Come on in, there is something for everyone!

We have such an international group here, I thought it would be interesting to create a topic where we can discuss various aspects of foreign culture and have an open forum for legitimate questions. Feel free to ask for translations as well.

A couple of guidelines:

-Respect each other *and* your cultural differences.
-Be mature
-Think before you type
-Keep it classy


http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1342261-international-inquiries/

I'm pretty sure the current discussion involved nailing people on dance floors.

First of all, great idea for a thread!

For Scottish and Irish (northern and southern) people, are your countries (yes, I am aware that Scotland and NI are part of the UK) really as beautiful as the mental image I have of them? When I think about Ireland I see green hills, rocks, really beautiful landscapes, all this celtic ruins background. When I think of Scotland, I see lakes and mountains, ruined castles, etc etc.

Yes, it's a very fantasized view, but oh well!

Also, so it includes something about culture. How often do Scottish people actually wear kilts?

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000p5IkYdHr7a0/s/900/900/irish-horse-culture312.jpg
http://www.tidynorthernireland.org/uploads/9ed44803239997792e25a6d06b1f2f95.jpg
http://www.maier-inchigeela.eu/Litter/files/page11-1006-full.jpg
http://www.finfacts.ie/img/landfill1.jpg
http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/44/50/445030_c6af23d4.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqgd7q3Qdj1qzd6bro1_500.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g_qXXK7DGE4/THV98bdylfI/AAAAAAAAKCs/_j1RF11D-Q0/s1600/father-jack1.jpg

okay to austarallians does the outback really try to kill you?

I'm not from either originally, but had the opportunity to spend some time in both countries.

It is just as beautiful as you can imagine, if not more so.

I remember The Highlands being...ethereal, almost.

oh hey bitter, does it have to be outside the country or can it be state
like i want to visit nevada could i ask a nevadan?

What is this, I dont even... Just laughed my ass off

It seems there have conflicting reports then I will possibly be going to NI in the summer, so I guess I'll figure it out for myself...

It can be anything you like, Silver.

Euch... Northern Ireland...

Never been to NI, specifically; so I can't vouch for it.

okay, in Las Vegas what should i do, i really wanna go

The outback? Not particularly. It's hot and dry, but there's not much to burn and there's not so much in the way of vicious or venomous wildlife.

EDIT: I'd be more concerned about the tropics, myself. If the beach doesn't have sharks, that's 'cause the crocodiles swallowed 'em whole .

Are there any arachnophobic Australians among us? How do you deal with the fact that a spider could crawl out of the toilet and kill you? It's bad enough here in the UK.

I follow a Phil Jupitus approach to spiders.

1. Small ones: scream and ask your mum to kill it for you or spent 3 hours dressing in plate armor to attack it in a pincer movement.
2. Medium ones: board up the room and pretend it never existed.
3. Large ones: sell the house and move interstate.

I can't handle spiders or sharks. At least you can avoid sharks. I don't think I could cope with Australian wild life. That's one of the few good things about living in a dull country like England. Dull wild life!

If you're 21, the answer should be pretty obvious. Depending on your budget there's varying hotels that are really beautiful to stay at. I really liked the Aria when I visited, but you have to be 21 to check in which I wasn't. If you do a quick google search beforehand you can get a list of all the shows going over your stay. Even if you don't, there's ample advertising. There were 3 or more dance groups there, the ventriloquist guy from America's Got talent, Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, and a lot more that I saw on billboards for my stay there. If you're under 21, or even if you aren't it's still fun, just walking the strip is great. There's lots of shopping to be done and things like the Coca Cola store/M&M store, etc.

There's really not a wrong way to go around experiencing Las Vegas... unless you call the numbers on the cards all the people on street corners are pushing....

I think you should gamble, but that's just me.

Try gambling, but set a budget and don't let yourself go above it.

Only if your an idiot to not realise its a desert, and like all deserts if you dont prepare, very likely you'll die, lots of Australians 4 wheel drive in the desert and dont take enough water/food or even a sat phone or even a distress radio beacon, alot think its just like driving down the road, im ex emergency services, and if you dont prepare you deserve everything you get.

The northern coastly areas are worse same as most of the northern bush/rainforest, thats where the nasty things live, crocs, cassawary, bird eating spiders, red belly black snakes, black snakes, the small ticks that burrow into your brain and kill you, but its no more danagerous than the amazon rainforests, or africa, or india or south east asia, or desert areas in the US.

Ive walked into the bush, as i used to do alot of bushwalking, and walked through some bush and to stand in front of a venomous snake, i didnt run away or panic or scream and wave my arms about because basically most snakes if they see a human will run away they arent stupid when they see something that big, they'll pretty much run away, they only really bite if they feel threathened. They dont bite people because its a bit of a giggle, you dont see them meeting up at night at the pub with there freinds, having a laugh about how many humans they bit today.


Yes i am, and basically when i was a child we had an outdoor toilet and we learnt to keep an eye open constnatly, but percentage wise very few people die from spider bites, most are more lethal to children, and infirm older people, snakes on the other hand, yes you die in a big way. Oh and since we kept getting told that the white tailed spiders bite doesnt make your skin rot, is complete rubbish since a family member got bitten on the knee by one and the skin around the knee started to break down, and it spread up and down the leg, the white tailed spider venom in nature is used to break down their prey, so they can digest them.

Also the whole thing about sharks is a massive beat up, more people get mauled by dogs than people get killed or mauled by sharks, and usually here its surfers who swim way out into areas where they feed, if you knew crocs lived in a certain area, would you set up camp next to their home, honestly sharks are doing us a favour by culling stupid humans.

The outback is pretty dead. There aren't any predators so the only danger is underpreparedness.

Watch out for the jellyfish at the beach though. And the sharks. And the saltwater Crocs.


I've never really had a problem with spiders, they don't actively try to kill me. Snakes are fairly rare in the city.

Funnelwebs are dangerous though, stay away from them.

I'm pretty scared of spiders but just from seeing small ones all the time I've kind of gotten used to them. It's just a simple matter of spraying them with this special spider killing mortein spray and flushing them down the toilet.

Main problem with Northern Ireland is that the locals, while friendly, can deafen you. A friend on mine in particular had a voice like a foghorn: she used it to full effect whenever I had a hangover.

im 23 i think im set on the 21 front, and i have 20k in savings from saving since i was 10
so what hotel is best hum?
Yeah i should, im a decent black jack player
good idea

Sharks are overrated. So are crocs. It's the jellyfish you have to be wary of.

But it's the blue ringed octopus that keeps me off the beaches. Gives me the shakes just thinking about what that devil can do.