Cultural differences 1 - Bathrobe in the changing room?

It all started one day at work. All it took was wearing a bathrobe in a changing room at work.

Quite an ordinary thing to do back in my home country. Quite a laughable matter instead here in the UK.

In italy, if you go to the gym or the pool, what are you going to pack in your bag? Surely you are going to have a bathrobe. Most people would take one. Some would go for the puffy one in cotton, similar to the one you would use at home, while the more sport savvy would go for a microfiber one instead.

But in the UK, what you really need is a towel. Leave the bathrobe at home, where it belongs, in the bathroom. Because make no mistake, the bathroom can only be found in someone's home (unlike in american english, where they call it bathroom, whether it's at home or in public place).

So it all started that one day at work. I had just played football with some colleagues. After the shower I wore by bathrobe. I will never forget the look on my colleague's face. He observed me, trying to be as discreet as British culture demands. Yet, it seemed like he was looking at an alien. When I asked him if he was okay, he couldn't help but smile and say "what are you wearing mate? What's that?".

That got me thinking. How could something so normal back home be so strange over here?
From that day on, I started noticing all the small and big differences. And believe me there are quite a few!