Spending some time living abroad (2 years in Germany, 2 in France for me) is very good training in how things are just different elsewhere. In many ways you don't come back. You always know that there are different ways of doing things, that ours is not a unique solution and in some cases is not the best. But at the same time you can get glimpses of why others solutions can't apply here even if they are logical, better, and not just different.

And as for 'rules' just not working at extremes, that's what makes the world interesting!