Anytime anyone moves from a small town to L.A., things are going to seem strange; trust me, I live in this goofball city.
But a move from NORWAY to Los Angeles is even more of a culture shock and that’s just what hit @eirunneba, a Norwegian who moved to the City of Angeles, square in the face. Fortunately, she made a TikTok about it and it quickly went viral.
So what did she find weird? Let’s review:
First up, duvet covers! Aka, comforters
Here’s my current list of weird things in America from a European perspective. Number one, no duvet inside duvet cover. This one definitely annoys me the most. First, I thought it was a thing in like, just movies. They’ll just be sleeping with a duvet with no duvet cover. Like, how do you wash it? I’m so confused. I have so many questions. And it looks so silly.
What’s next? University courses.
The fact that I could pick my own classes at a university level for my bachelor’s degree. That doesn’t sit right with me. Does that mean that everyone that has, let’s say a business bachelor has different classes that went into that bachelor’s degree. So when you hire someone, how are we supposed to know that they did the correct classes? I’m so confused.
As an east coast transplant, I can firmly say: L.A. does not honk. Not really.
Third one, honking. People hear honk all the time, huh? That’s kind of annoying. Like honking is meant for, emergencies actually emergencies. You know, like you having a bad day and having road rage, no, not emergency.
Holiday prep time…
Next, how early stores prepare for holidays. It should be illegal to prepare for Christmas in October. January 1, oh, Valentine’s Day. Do you want to chill for a second?
Do we still use checks? I mean, do we?
Next, the fact that you guys still use checks? Yeah, what’s up with that? The first time I got a check I got it for my school because of some class. I was like, I pay with card like, what do I do? And she’s like, “Oh, just go to the bank and cash it.”
Oh, so to get the money that you guys owe me I have to open a bank account. Not only is that so old school, like kind of vintage. Also it’s super inconvenient. And I feel America is all about things being very convenient. Like you guys have drive through everything at this point.
Apparently we use letters wrong?
Um, these are the three last letters in the Norwegian alphabet. And you guys keep using them as like a fun little cute letter. No.
Not only do so many Americans use the three last letters of Norwegian alphabet as like a fun, cute little letter like I’ve been seeing people’s usernames, songs, even like brands and artists names. And they think it’s just a silly, little, cute. Do you guys realize that that in my language, that’s actually a letter.
Packing groceries
People that pack your grocery bags at the store. Actually, I love this, but it’s still kind of weird. Like where I’m from once you buy and purchase the products, they’re yours to deal with, like, no one’s packing that up, you know? So at first it kind of like threw me off, but I do honestly love.
Credit Scores
Next, credit score. So this is a weird one. In Norway, we don’t have credit scores, there’s no like, number that can determine everything. Thank God, you know. It seems kind of off to me that you can have a lot of money, but still not be able to take out a loan or mortgage or whatever it is.
We all knew this one was coming.
Next, taxes. There’s so much I can say about like the whole industry of someone else having to file your taxes because it is actually that hard. But meanwhile, the government knows all along how much you owe. What I mean is weird is the fact that you don’t know how much something’s going to cost you until you check out. I feel like I should have the right to know how much I’m paying.
School Rules
Detention and school dress code. I only went to college and university here and I don’t think we had like a dress code or like detention, but I remember seeing that on Disney Channel. I always thought it was so weird that you can not behave and then you get punished. System of punishment is not really a thing in Norway, nor do I want it to be.
Tampons
Okay, next tampons with an applicator. This seriously blew my mind and annoyed me so much when I first moved here. Now that I’m like used to it, I don’t really mind. I mean, we all kind of prefer what we’re used to. So I’m used to tampons that come like this. And in America, the most common thing is to have like this whole applicator attached, cute, convenient, but like a lot of plastic waste
Shoes off
I’m really passionate about shoes inside. I thought this was just a thing on Disney Channel growing up. They would walk through the door and not take their shoes off. And jump on the bed with shoes. Just be lounging on the couch with shoes. That is not very common, at least in Scandinavia. If I walked through the door, more than like, one meter, my mom will be like, “Take your shoes off immediately.”
Push vs. Pull
Push versus pull. I don’t know the difference. I do. Like if you quiz me, I’ll probably get it right. But in the moment, like the split second of time when I’m opening the door my brain isn’t working. Two words are way too similar. Are you saying pull towards me? Pull forward, push towards me?
They take your credit card
Paying at a restaurant and they take your card. The first time this happened to me. I was just like, “Is this safe? Am I being scammed?” Like you fully give your card away to the waiter and I’m there’s nothing hindering him from splurging.
??? We have safe water.
Tap water. This is probably just like an adjustment thing. I mean, all of these are, but being from Norway, I was very used to having safe clean water as my spring water.