cultural shock - Obscure Journey

Visiting Nice and Monaco

Publié le 9 Octobre 2025 par Charly C.

Catégories : #adventures, #art, #cultural shock, #hacks, #life experience, #memories, #sightseeing, #tourist, #vacation

Hi. Long time no see.

back in January/February, we visited Nice in Southern France for a few days. We also went to Monaco for a few hours. I’ll write a bit about Monaco as well.

in Nice, we stayed at a nice hotel, with breakfast included. The offered food was all you can eat type of thing.. The best part was that we could drink coffee or tea all day long.

One of the best things to do in Nice is to go visit the Asian History Museum. I don't remember which statue was who; however, the images below will give you a feel for this museum. I think you need to be there in person so see the statues along with other display items because my pictures don't do them justice.

Monaco is indeed what you see in pictures: it’s insane.

All beautiful cars, some in crazy and powerful colors. It is a relatively quiet city, and crossing the border between France and the Principality of Monaco is no big deal. No authority stopped the bus to check passports or anything.

The marina is indeed a sight to behold. However, we had fun watching the seagulls trying to steal food and personal belongings from the people there. They were also walking around as if they owned the place.

It was such a sunny and warm day when we visited; we both didn't want to come to our home country. I mean this feeling came from how architecturally nice both Nice (pun intended) and Monaco are, and from how polite everyone is.

I should tell you that you have to be really careful about loitering. Monaco is a clean city, and I don't remember seeing any trash bins for people to use.

Whatever I wore that day, compared to "locals" and the environment itself, made me feel like a peasant. i felt as if I didn't belong there, despite thinking i could easily mingle with high society if i had the chance. I don't even remember seeing fat or overweight people there. This should also be a warning for those with a low self-esteem.

I hope this little entry got you curious enough to make you want to visit both cities. During the winter, the accommodation is cheaper in Nice. You can also seek accommodation in Italy, but first look up how easy is it to go to Monaco and eventually Nice.

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Hallelujah! means something else in Romanian

Publié le 27 Octobre 2019 par Charly C.

Catégories : #bucharest, #customs, #life experience, #meanings, #romanian tradition, #cultural shock

Hello all!

This is a short entry, and I want to talk about a cultural shock I had last year, regarding the use of the word "Hallelujah!"

In English, you'd say "Hallelujah!" when something good happened, or when something you hoped for turned out the way you wanted.

You'd sometimes say "Hallelujah!" to perhaps mean 'Finally!"

In Romanian, though, "Hallelujah!" is used to mean "What's done is done."

It is usually said in bad situations - when you lose or break something, especially something expensive or that you cared about, for instance.

So, last year, I shook the sheet on the window. Below, at the ground floor there is a commercial space and they have some sort of shades, made of metal, that stand out and away from the building, in a horizontal position.

If things fall there, they can't be easily retrieved.

My sweatpants were wrapped in the sheet, and I grabbed everything.

Before I could do anything, my pants fell from inside the sheet and onto the shade-thing of the commercial space.

A told their mother, and her reply was "Hallelujah!"

The shock! the horror! I was wondering, why is she so happy about my misfortune?!?

It appears she wasn't: she was just telling me to forget about my pants.

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