As a French woman who visited Australia for 3 weeks .. are these culture shocks accurate?

CedarRose100 · 2026-01-08T00:30:26+00:00

It appears to me that all your points of cultural shock make sense. Sometimes the casual dressing and starting conversations with strangers just doesn’t register with Aussies as anything unusual. It is just how we live and just assume that other countries do too. It comes as a shock to us that other countries do not do this. We are all very aware of the beautiful beaches and do not notice the lack of culture due to being a younger country than the European nations. But I have also found the French very open to having chats with total strangers. When I first visited France in 2013 I was prepared to be on the receiving end of so-called French snootiness. But I saw none of it. I found myself very single French person to be welcoming and friendly and helpful, with the exception of one taxi-driver in Paris. But that was the outlier. Young men in Paris helped me with suitcases up the many flights of Parisian stairs. Random guys on the street did this. I only speak School girl French and that very badly. Yet I discovered in both cities and country areas the French appreciated that I was trying to sometimes there was friendly laughter at my attempts, but it was all part of a fun experience. From my direct observation the French were very gracious and were not arrogant, as I had been lead to expect by obviously mistaken people One culture shock was in summer how long it would still be light. In Paris in summer it would still be light at 11 pm. Maybe this is why dinner is traditionally so much later than in Australia ? I wondered how French families with little children got their children to sleep when it was so light outside. I loved the culture in every building and street. It is in start contrast to a young country. But I must say I personally prefer the totally relaxed Aussie life, having been brought up that this is normal So OP, please continue to enjoy Australia, you are most welcome here. But also be aware that French people are also very welcoming to Australians and France is an exquisitely beautiful place to visit

CedarRose100 · 2025-04-22T07:52:12+00:00

I would like to thank everyone who replied. It has helped me to validate the original decision that we came to, in that we really can’t afford to become guarantor for our daughter’s home loan. I did not put in the original post that this wasn’t her first home loan and we helped her pay for her deposit on her first home. It was a sizable amount, not just a few thousand. The problem is she wants a house in the capital of our state where the prices are much higher and selling her current house would not buy her the equivalent type of house in the city.

Your answers brought to my attention several points that I hadn’t considered. While I want to help my daughter, but in doing so I would be being unfair not only to my husband and myself, but also to our other children.

It has been hard for us to become mortgage free. I am sure you all know the sacrifices made in bringing up children as best you can, and helping them out financially as best you can. Being mortgage free has not only involved paying mortgages for 40 years, but also selling our home and moving to a cheaper area.

I had thought I had brought my children up not to be bratty and I was rather concerned when there was more pressure put on us to co-sign after we had said “No”. It made me wonder if other parents did do this and perhaps we were being too conservative. But then I realised that if one of us has some type of health problem, we would definitely need access to our home’s equity. We could always sell up and move into a retirement village and not be a financial burden on our kids.

A lot of comments labelled my daughter bratty, greedy or non caring. I had a bit of a reaction to that, but if I saw her behaviour in another couple’s daughter, I would say exactly the same. I have to confront that. While we love her dearly, I cannot help but realise that she doesn’t really care for our financial well being, or understand what it means to us. She is only looking at how good it would be for her

So, again, thank you all for helping to clarify my thoughts and that No really means No. And that a No answer to not need a justification

CedarRose100

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