An American woman living in Britain has revealed what has surprised her most since moving abroad.
Originally from California, Andrea Celeste has built a loyal following of 193,000 followers on TikTok thanks to her popular content comparing and contrasting the two cultures.
She recently opened up about the things that shocked her the most, including her thoughts on the English accent.
Dozens of viewers then flocked to share their own perceptions of the key differences between the countries.
Andrea Celeste, originally from California, has revealed what has surprised her most since moving abroad
She has built a loyal following of 193,000 followers on TikTok thanks to her popular content comparing and contrasting the two cultures
In the clip, which has been viewed 417,000 times so far, Andrea wasted little time as she launched straight into her list: ‘One of the biggest culture shocks I had when I moved from California to England was how small everything was, like highways , houses, cars .
“Everything just felt a lot smaller, which isn’t surprising, coming from a place with 10-lane highways and giant cars.”
She continued: ‘Also quite clear the accents, but I was actually more surprised at how many different English accents there were.
“I think in the US you grow up watching films shown in England, and 99 percent of the time they’re London or more neutral accents.
‘I actually went to North Yorkshire on my very first trip to England, so I got a big surprise when they didn’t all look like Tom Hiddleston.’
But Andrea didn’t stop there.
‘Lastly there is the way people dress. It really surprised me because it was slightly different from how people dress in California.
‘But you can definitely tell the difference, especially in the shoes, because wearing thin fabric shoes like Vans and Converse is not that common, due to the unpredictable rain, which I actually learned on the first day of college when I wore Toms , and she got absolutely soaked in the first 15 minutes I was out.”
She recently admitted that she had done things that had shocked her the most, including her thoughts on the English accent
In the clip, Andrea wasted little time as she began: ‘One of the biggest culture shocks I had when I moved from California to England was how small everything was, like highways, houses, cars’
She humorously referenced her soaked sneakers in her video caption, writing, “Learned the hard way in the third one,” with a laughing emoji.
Andrea’s video was quickly flooded with comments, with many people sharing their own observations.
One person wrote: ‘Everything smaller even though London is bigger than LA.’
Another commented: ‘Omg the size difference is huge!! One of my friends is American and their house has two guest bedrooms, a master bedroom AND TWO ENSUITE BATHROOMS, and apparently that’s AVERAGE?! Everything on one level.’
A third person added: ‘And I got culture shock because everything here in the States is so big compared to England.’
Someone else said: ‘Currently in America and it’s crazy how big everything is.’
Someone commented: ‘First time in the US as a British person. I was literally shocked at how big everything was.”
Other followers shared their thoughts on the accents and even Andrea’s change in accent during her time in Britain.
Dozens of viewers then flocked to give their own opinions on the key differences between the countries
One person commented: ‘”Didn’t sound like Tom Hiddleston”, yeah we’re more Sean Bean/Mark Addy here lol.’
A second person commented: ‘It’s crazy that you adopted the British accent lol.’
Another wrote: ‘I can literally hear a little bit of a British accent in you.’
A fourth person commented: ‘WAIT. I thought you moved here from the UK?!? Stunned.’
Some followers commented on the style differences.
One person wrote, “There’s no end to Vans and Converse this summer.”
Another person added: ‘As a Londoner, the Converse point was one of the first things I noticed when I went to New York! Converse, tote bags and gym clothes seemed popular.”
One person suggested: ‘Buy a waterproof shoe spray before wearing cloth shoes like Converse, makes a difference!!’