copingwithculture

You have prepared for weeks ahead, but on top of the endless paperwork, questions, packing, and promising to stay in touch with loved ones, you find yourself getting panicky about an ominous, nebulous phenomenon called “culture shock.”

In fact, you will likely love your new home immediately. Most people do—and assume they have escaped the common adjustment distress. For those who have never experienced it, the first misconception of culture shock is that it is an immediate response. In reality, it is a gradual progression of integrating into one’s surroundings that takes more than the first few days, or even weeks.

Studying as much as you can about what you will encounter in your particular country will help you anticipate major cross-cultural conflicts of attitudes, values, and behavior, so the eventual “shock” will not knock you off your feet. But always be ready for surprises.

In fact, here’s one surprise now: returning home is often tougher than moving abroad itself! Whew. Learn more about how to adjust—and re-adjust—here.

Café Abroad: network, city guide and magazine for students abroad Information, by city, is user-directed—at the least, it offers a brief summary of every site’s climate, population, time zone, currency, emergency contacts, and resources; some are developed further. Helpful for local cultural events.

Centre for Intercultural Learning: Country Insights Canadian Foreign Affairs' extensive description of each country’s cultural distinctions, from “Display of Emotion” and “Relationship-building” to “In-country Activities”— and include both local and outsider perspectives.

Glimpse.org (National Geographic) An online magazine of insightful and entertaining articles, blogs, and photographs about life abroad, and authored by students themselves. Peruse articles categorized by region, country, or cultural topic... or add your own.

For reader-written recommendations on appropriate clothing abroad, listed by country.

OnlineNewspapers – the world’s largest online newspaper directory
Thousands of newspaper titles available—giving tangible meaning to “the entire world at one’s fingertips.” Good for students interested in observing a host culture through the culture’s own eyes.

The Abroad View Foundation
“Intercultural and global citizenship development” through general info, student/administrator articles, and links.

Lonely Planet – Thorn Tree Travel Forum
A message board to share travel advice and questions, hosted by one of the most respected travel guides for young “backpacker” types. (Lonely Planet’s site itself is also a good for basic introductions to culture and travel stories.)

World News Network
Search international news by city, region, news genre, or even language. Another fun option: listen to countless radio stations from around the world.

Everyone adjusts differently to a new culture—but most individuals’ immersion shares three similar stages:

Upon arrival in the host country, students first experience euphoria for their new home. Everything is romanticized: lifestyles, traditions, art, architecture, local people, natural landscapes, history. Students are overloaded by the new experiences and optimism for the upcoming months. This “honeymoon” typically lasts for at least the first month, though, of course, it varies extensively by person and situation.

Then, unfortunately, comes rejection of the culture. It can be a hard crash down, as daily routines set in and romantic notions fade to reality. Anxiety about the many complications of living abroad, such as language and unfamiliar customs, and little irritations, such as not being able to figure out the logic of the local grocery store, make differences between the U.S. and the host country glaringly evident. Students start to miss home, where everything made sense, and frequently begin to withdraw from and reject the host culture. The smallest cultural conflicts can provoke frustration, and some may even face feelings of depression.

The good news is that, with time, students will acclimate to their cultural environment, and this renewed confidence will eventually lead to adjustment. Students will come to observe their host culture with a more balanced mind, neither idealizing nor rejecting it wholesale, and begin to own their abroad experience with self-assurance and comfort in their new home.

Stay in touch with yourself.
A huge part of anxiety abroad is feeling your identity getting lost in the mess of your new culture. So journal (...we can’t say it enough.) Stay in touch with friends from home. Share your culture with others. Make pancakes one morning for your new local friends, teach them a new card game from home, or bring magazines to share from the States. Bring photos of your family and friends! Pictures can turn a guest room into a space that is truly yours, or can give you ways to share your own cultural and personal background with others. Remember that staying in touch with yourself can be a full-sensory experience, so dig out that jar of peanut butter from home, listen to a favorite tune, and snuggle up on a favorite pillow.

Stay active.
Explore. Travel. Walk around the city or community. Regain your enthusiasm for your city and host country, while at the same time gaining familiarity and ease in the environment. Get physically active, too. Find a way to work off steam, especially if you are used to working out at home—your emotions could be aggravated just from inactivity!

Find your own spot in the community.
Find your favorite place (physical or otherwise) in your new culture, and make part of it yours. Claim a piece of the culture through a favorite location to observe locals or read a book, or through new friendships in the community. Meet locals, and get involved (consider the many possibilities through a local church or other community groups).

The emotional rollercoaster of returning home has a very similar trajectory as its predecessor—euphoria, rejection, and adjustment. Students will feel elated to return to their family and friends, eat their favorite foods, and sleep with their own pillow once again; they then often hit a stage of irritation and depression, before finally readjusting to life in their own country. However, emotions tend to zip right through the “honeymoon” in a few short days, and land with a thud into the stage of cultural rejection, where they can stay for some weeks or months.

Most individuals who have lived abroad will attest that return shock can be much worse than culture shock itself. This may be because people are not as prepared for readjustment to be a process, because their emotions can draw out in the monotony of life at home—or most likely, because it is difficult for individuals to cope with feeling out-of-place in the environment they know as “home.” Return shock tends to be hardest for those who had integrated best into their host country.

“One year later, it still tugs at my heart to think of how far removed I am now—both physically and mentally—from Ecuador. It is hard to share with others what my community there meant to me—simple words and pictures seem to fall aggravatingly flat compared to the real sights, sounds, and emotions that still tag along in my memory. My host family sends bittersweet messages to say that my little sister still asks daily when I am coming back; she can’t understand the notion of an entire world yet, so they explain to her that I am “in Quito.” But I’ve learned that the heartache and difficulty it takes to readjust home is a well-disguised blessing: it is a sure affirmation that I have had an incredible experience that has changed my life, and I will never forget.” -ND Student

Driving everywhere instead of walking
Coping with Americans’ rudeness
Contending with American excess
Finding that family and friends quickly lose interest in your stories from abroad
Speaking in English
Handling the fast pace of U.S. life
Returning to mundane or trivial details of your previous life
Feeling a disconnect from friends who have a body of shared experiences you missed
out on
Adapting to a different eating schedule
Returning with an expanded worldview—especially with a more acute awareness of our country’s flaws

Readjustment is an emotional tumult for widely divergent reasons. Though some frustrations arise from newly perceived disappointments with American lifestyles and customs, much emotion also grows from the isolating impression that no one can understand or cares about their life abroad. Studying abroad is an identity-forming experience, and it is rough to feel that loved ones cannot relate; students work tirelessly to adjust to a host country, and gain so much cultural knowledge, only to realize that all of it seems “irrelevant” as soon as they return home.

It is scary to imagine the possibility that this important, cherished time in your life could be reduced to a shoebox of photos and mementos; so find a way to integrate your abroad experience with your life at home. Find outlets to share its importance and its knowledge with others. Get involved with international student clubs, and help advise future participants of your program. Check out local international restaurants, or cook for friends if you picked up any skills abroad! Print out photos to share with your family. Continue journaling, at least for a few weeks after returning; it helps sort frustrations, but also will record some of the freshest, most insightful thoughts on your cross-cultural experience now that you have time at home to reflect on what it all really meant. If you are still overwhelmed or have feelings of depression once you return to campus call the UCC for individual or group counseling. For more in-depth information on return shock, also explore this source:

Surviving Re-entry (SIT Study Abroad; written for parents, but great for students, too!)

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