American woman shares the cultural shocks she experienced after moving to Spain

Moving to a different country can be a thrilling adventure. However, it also comes with its fair share of cultural shocks. Such cultural differences can be both exhilarating and challenging to navigate, shaping an individual's experience profoundly. Katie Boggs—who goes by @katieboggs_ on TikTok—shared a deeply insightful video where she showcased many of the cultural shocks that she went through at the grocery store after moving to Spain from the United States. Her video has received over 38K views and 81 comments on the platform till now. The creator begins the video by pointing her camera at the eggs with a text overlay that reads, "Eggs not being refrigerated."

The video cuts to reveal some kind of seafood that customers could take and pack themselves. Boggs has no idea what this is and moves on to cover even weirder things about grocery stores in Spain. She shares how animal meat is sold with their hooves, which is considered very unconventional in the United States. The woman is a bit appalled to see the kind of meat sold and looks into the camera with a bewildered expression. After this, she shares how grocery stores in Spain contain a very elaborate and delicious-looking pastry section, which unfortunately looks mostly empty because she is late.

Boggs also reveals how bread at most stores is not "insanely processed," looking very organic and delicious. The short clip concludes with her pointing out how most of the shops in Spain closed for Siesta, which is when shops throughout the country closed in the middle of the day. People found all these observations very intriguing and shared their thoughts in the comment section. @hannahbeth_99 shared, "Oh my gosh, in Athens, pharmacies were only open like the most random 4-5 hours a day and they wouldn't provide actual business hours. I almost died."

Boggs decided to post a follow-up video where she revealed even more cultural shocks that she had when she moved to Spain. Boggs starts the video by talking about how the biggest culture shock for her is getting used to the eating schedule in the country. She states, "Here in the United States, I am used to eating dinner at around 5 or 5:30, right after work." However, in Spain, she had a meal after work for lunch and only had dinner much later, at 9 PM. Another thing that got her attention is that many people were completely okay with leaving their dogs alone in public while they went around doing something else.

Boggs finally talks about how the country places importance on social interaction. She says, "You go to a coffee shop here or cafeteria and people are sitting there and talking to each other. And they're not on their laptops and they're enjoying their meal." She expresses that such a thing will never happen in the United States, discussing how most people sitting in cafes would be glued to screens. Viewers found these unique cultural aspects interesting and shared their opinions in the comment section. @santhemoe commented, "I always eat dinner at around 10 PM. Everyone thinks I'm weird for that. I need to move to Spain."

You can follow Katie Boggs (@katieboggs) on her TikTok page for more amazing insights about Spain.