[ENF] Culture Shock

[Univee]

Ten years ago, the church my wife Susan and I attend hosted nine Swedish college students who were participants in an international student exchange program. One of these students, Anna, stayed with us and our eighteen year old son Kevin. Anna was a spirited, adventurous young woman who spoke competent, yet heavily accented English, whose goal was to become a teacher upon graduation and someday live in America. Our congregational family took the group to museums, ball games, water parks, and theatrical events, providing a real sampling of Americana.

During their three week visit, several days were unscheduled so the host families could spend individual time with their guest. A backyard cookout and some relaxed conversation in our hot tub would give Anna another taste of suburban American life. After dinner, Anna was told to come out to the deck when she was ready, then the rest of us changed into our swimwear and waited in the tub. Shortly thereafter, Anna walked out the patio door wearing her short bathrobe. She untied the belt, shrugging it off of her shoulders.

She was naked.

I was stunned -though not by this sudden, unexpected occurrence- but rather by her consummate natural beauty which was enhanced immeasurably by her naive innocence. Anna casually laid her robe on the bench as if in the privacy of her boudoir, then stepped carefully toward the tub where the rest of us sat speechless. Her light golden tan testified to days spent seaside during her homeland’s brief summer, and her long platinum hair matched perfectly her wispy private patch which was cropped so close it left absolutely nothing to anyone’s imagination.
With an anticipatory smile on her pure face, Anna put her feet into the tub, then slowly slid the remainder of her lean, toned, immaculate body into the water until her perfectly proportioned breasts became the final treasures to sink beneath the bubbly waves.
“Ohhhhh…….. this is soooo nice!” Anna purred, still clueless that she was alone in her nakedness.

The expression on Kevin’s face was priceless; for him, this was better than Christmas morning.
However, my wife kicked my shin, getting my attention, then mouthed the words: “SAY SOMETHING!” I took a moment to compose my thoughts, cleared my throat, then said:
“Anna, perhaps in Sweden it’s customary to hot tub nude, but here in America, at least in our family, we don’t.” Anna looked puzzled, then -I believe for the first time - noticed the thin straps supporting Susan’s top and surmised that the rest of us must be suited.

“Oh…..….I thought you did……….just like we do at home. I’ll go put my suit on right……” Anna started to rise before finishing her statement, causing Susan to interject:
“No, no, no! Please stay. Kevin, go upstairs and get Anna’s bathing suit for her would you?”
“AWWW…..… MOM!” Kevin protested. He was more than a little upset that his mother was being a killjoy.
“KEVIN, GO!” She commanded.
“Kevin, it’s in my blue suitcase.” Anna turned and shouted as he stomped into the house.
While we sat calmly awaiting Kevin’s return, it was obvious that Anna was embarrassed by her gaffe. At one point, she caught my eye, flashed a sheepish grin and whispered: “Oopsie!”
“That’s all right, no harm done." I whispered back, hoping to ease her discomfort. Kevin returned and handed Anna her lavender one piece which she squirmed in to -with considerable difficulty- without leaving the tub.

Once Anna was suited, we quickly laughed off that cross-cultural miscommunication as a valuable learning experience. Honestly, none of us even considered the possibility of such a thing happening. Life got back to normal and everybody was fine.
Everyone except Kevin.
He sat there steaming, slinging visual daggers at his mother who parried with practiced precision.
He got over it though. I’m sure he shared that episode with all of his buddies. Probably gave them all plenty of fantasy fodder.

[Elmdor]

So not customary to do anything naked in Sweden.

[Fearghail]

Nice story, but wrong place. To an expat living in Sweden, that story sounded like a total fantasy. Swedish girls definitely are more open towards nudity, but not in the way you might learn from American movies.

Btw. Swedes are not heavily accented. Swedish language is one of the closest cousins of English and their accent is nearly flawless.

[shirleyann]

Yeeah.. maybe one of the nice KIND moderators could move this to the FICTION thread?? Hmm? Think that'd be a good idea?

[Sonera]

Well, when I studied in eastern germany, in the late nineties, I heard a variant of this which I find entirely believable.

It was related by a local, who told about some girl he knew who had been to Australia to study. Of course, she went to the beach with some friends one day, and she was chatting happily with somebody as she (and the others) changed on the beach. She was so preoccupied she didnt think about what she was doing.

Then she realized everybody were staring at her, really shocked, and she wondered why... before realizing - she had changed like she did in Germany, by taking her clothes off, then putting her swimsuit on. Without using a towel to cover up.

[nudony]

Originally Posted by Sonera

Well, when I studied in eastern germany, in the late nineties, I heard a variant of this which I find entirely believable.

It was related by a local, who told about some girl he knew who had been to Australia to study. Of course, she went to the beach with some friends one day, and she was chatting happily with somebody as she (and the others) changed on the beach. She was so preoccupied she didnt think about what she was doing.

Then she realized everybody were staring at her, really shocked, and she wondered why... before realizing - she had changed like she did in Germany, by taking her clothes off, then putting her swimsuit on. Without using a towel to cover up.

