The light-hearted rivalry between the UK and the US has always been strong, with people regularly claiming that their side of the Atlantic is superior – now a Californian who has lived in Britain for years has opened up about the differences they still face. always finds idiosyncratic.
Andrea Celestefrom LA, highlighted the stark contrast between everyday life in Britain and the US in a recent TikTok video she shared with her 186,000 followers and which is part of her series ‘Things that are socially accepted in England’, which Americans would confuse’.
Titled ‘The third always gets my friends in England’the 43-second clip has been viewed almost half a million times.
Andrea speaks directly to the camera in the clip, holding a cup of tea and explaining how the two countries’ approaches to milk are vastly different.
She says, “You probably won’t see many people drinking a straight glass of milk in England,” but that “in America, people do this all the time with almost every meal, not just cookies.”
The 43-second clip entitled ‘The Third One Always Get My Friends in England’ has been viewed just under a million times and is part of her series ‘Things that are socially acceptable in England that would confuse Americans’.
Andrea wears a gray T-shirt and speaks directly into the camera while holding a cup of tea (pictured). The influencer, whose videos regularly receive more than 500,000 views, then explained that approaches to milk differ greatly between the two countries.
However, many will find another point that makes the content creator more shocking, a point that concerns shopping and the products you can find in stores. According to Andrea, “pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens in the US sell almost anything you can get in a supermarket, including alcohol!”
She exclaims, “You don’t go to a pharmacy to get alcohol in England,” and seems shocked as she says, “The only thing they usually sell in a pharmacy in England is make-up, medicine and some food and some body care products .’
Another difference highlighted by Andrea is the noticeably duller patriotism perceived by many Britons.
“Schools in England don’t do anything like the Pledge of Allegiance that they would do in schools in America,” she says by way of illustration.
The expat continues: ‘Generally patriotism is not as intense as in America, so you won’t see many English flags in front of people’s houses as you would with American flags.’
Another interesting addition to Andrea’s list is the popular topic of identity.
“In America, it’s very common for Americans to identify as their heritage rather than their nationality,” she tells the camera. ‘In England I noticed that it is more common for people to identify with the country they were born in, regardless of their origin.’
Shockingly, the content creator revealed that “in the US, pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens sell almost everything you can get in a supermarket, including alcohol!”
‘In England you don’t go to a pharmacy to get alcohol’ and seemed shocked as she said: ‘The only thing they usually sell in a pharmacy in England is make-up, medicine and some food and some body care stuff’
The video follows previous episodes of the content creator’s popular series about cultural differences. In another video highlighting more of the differences, she talked about how Brits seem to have a very different view of camping than Americans.
‘“Camping in England usually doesn’t mean going to a forest or a campsite like in the US, but usually pitching a tent at a campsite in a field,” she says. ‘And instead of huge campers you see campers or caravans.
‘You may see campers, but they are not called campers. From what I understand, I think they’re called campers.’
And on another point, this one being about drinks, the California native explains to fans: “Iced tea is not a thing in England. In the US, iced tea and sweet tea are very popular.
“I think you can get passion fruit iced tea and different kinds of iced tea at Starbucks in England, but generally it’s not that common.”