8 Quirks I Never Knew Were Totally American Until I Left The U.S.

You Don’t Know You’re American… Until You Leave

From Big Gulps and Bathroom Stalls to Ancestry Claims, Living Abroad Revealed Just How American I Really Am

It happened in a café bathroom in Montpellier. I was staring at the stall door, completely shut, sealed tighter than a Soviet-era border. 

No ankle peep show. No awkward eye contact with the poor soul outside waiting to use it next. Just full, uninterrupted dignity.

And that’s when it hit me.

This wasn’t just a nice bathroom. This was a cultural awakening.

See, I had lived over two decades in the U.S. without questioning why our bathroom stalls are basically designed like confession booths.

Until I spent time living in France, Albania, Georgia, and Ukraine, I honestly thought that was normal.

Like tipping 20 percent no matter how bad your burger was.

Calling yourself “Irish” without owning a passport or knowing where Cork is on a map.

Saying you’re “Italian” while calling mozzarella, muzzadell, manigot for manicotti and gabagool for capicola…

Or finally, being born in the USA, calling yourself Mexican and everyone else “Gringo”, when in all irony, Mexicans from Mexico call anyone north of the border “Gringo” including Mexican-Americans…

But once you leave the States, even just for a few weeks in places like Romania, Ireland, Italy or Mexico, you start to notice things. 

Subtle and strange things. 

Things that seem so perfectly reasonable back home, but suddenly feel absurd when viewed from a sidewalk café in Timișoara or Brescia.

This isn’t one of those rants about how “everything is better in Europe.”

Trust me, I’ve stepped in my fair share of Balkan street puddles that could swallow a goat. 

But the longer I lived abroad, from Ukraine to Albania, the more I realized how much of what I thought was just the way the world works was actually just… American.

So if you’ve ever wondered whether the rest of the planet is quietly judging us for our red Solo cup nostalgia, giant “Big Gulp” sodas, or obsession with personal space, keep reading.

Here are 8 things I didn’t realize were totally, unmistakably American… until I left.

1. Giant Drink Sizes and Our Ice Addiction

I ordered a Coke in a café in Tbilisi once and got what looked like a shot glass of cola with precisely two ice cubes, each the size of a kidney stone.

That’s when it hit me,

“Americans don’t drink beverages, we host Ice Capades in our Big Gulps.”

In the U.S., we fill the cup with ice and then drizzle some drink on top, like the soda’s just there to keep the ice company.

Abroad, people want flavor, not frostbite.

When I asked for more ice in Kyiv, the bartender looked at me like I had just asked for his grandmother’s meager pension.

What to remember: If you’re headed abroad, adjust your ice expectations.

You’re not being stiffed. You’re just not in Kansas anymore.

2. Elbow Room: The American Love Affair with Personal Space

In Spain, standing in line feels like an exercise in synchronized breathing.

If there’s more than six inches between you and the person in front of you, someone will assume you’re lost or about to faint.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., we treat space like property. 

I once moved slightly closer in a grocery store queue in Ireland and immediately felt I had broken some invisible intimacy barrier.

The man turned and looked at me the way I looked at Ukrainians putting mayonnaise on pizza, suspicious, confused, deeply offended.

What to remember: Outside the U.S., standing close doesn’t mean aggression.

It just means you’re in line… like everyone else.

3. Dorm Life and Red Solo Cups: Hollywood Lied to Us

I brought up “dorm life” to a friend in France and he blinked like I had said “fraternity paddle.”

Dorm culture? Frats and Sororities? Keg parties? 

Most students there either live at home or rent a flat with a few friends, although there are Student Housing options similar to our “Dorms”, but they’re nowhere near the same.

I mean no RAs, no hallway dramas, and definitely no themed keg parties with neon togas and beer pongs, let alone fraternities and hazing.

You mention “red Solo cups” abroad and you’ll get one of two reactions.

Either confusion or a bad memory of an American party gone wrong.

What to remember: College life outside the U.S. is more about classes and less about competitive drinking games.

Crazy, I know.

4. Bathroom Stalls with Gaps: Why Are We OK With This?

France. A public bathroom. A door that shut completely. I felt like I was in a hotel suite.

Total privacy.

No eye contact. No peekaboo gap that gives strangers a clear view of your socks, shoes, and existential crisis.

In the U.S., it’s like stall doors were designed by someone who hates boundaries.

For a country that loves its “personal space”, I’ll never understand how we got so advanced with technology and yet can’t manage to fully enclose a toilet.

What to remember: The next time you’re in a fully sealed stall abroad, take a moment and appreciate the dignity. It’s earned.

5. Flags, Flags Everywhere

In America, you’ll find the flag on T-shirts, bikinis, truck decals, and yes, even beer cans.

I once counted six flags on one suburban street before I even reached the mailbox. I never really took note of our flag obsession phenomenon until I had guests over staying with me from France for a month.

Contrast that with a street in Spain or France. Flags come out on national holidays, official events, and maybe the odd soccer match. That’s it.

Patriotism exists, but it’s less… merchandised.

I remember flag days from school, so it’s ingrained in us early in life.

What to remember: The stars and stripes might fly high at home, but abroad, less is usually more when it comes to national branding.

6. Pharmaceutical Ads on TV: Only in America (and New Zealand…)

I was watching TV at a friend’s place in France and commented that there were hardly any drug commercials.

He looked puzzled and said, “Why would you advertise medicine like a bag of chips?”

Back in the U.S., you can’t go five minutes without hearing about a drug whose side effects include: 

• Spontaneous blindness.
• Headache.
• Dry mouth.
• Liver damage.
• Gambling addiction, cheating on your spouse.

Or possible death, while a man flies a kite with his golden retriever in slow motion.

What to remember: If you’re abroad and not being pitched pills every seven minutes, don’t worry.

You’re not missing out. You’re detoxing.

7. Tipping Culture: A Constant Math Test

You ever try explaining 20 percent tipping culture to someone in France or Germany?

They’ll stare at you like you just suggested paying extra for the air you breathed during dinner.

I once tipped a waiter in Kyiv and he ran after me thinking I had overpaid by mistake.

In many countries, service staff are paid a living wage and tipping is a small rounding up way of saying an extra “thank you”.

It’s not a compulsory math quiz disguised as a morality test.

What to remember: Check local norms before leaving a tip.

Sometimes your generosity might just confuse the hell out of someone.

8. Calling Ourselves “Irish” or “Italian” Without Ever Leaving Connecticut

Only in America can someone say “I’m Italian, Scottish, Irish or German” while never having stepped foot outside the continental U.S.

I’ve heard this claim more times than I’ve heard “free refills,” and trust me, that’s saying something.

In places like Albania, France or Poland, if you tell someone you’re Irish or Italian, they expect you to be from Ireland or Italy.

Not third-generation New Haven, Connecticut.

A friend of mine in France once said, “Why do Americans always say they’re from somewhere else?”

What to remember: When you’re abroad, you’re American. Own it.

The rest is ancestry.com content.

What I Realized Once I Left

The more I traveled, the more I realized how much of my identity was shaped by things I assumed were just “the way it is.”

Turns out, what we call “normal” in America often feels like quirky folklore nostalgia or an inside joke the rest of the world was never let in on.

From toilet stall designs to drink sizes to the strange pride we take in claiming a country we’ve never visited, stepping outside the U.S. offers a mirror you didn’t know you needed.

What about you?

What “totally American” habit or belief did you only notice once you left the States?