Whenever travelling or temporarily living in another country people are sure to face a bit of culture shock. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but mostly, it’s just a bit weird or inconvenient.

Culture shock happens when an individual leaves the comfort of their home and goes to a foreign location. It happens because of an individual's unfamiliarity with local customs, language, and acceptable behavior.

For example, in the USA, it’s not necessary to drink bottled or filtered water. When Martha was visiting Asia she said, “I was drinking water from the tap when one of my friends freaked out on me.” Her friend then explained that Martha should drink bottled water or filtered water. “Where I’m from, our water is clean and we just open the tap and drink,” said Martha. Of course, some Americans like bottled or filtered water, but it’s a choice, not a necessity.

European and Asian cultures both have a different take on dining out. In both of these cultures, dining out with friends can take a long time. “Americans are always on the move. We don’t mind a nice relaxed meal with friends occasionally, but most of the time we want to move on to our next task of the day,” says Joseph Barley, CEO. “Especially at lunch,” he continues, “it’s less than an hour, unless we combine it with a business meeting.”

In France it is not unusual to have a two hour lunch, and in some Asian countries company dinners can take as long as three hours.

Using the bathroom can also be problematic in some places. In the UK, you have to pay to use public toilets—even at McDonald’s! Imagine having a “personal emergency” and no coins in your pocket! Where will you go to “do your business?”

In some Asian countries, public bathrooms don’t provide toilet paper, and often only have squat-toilets—which are small toilets that are built into the floor that you squat over. Troy Akney described his personal situation: “When I first used the public restroom, I couldn’t figure out how to squat without taking my pants off. Then, after I finished my business, I realized there was no toilet paper! I was trying to figure out what to do when my good friend decided he should come check on me.”

Both Europeans and Asians judge personal space differently than Americans. Americans prefer a little more than arms length between them and the other person when standing face-to-face and don’t prefer walking shoulder-to-shoulder in markets.

As a final example, Americans expect waiters to check on them often and to keep their water glasses full. European waiters, however, feel this is an intrusion of people’s social time together. So don’t think it rude if, in the USA, your waiter keeps interrupting you, they are just trying to provide you with good service.