An American woman who returned to the United States after living in Australia for six years has described the biggest culture shocks since her return.
Creator Tay took to TikTok to share a series of videos detailing the “reverse culture shocks” she’s experienced since returning to her home country.
The first thing he noticed was when he was out in public and noticed how loud some people talk, and he uploaded a short clip in which you can very clearly hear a woman talking about her lost Tesla key.
In another video, Tay listed a few other things that have shocked her since returning home, noticing the huge sizes of packaged food while walking through a supermarket.
“Everything is giant or family size,” Tay said, as she walked around Target showing off boxes of cereal, all extremely large.
An American woman who returned to the United States after living in Australia for six years described the biggest culture shocks since her return.
‘Do they make anything normal size?’ he asked in disbelief. “It’s all a bit of reverse culture shock.”
Tay noted that before living in Australia, large foods seemed normal to him.
“Then after being away for so long, I was like wow,” he admitted. “It’s like a reverse culture shock.”
Other showed a sign which said, “No firearms allowed on the premises,” and the American exclaimed, “Why do you bring a firearm to dinner?”
Commenters weighed in with his observations, and many Americans who returned from living abroad agreed with his videos.
“This still affects me seriously and I’ve been living in the United States for almost three years,” one exclaimed.
‘Yes, I’m American too and lived in Australia for eight years! The huge sacks of grain are crazy,” agreed another.
‘I worked in an Australian call center. There was a New Yorker, you could hear him clearly from the other side of the building, 30 meters away,” one user joked.
Creator Tay shared a series of videos featuring the reverse culture shocks she’s experienced since returning to her home country.
Commentators weighed in with her observations, and many Americans who returned from living abroad agreed with her.
Others said they find Australians just as loud.
‘What part of Australia did you live in? I feel like people in Sydney have the same volume as Americans lol so I’m confused,’ one user commented.
Tay often documents his observations and things he wishes he had known before moving from the United States to Australia.
In a video, he shared some words of wisdom, starting with knowing that an iced coffee in Australia often comes with ice cream.
“Better have an iced latte,” he advised. “If you just want ice and coffee, get a long black.”
The second was lemonade, which Tay says is Sprite.
“If you ask for lemonade, they’ll give you Sprite,” he shared.
The next meal concerned the chicken burger, which the American says is a chicken sandwich in Australia.
Others were related to edibles, such as arugula known as arugula and peppers as capsicum, melons as rock melon, and shrimp as prawns.
Even the vehicles have different names, and Tay points out that, while pickup trucks are called utes in Australia.