Brit woman braced for the ‘culture shock’ she’d always heard about in America — but what she experienced proved the opposite
Every country seems to carry its own set of stereotypes, whether accurate or wildly exaggerated. What a British woman named Alexandra (@exxxtrasalty) learned about life in America after moving to the country stunned her. She was ready to embrace the culture shock, but her experience completely caught her off guard. Sharing the instances in her Instagram video on December 1, 2025, Alexandra quipped about how different Americans are from people from the U.K.
Woman expressing her love for America. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Edgar Colomba)Alexandra was shocked to learn the difference in portion size in America compared to Europe. She pointed out that every meal served is "huge," and it surprised her. Although people often complain about the portion size, Alexandra found it amusing. "They really do not skimp on providing the most for you," she said. She also appreciated Americans for being kind to her. However, she was also confused about Americans' assumptions that every European knows each other. "Yeah, we've got a country with 75 million people, of course, we all know each other," she joked. She also noted that Americans find swearing wrong, as compared to Brits, who swear a lot.
She also found the satellite radio in America better at playing good songs, as compared to the one in Europe. However, she noticed that most Americans lacked knowledge of geography outside of the United States. She recalled a conversation with her cousin, who told her that American schools do not teach about other countries. Soon after her post went viral, many internet users chimed in to share their thoughts. @madilyn wrote, "Geography?? I go to high school here, and we do learn a lot about other countries. I literally have aced every map test I've ever had. I had the false narratives."
@Shaa mentioned, "America has many different cultures depending on the region, state, city, even neighborhood. Kind of hard to generalize since everything is so different. I learn so much even talking to friends from different states." @richardrogers81 remarked, "This is about 55% accurate. But I’m sure it all feels true." @carlam5870 admitted, "Every American, including me, swears like a sailor."
A report by Psychology Today noted that many people hold stereotypes about other nations. However, the report argues that people are more than one trait, noting that stereotyping all the people of one particular nation is inaccurate. "It is almost impossible to make even remotely accurate predictions about someone's personality traits based on their nationality unless you happen to be a complicated computer algorithm," the report read. While the TikTok user's video can be seen as a fun poke at the nation, it cannot be termed as a single identity attached to that country.
Alexandra's video reminds us of American wife Paige Wester, who wanted to prove to her British husband that Americans were not lazy. Throughout the day, she took her husband out to show how busy and productive daily life can be. However, things didn't go as planned, as there were multiple moments of convenience culture that Americans were accustomed to, which ultimately proved his point.
For more such fun and interesting videos, follow @exxxtrasalty on TikTok.
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