A couple of actually real "culture shock" stories:

My old boss; or rather his wife, had signed them up to host on an exchange student program. One of the first students was from some European country; I forgot which one.
Shortly after she arrived, she just nonchalantly and comfortably walked from the bathroom to her bedroom completely naked one night. My boss was stunned. He asked her "WTF?"; and she immediately covered up and apologized, telling him that "back home", nudity at home a common thing. He replied that in America it wasn't.
That didn't stop him from getting a good look at her naked body. Being unhappily married himself, he went on to describe her beautiful naked body to me, and how much he actually had enjoyed it lol!

A friend of mine went to study in Germany for one year in a similar program. Her host-family invited her to go to the lake with her; so she was more than happy to grab her swimsuit and go along.
When they got to the lake she started seeing naked people. And before she knew it her host family had stripped completely naked. She felt "obligated" to leave her swimsuit in the bag and strip down naked with them; a first time being openly naked for her. She got used to it though, and subsequently actually became more comfortable being naked in front of other people; returning several times to the lake with them. This was in the heyday of the FKK, when nudism was widely practiced by many Germans.

These are first-hand accounts so I know them to be true.

[Brock Landers]

I can confirm that what Sonera described is fairly common in German and Austrian lakes. Not everyone is as nonchalant as that, but many are, and nobody cares if you just quickly change in the open.

In Germany, Austria, Flanders (in Belgium) and the Netherlands, at least for the 20s-40s crowd I think the following is rather common, even the "norm", although not without exception:

- if friends of both sexes are sharing quarters when traveling, or visiting, it's not a big deal if you change in the same room (ie strip to your underwear) in front of one another, especially if private space is scarce. Probably not "everyone" does that but if you do, nobody makes a big deal (or any deal) of it.

- that extends a bit to full nudity - not in the sense of mixed-sex friends easily getting naked in front of each other, that is not so common. But in the following sense: if you happen to see a female friend naked, in the room or in the shower, if she makes a big deal out of it she'll be the one seen as "too prudish" or "too American". The typical ENF scene in sitcoms where a woman screams "get out!" and covers herself because someone got into the bathroom while she was showering - that doesn't really work in those countries, generally speaking. She'll be the one seen as overreacting.

Again, what I described does not necessarily apply to everyone but it is certainly not unusual.

Once I happened to be attending a social event which a female friend from Estonia would also be attending. To save money we decided to share a hotel room. She was a sauna enthusiast back home and she knew I had been to saunas in Germany. So without even discussing the subject, she had no problem stripping to her underwear in front of me and letting me go into the bathroom to shave while she was in the shower with just a glass door. It was almost a non-issue.

[Lucianado]

Originally Posted by Brock Landers

I can confirm that what Sonera described is fairly common in German and Austrian lakes. Not everyone is as nonchalant as that, but many are, and nobody cares if you just quickly change in the open.

In Germany, Austria, Flanders (in Belgium) and the Netherlands, at least for the 20s-40s crowd I think the following is rather common, even the "norm", although not without exception:

- if friends of both sexes are sharing quarters when traveling, or visiting, it's not a big deal if you change in the same room (ie strip to your underwear) in front of one another, especially if private space is scarce. Probably not "everyone" does that but if you do, nobody makes a big deal (or any deal) of it.

- that extends a bit to full nudity - not in the sense of mixed-sex friends easily getting naked in front of each other, that is not so common. But in the following sense: if you happen to see a female friend naked, in the room or in the shower, if she makes a big deal out of it she'll be the one seen as "too prudish" or "too American". The typical ENF scene in sitcoms where a woman screams "get out!" and covers herself because someone got into the bathroom while she was showering - that doesn't really work in those countries, generally speaking. She'll be the one seen as overreacting.

Again, what I described does not necessarily apply to everyone but it is certainly not unusual.

Once I happened to be attending a social event which a female friend from Estonia would also be attending. To save money we decided to share a hotel room. She was a sauna enthusiast back home and she knew I had been to saunas in Germany. So without even discussing the subject, she had no problem stripping to her underwear in front of me and letting me go into the bathroom to shave while she was in the shower with just a glass door. It was almost a non-issue.

Yes, that sounds about right. Point is that "casual about nudity" rarely means they will literally walk around naked in front of acquaintances, more just that the overall would/wouldn't do line is a bit shifted.

[keet]

I went to an upmarket spa in the UK with my wife for her birthday. We had a very pleasant time and went off to separate changing areas at the end of the afternoon. The gents was quiet, and I dropped my trunks and headed through to the shower area and hung up my towel, outside the cubicle. As I showered I heard voices come into the shower area, one of which sounded female. I prolonged my shower, until I heard the water go off in the other cubicle. I exited naked, and before I reached my towel, a young girl whom I had seen with her boyfriend in the hot tub came out the end shower topless. She had been wearing a fairly modest bikini in the spa, so all the more delightful to see her perky B cups with large pink areola covering the whole tip in all their glory. She smiled and hooked her fingers into her briefs as if to pull them off to match my nudity. I felt obliged to tell her that she was in the gents changing area. However, her response was to shrug, take off her pants, and say, "Je suis francais", as if that explained everything. She was then joined by her naked, well endowed boyfriend and the two happily chattered away as they changed beside me.She was fairly modest with her completely shaved pussy,but I enjoyed several furtive glimpses. I left shortly before them, and passed a dad with a son about 10 on their way in. Would have been interesting to see the reaction if she had still been naked when they walked in!