Study Abroad: Adapting to a New Culture

States of Cultural Adjustment
Culture shock
Some Symptoms of Culture Shock
How can you adjust to your new environment?
More information on Cultural Issues and culture shock

Tips for Success Abroad

Practice makes perfect: Attempting to speak the local language will bring you closer to the people of your host country and is bound to open up opportunities.

Take the initiative: Making friends can initially be one of the most difficult aspects of living abroad. Eventually, it will also be one of the most rewarding. Returned students suggest getting involved any way possible: volunteering, joining clubs or sports, teaching English.

Be prepared to be an Ambassador: For many people you meet abroad, you will be "the American". Students in other countries are more politically aware, as a rule, than students in the United States. They may involve you in heated political discussions.

States of Cultural Adjustment:

• Initial Excitement: Everything seems fabulous and exciting. You've been thinking about this experience for so long and you're finally here. This could last from a week to a full month.
• Grumpy, Irritable and perhaps Hostile: During this period you start to experience the cultural differences and you can begin to focus on these differences. It is easy during this stage to blow small things out of proportion.
• Beginning to Adjust: Now you are beginning to understand how to respond in certain situations and you begin to pickup on the cultural clues. You start to feel less isolated and become more comfortable in the culture.
• Adapting to the culture or bi-culturalism-During this period you find yourself enjoying a number of aspects of this new culture. In fact when you return you will find that you miss a number of these new ways of doing things.

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Culture shock is a type of homesickness. The term refers to the stresses and strains which accumulate from being forced to meet one's everyday needs (e.g. language, climate, food, cleanliness, companionship) in unfamiliar ways. Some symptoms of culture shock are: frustration, mental fatigue, disorientation about how to work with and relate to others, boredom, lack of motivation, and sometimes physical discomfort. When you leave home and all the things that are familiar, you encounter many new and confusing situations. These situations naturally create stress; the reaction to this stress is called "culture shock."

Some of the differences between life at home and life in a new place are obvious:

• language
• climate
• religion
• food
• educational system
• absence of family and close ties

Other differences are not as obvious:

• how students relate to teachers
• styles of communication
• personal space

These differences cause feelings of uncertainty and anxiety:

• feeling isolated or alone
• sleeping too much or tiring easily
• finding it difficult to sleep
• suffering body pains, especially in the head, neck, back and stomach
• wanting to return home
• avoiding contact with host nationals and only wanting to spend time with those from you own culture
• anxiety

All of these uncertainties . . . and more . . . are confusing. You may also feel that you don't know what to do in certain situations. Probably you did not think about these things at home because you knew what to do and what to expect. You also knew how other people acted and thought. In other words, you understood "the rules" and "the signs." Life was easier at home. Your body and your mind may react in unusual ways to the stress and confusion of living in a new culture. Difficulties occur in various situations: where to sit on the bus, how and when to tip, when to accept and refuse invitations, etc.

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Some Symptoms of Culture Shock:

1. feeling isolated or alone
2. sleeping too much or tiring easily
3. finding it difficult to sleep
4. suffering body pains, especially in the head, neck, back and stomach
5. wanting to return home
6. avoiding contact with host nationals and only wanting to spend time with those from you own culture
7. anxiety

It is very important to understand that these reactions are normal. You are not ill. It is a temporary situation for people who are adjusting to life in a new environment and it is inevitable to some degree.

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How can you adjust to your new environment? How can you make a successful transition to living in a new culture?

1. Understand that there are and there will continue to be uncertainties and confusion. Imagine how a local resident might react to living in your country.
2. Observe how people in your new environment act in situations that are confusing to you. Try to understand what they believe and why they behave as they do. Avoid judging things as either right or wrong; regard them as being simply different ways of doing things.
3. Remember the ways you have been able to reduce stress in difficult situations in the past and apply those methods in your present circumstances. For example, you might take a long walk, go to a movie theater, or write a letter to a close friend or relative. Try to see the humor in confusing situations that you encounter; laughter is often the best "medicine." It is often very helpful to keep a journal and write down the aspects of your experience in which you are struggling. Also, include the things you like and enjoy about the culture. Later in the semester go back and reread what you have written.
4. Accept the difficult challenge of learning to study and live in a new cultural setting. Believe that you can learn the skills to make a satisfactory transition. Gradually try to apply some of the skills you are learning. You were able to move away from home and make the transition to CMC when you were a freshman.
5. Recognize the advantages of having lived in two different cultures. Your life will be enriched by meeting people whose cultural backgrounds are not the same as yours. Share your time with many different people. Avoid having friends only from your country but maintain strong personal ties to your culture while you are away from home. Think about how you can help local residents learn how people from your country believe and act.
6. Acknowledge your progress in adjusting to the new culture. Think of all that you have learned since the day you arrived. Recognize that, like other people who have lived in an unfamiliar country, you can and will make a successful adjustment to the other culture.
7. If you are still having a difficult time please contact an on-site representative of your program or contact the Off-Campus Study Office at CMC.

Reproduced with permission from International Affairs, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

For More information on Cultural Issues and culture shock, please see the following web-program, "What's up with Culture?": http://www.pacific.edu/sis/culture/index.htm?page=/sis/culture/
or
Peace Corps Cultural Library.

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