In 2009 I moved from Norway to Northern England, to a small city called Lancaster by the beautiful Lake District, about 1 hour north of Manchester, relatively close to the Scottish border.
My biggest culture shock? It’s hard to pinpoint one thing, so I’m going to cheat and name a few.
First thing I found surprising was that the houses look exactly like I had seen on British TV-shows. Victorian houses, I believe. Small brick houses, with narrow hallways and a small yard/garden. Very charming.
A big culture shock was the abundance of so-called chavs. They are everywhere, especially up North. These are young British people, typically lower class, who wear tracksuits, and get children in their teens. They are also easily agitated. I had seen those on Little Britain, but I had never expected them to be so prevalent.
Then there is the lad culture. Binge drinking, 15-hour bar crawls, and masculine insecurity. I was first introduced to this when I was walking on the university campus, and this big rugby lad came up to me, on a dare I think, and asked me if I liked bum. I know bum as a noun means ass. But I didn’t know what bum as a verb meant. I asked him what that was, to which he laughed and walked away. Apparently it means anal sex.
The pub culture was shocking. I love it though, and it’s probably one of the things I miss the most about the UK. But, there are adults getting drunk in the pub with their children. There are also certain pubs where you’ll find both young and old people partying together. And these old people dress as equally scantily as the young ones. It’s disturbing and fascinating at the same time.
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