An Australian who now lives in London has shared some of the culture shocks she’s faced since she moved overseas.

Jenny Tian, who is from Sydney, has lived in the capital city for a couple of months and has already shared her views on the differences between the two islands. 

These included her surprise when her experience on the underground didn’t match her expectations, the narrowness of London roads – and her issue with British toasters.  

Jenny said she’d been particularly excited to travel on the tube during her time in Britain, before her friend told her the reality of how dirty the underground actually is.

‘He said: “Enjoy your snot turning black,” I’m like, excuse me? He said that there is so much soot in the tunnel that you end up breathing it in and then your snot turns black,’ she said, speaking on her TikTok account @nomnomjenny.

Jenny Tian from Sydney has shared her biggest culture shocks after moving to London 

‘What? I’m going to have the nose of a chimney sweeper! This is just normal for everyone in London? That’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’

Some Londoners in the comments refused to believe that this was true, adding that they lived in the ‘Big Smoke’ for decades and hadn’t noticed it.

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Others said it has happened to them, explaining that it is a build up of brake dust and caused by friction between the train and tracks, as London has the oldest underground network in the world. 

Jenny was also baffled at how filthy the seats on the Tube were – after wearing a pair of light-wash denim jeans out one evening.

When she got back home, she noticed that she had sat on a dusty seat, as her trousers were covered with black marks.

She said: ‘Now I see everyone on the Tube, they’re wearing dark pants, they’re smart, they’re Londoners and they know! 

‘I heard London was dirty but I didn’t expect to find actual dirt on the seats.’ 

Last year, the city suffered from a bed bug crisis, where commuters refused to sit on seats and filmed the nasty pests crawling around carriages of the Victoria line.

The comedian also hit out at British toasters and asked: ‘What is wrong with bread in the UK?!’

Jenny was also baffled at how filthy the seats on the Tube were – after wearing a pair of light-wash denim jeans out one evening

The 29-year-old was baffled that some slices of bread being sold in supermarkets were too big to fit in the toaster, leaving part of it soft when cooking.

‘What psychopath designed this? Hey, United Kingdom can we please unite in the fact that this is an abomination,’ she said.

However, some Brits were quick to respond and say that she should try turning the bread on its side or buying a bigger toaster.

They wrote: ‘Turn the bread slices on their side. Then they fit’;

‘It’s usually because the toaster is made in another country where the bread size is smaller. Get a UK-made toaster and it will fit’;

‘This is a toaster issue, not a bread issue’;

‘I used to work with someone who went shopping for a toaster and took a cardboard template of a slice of bread to test toasters.’

The 29-year-old was baffled that some slices of bread being sold in supermarkets were too big to fit in the toaster, leaving part of it soft when cooking

Some Brits were quick to respond and say that she should try turning the bread on its side or to buy a bigger toaster

Jenny said that she also finds the concept of seeing wildlife – such as foxes and squirrels – in the street strange, describing London as a ‘Disney movie’.

She said that she could not believe how many different supermarket brands there are and believes it means there is a ‘healthy level of competition’ between stores, leading to more affordable prices.

Westfield shopping centres also exist in Australia, but Jenny says it is usually a place where children skip school and ‘make out in the car park’.

But she described the UK locations as ‘glamorous and respectable’.

Another thing she noted was the ‘extremely narrow roads’ in London, and was shocked that there was only one lane in each direction.

She said: ‘Drivers of London, how do you have a healthy blood pressure?’

This racked up many comments from Londoners who attempted to explain the road infrastructure – and disagreed with her about supermarkets being ‘affordable’. 

This racked up many comments from Londoners who attempted to explain the road infrastructure – and disagreed with her about supermarkets being ‘affordable’

One wrote: ‘As a Londoner… Westfield is not fancy… It just appears that way.’

Another penned: ‘I live just outside of London and point blank refuse to drive there! Trains and tubes all the way.’

A third said: ‘The really narrow roads are because of the city itself, London is about 2000 years old and was traversed through using horses. 

‘So it would have been impossible to change the roads to get less traffic.’

A fourth commented: ‘Groceries are not affordable.’