How To Deal With Culture Shock | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Lifestyle

How To Deal With Culture Shock

Traveling can be the most exciting time of your life if you can handle the side-effects.

189
How To Deal With Culture Shock
Ashleigh Lemelin

Culture is all of the things that we understand about a group of people. The knowledge, values, tangible objects (such as the cross), beliefs, behavior, norms, probably among other things. When you think about traveling abroad you may have an idea of what you think you know about a country, or what the people are like. Traveling can open your mind to these things but can also be quite a shock to you because of the differences.

Culture shock is used to describe the “psychological disorientation” experienced when you leave your familiar surroundings. There are a number of emotions that can be experienced while going through the cultural adjustment curve.

The Adjustment curve is just what is sounds like, a bell curve of emotional stages associated with travel abroad. There are 5 steps to the adjustment curve.

Step 1: Everything is new, exciting and different.

When you arrive to a new country you are going to be excited. Everything is going to be exciting to you. You’re going to love just being there in that new environment. You’re going to want to do everything and experience all there is to see.

Step 2: Frustration / Annoyance

This is where all of those exciting new differences become annoying to you. You begin to feel nostalgic of your favorite things back home. Sometimes the food is completely different and you can’t find your favorite grocery store staples anymore. What about the language barrier? If you’re having a bad day, these differences seem like the end of the world.

Step 3: Surface Adjustment:

This is the first period of adjustment and getting used to these differences. This is a temporary up-swing of positive emotions. You are starting to take into consideration why the differences are okay and only temporary.

Step 4: Confronting deeper issues

This is the last downswing in emotions. You start to take things a little more personally and get very homesick at times. You start to think that some of the problems begin to be your own problem instead, something more deep and personal.

Step 5: Adaptation and Assimilation

Here is your final stage of emotion. This one is an upswing in your emotions. You’ve finally began to accept the differences between the 2 cultures and started to understand them. You can justify why they do something the way that they do. You have the understanding that these things are only temporary and you will someday miss them.

A person can fluctuate between these feelings at any point in time. Everyone experiences these feelings at a different pace. You may not feel homesick until months into your travel. It’s hard to say. It’s important to know that all feelings during this time are normal. You may feel upset, homesick or scared and that is normal for everyone. Keep in mind that thousands of people have experienced this before you, and many will after you. Don’t block the feelings, but instead embrace them and get to the bottom of it.

Keeping an open mind is the best thing you can do while abroad. If you look at the changes without judging them, you’ll have a much more successful time. Your experience abroad is a correlation of what you put into it. If you let the feelings of anger or anxiety get to you time after time you won’t enjoy it as much. You need to understand your feelings and continue on with your time. You may only have a short time away, so you need to make the most of your time.

A sense of humor can be your best friend while you’re abroad. If you make a mistake in the language or forget that you need to take your shoes off at the door, etc., you can just laugh it off. The people will want to laugh with you.

If you are experiencing a bad day, you need to do what you can in order to feel comfortable. Look at pictures from home, read a book, or watch a movie, whatever your go-to is to calm down and relax. Your time abroad can be the most exciting time of your life if you make it that way. Take time to stop and smell the roses.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Gilmore Girls
Hypable

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have been thinking of all the things my mom does for my family and me. Although I couldn’t write nearly all of them, here are a few things that moms do for us.

They find that shirt that’s right in front of you, but just you can’t seem to find.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

10 Reasons To Thank Your Best Friend

Take the time to thank that one friend in your life you will never let go of.

51
Thank You on wooden blocks

1. Thank you for being the one I can always count on to be honest.

A true friend will tell you if the shirt is ugly, or at least ask to borrow it and "accidentally" burn it.

2. Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

A best friend will love you regardless of the stale french fries you left on the floor of your car, or when you had lice in 8th grade and no one wanted to talk to you.

Keep Reading...Show less
kid
Janko Ferlic
Do as I say, not as I do.

Your eyes widen in horror as you stare at your phone. Beads of sweat begin to saturate your palm as your fingers tremble in fear. The illuminated screen reads, "Missed Call: Mom."

Growing up with strict parents, you learn that a few things go unsaid. Manners are everything. Never talk back. Do as you're told without question. Most importantly, you develop a system and catch on to these quirks that strict parents have so that you can play their game and do what you want.

Keep Reading...Show less
friends
tv.com

"Friends" maybe didn’t have everything right or realistic all the time, but they did have enough episodes to create countless reaction GIFs and enough awesomeness to create, well, the legacy they did. Something else that is timeless, a little rough, but memorable? Living away from the comforts of home. Whether you have an apartment, a dorm, your first house, or some sort of residence that is not the house you grew up in, I’m sure you can relate to most of these!

Keep Reading...Show less
man working on a laptop
Pexels

There is nothing quite like family.

Family is kinda like that one ex that you always find yourself running back to (except without all the regret and the angsty breakup texts that come along with it).

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments