see that other countries carry this t̶r̶a̶d̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ practice.
edit: Not really a wealthy family but not really a from dangerous neighborhood. It pretty standard here to have at least a 2 meter tall concrete walls if you have middle income but those poor ones just settle with barbed wire
Image credits: Cypher007
#8 Grocery Stores Full Of Different Food
ziggyjoe212 wrote:
Giant grocery stores are full of food and always fully stocked.
Coming from Ukraine to USA in the 90’s, my entire family’s jaws dropped for hours.
polishfurseatingass answered:
Hah, my dad’s from Munich and my mom’s from Kraków and the stories about their childhoods are sometimes so different because of that.
Like my mom will tell you how oranges were a delicacy that you only had for special occassions while my dad will be like “oh when we were bored we used to throw them at each other for fun”.
Image credits: ziggyjoe212
#9 People Sometimes Don’t Lock Their Doors
That people here (Ireland) don’t lock their door when they leave and have no security bars on their (multiple) windows.
The general sense of safety and the fact that I could walk home alone at 4AM and still be safe, if a bit nervous.
Image credits: desert_coffin
#10 Great Public Infrastructure
The quality of the public infrastructure, and how respectfull city planning is with pedestrians. Sydney is full of beautifull little gifts in the shape of shortcuts, stairs, parks, pathways. Everywhere.
It truly is a joy to just walk through the city.
Also, dogs are more polite that people where I come from.
Image credits: Ferna_89
#11 People Are Way More Informal In Communication
That people don’t care at all with the clothes or my overall appearance (weight, hair, etc).
In Brazil I always get comments (good or bad) about how I look. Mainly from friends or family but it’s common to always talk about it.
When I moved to Australia I made friends, and never got a comment about any of these things. It was a big relieve to find out that I can be myself and not worry about the tons of comments about something that doesn’t matter at all.. 🙂
Image credits: jessalves
#12 No Sound Of Gunshots In The Evenings
My grandmother came to the U.S. from El Salvador during the 80s ( bad times) and she said she couldn’t get over the fact that hearing tons of guns firing at night like fireworks wasn’t normal, and how peaceful it was to have quiet at night.
Image credits: Kileli
#13 Domestic Dogs
My god parents adopted two girls from Ethiopia.
They were straight terrified of any bodies dogs. Anybodies.
In their home town, kids were regularly attacked and killed by wild/street dogs.
Image credits: Christopher135MPS
#14 City Lights
The lights. So many lights from street lamps, traffic lights, huge buildings lit up all night. Oh and the highways blew my mind. They were so wide and full of so many cars.
I was 6 and I’ll never forget that first drive from the airport to my new home in December. It was also my first time seeing snow.
Image credits: [deleted]
#15 Being A Girl, You Can Live Alone
naimza18 wrote:
Being a girl, you can live alone.
gordonjames62 answered:
I have a daughter living in Toronto, Canada, and another living in Halifax Canada. They would never worry about physical safety or being robbed.
Then my oldest went to work with street kids in Bogata Colombia. It took her a long time to fully understand why people got upset with her wanting to go out for walks at night.
Image credits: naimza18
#16 Toilet Paper
Toilet paper. Toilet paper everywhere. You don’t have to bring your own to a public restroom because there’s one in every stall here in America, and it’s free.
Image credits: [deleted]
#17 The Quantity And Great State Of Old Buildings
roses10111 replied:
How old the houses are. I was expecting modern construction like in my country, buy instead saw old buildings which, ironically, valued more than even the more modern ones
collegiaal25 commented:
Old buildings are often closer to the city center, so it’s also location. Plus they may have historical value.
Image credits: roses10111
#18 Really Fast Ambulance
My roomate’s coworker is from Guatemala. He says the one of the best things about the US is that when you call for an ambulance, one actually shows up even if you aren’t rich or important.
Image credits: [deleted]
#19 Clean Water
randomBlackbox_ answered:
drinking water directly from water taps
gnarley_quinn commented:
I tried to explain this to my kids. They had trouble understanding where water comes from before it arrived at the two.
Image credits: randomBlackbox_
#20 Being Able To Walk Around The City While Using Phone
Being able to walk around the city while using my phone.
If I use it where I live, I get murdered, raped or kidnapped over a phone.
Honduran 🙂
Image credits: ihateuusername
#21 Cables Underneath The Roads
Cables underneath the roads and not hanging everywhere
Image credits: [deleted]
#22 Buses Always Arrive In Time
Busses arrive on time and the estimated time remaining for arrival is displayed at each bus station. Also, THERE IS A FIXED BUS STATION
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Image credits: woahwhatisgoinonhere
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