The worst culture shock I ever had was coming home after a three year tour. We walked in to a supersized grocery store in SoCal and I had to leave. After shopping in our little commissary for so long, the choices truly overwhelmed me. Most people have no idea how blessed we are.
Indeed. It's why the poor of the world have beaten a path to our door. Funny thing is that most of them appreciate what we have, far more than the average American.
Even living in Europe for a while will make you appreciate the good ole USA.
Some years ago we hosted a big group of English students from the Czech Republic in our home. Their instructor wanted them to visit an American restaurant, so the first night we went to Chilis, which, as you surely know, is a fairly pedestrian Tex-Mex chain and not at all overwhelming. Well, these Czechs (all adults) were utterly gobsmacked. They went silent (no mean feat for Czechs!), they stared, they were glassy-eyed. We got the party moved out back to a quiet table on the deck and they were finally able to collect themselves enough to talk and eat, but the instructor and I still had to order for many of them. The menu alone was intensely intimidating to them. I was told later that in the rural Czech Republic a restaurant serves one or two dishes. There is no menu, except maybe for alcohol.
Anyway, I handed these folks off to another family a few days later. I am told they went to Potomac Mills Mall. I still wonder what that must have been like.