Cultural Differences

So when you go on exchange, the people who are supposed to prepare you for it go on for hours about culture shock and cultural differences and how essentially you're going to find the new culture weird as hell. But I'm in Norway, and honestly the culture is not that different...and the differences are mostly subtle, like calling adults by their first names and tucking your pant cuffs into your socks, not major cultural differences. One of the others is that they're not Puritan...meaning that there isn't really a strong social taboo against changing in public/in front of members of the opposite sex. There's a more practical attitude towards clothes, namely, warmth, function, style and so on...but things like all of the girls showering together after gym takes some getting used to. Well, anyway, I had thought I was totally used to this. But today...

I had an orchestra concert and we were there the normal two-and-a-half-hours early, hanging out backstage. Most of us had come in concert clothing but some people brought different shoes or something to change into, as it was pouring buckets outside. I was standing somewhat in the middle of the room, learning a norwegian fiddle tune while playing it (um...that sounds weird...but basically if i watch the other fiddler's fingers really closely i can play along and learn it as i go) when another violinist, a guy about my age, walks in. I look up briefly, get the nod, and then go back to concentrating. Said violinist my age, who is best described as 'dashingly handsome', puts down his case and motorcycle helmet, pulls out a pile of black dress clothing, looks around, and nonchalantly takes off his shirt, conveniently directly within my line of sight while watching the fiddler's fingers. I, uh, might have missed a few notes, but managed to not stare openly. But apparently I'm not as used to Norwegian cultural norms as I should be, because I was somewhat surprised when he also changed his pants.