Dealing with culture shock. There's a saying that you cannot go abroad without coming home a changed person. And I wholeheartedly believe in this. One of the things that helps bring about this change is the experience of culture shock, and I'll explain a little more as we go along. The takeaways for this lecture are two things. One, that culture shock is completely normal.

This is a normal part of traveling. So it's not something to fear. Rather, it's something to be aware of, to recognize and to even embrace. The other thing is that the greater their perceived difference, so the greater the difference that you notice or perceived between your culture and the culture of the place you're going to, the more likely you are to experience what we call culture, shock, stress, and this is some of the negative or upsetting part of the experience of culture shock. Again, nothing to necessarily fear, but just to be Where and even prepare for and we'll talk about that as we go on. So what is culture shock?

Actually, culture shock was a concept developed by an anthropologist named Carl Barrow obert back in 1960. And one definition is that it's the feeling of disorientation when experiencing a new, unfamiliar culture is the initial adjustment to an unfamiliar environment. And Dr arbour talked about this as he traveled to try to capture the anxiety and frustration that people experience when they go into a new culture, and to really describe it so that people understood this was a normal phenomenon a normal experience. Part of what happens is that our sudden immersion in a new culture can trigger a state of uncertainty within us internally, where we become unsure of expectations. We become unsure of what the people and culture around us in our new environment expect of us, then we become unsure of what to expect from people in our new environment in our new culture. It's almost as if there's a big Gulf or space where it's hard to bridge that divide.

Many things can trigger culture shock, mainly the differences between our own culture and understanding and way of life, and the new culture, the new environment that we're in. And so differences such as values and way of life, attitudes and beliefs, foods that are in the new environment, different languages, even things such as climate, including weather and rainfall, temperature, altitude, things such as the sights, sounds and smells their app that are out in the street, is it loud and noisy? Is it quiet? Are there very strong pungent sense, or is it the opposite and of course etiquette and personal small space differences in how closely or far away people are when they talk, whether they use icontact, how they express politeness. All of these are different expressions of cultural differences that can actually bring about some of the culture shock. Culture Shock can affect us in many different ways, emotionally in terms of our emotional state and feelings, how we're if we're feeling anger, frustration, sadness or excitement, interest, even psychologically in terms of our motivation, or our interpretation of what's going on how we understand and interpret and respond to what's going on, cognitively in terms of our ability to concentrate or pay attention, and even how we approach problem solving in certain situations, behaviorally, in terms of how we actually respond, do we isolate?

Do we engage? Do we engage in conflict or are we willing to learn how to negotiate. And even physically, many people will describe different symptoms such as stomach problems or headaches or body aches, or feeling fatigued or on the other hand, when they're in an upside of the culture shock process, maybe feeling energetic and wanting to do more. And some of the feelings that people might have as they go through the process of culture shock include feeling confused, anxious, homesick, irritated and angry, even starting to doubt themselves or feeling like their self esteem is affected and questioning their own culture, art or identity, asking Who am I What is my identity and why this thing everything feels so different when I'm in this new environment. So culture shock really is a process I've been using this term process to describe it. That's because it's not just a one time One day thing that you have it and you say, Oh, I did culture shock and it's over now, it really is something that you go through, they can sometimes go in cycles, where you go through different stages or phases.

Many people have described the different stages or phases of culture shock and call them by different terms. But really it is describing no matter the name of the terms of process where you start off feeling really excited. You go through a down period, you have to readjust and then you're feeling confident because of the learning process. Some people describe it as a U shaped process that you go through. So initially, there's the honeymoon stage, where there's a lot of curiosity and excited excitement. You may be fascinated about the new environment.

Everything might seem interesting to you. You might even idealize or romanticize everything that you notice any differences that you noticed, aren't really seen as negative but you romanticize idealize them in the new culture. And this can last, you know, each phase or stage lasts for different periods of time, any where from a day or two to, you know longer depending on how long you're traveling. And then that's when we go down on the U shape, there's the fresh frustration stage. And this is where you actually may start to feel overwhelmed by the new culture, you may have had an encounter or some sort of interaction that triggers a sense of feeling out of place, or unclear again, about what to expect. That's where that sense of feeling unsure, is really triggered.

And this can be described as one of the most negative parts of the culture shock process, where you really are starting to be more tuned into the differences and not just things that are different, but everything seems bad and negative, about the new the new culture, and you may actually do the opposite of the honeymoon stage where you actually romance sighs and idealize your own culture. And then moving on there is the adjustment stage. And this is where you start to understand that are some of the norms and, and customs and ways of interacting in the new culture you are starting to see have a more balanced view and see both the good and bad in both your culture and the new culture. And so this is a stage of what we might say recalibration, really readjusting and understanding your place and understanding better some of the expectations in the new culture and you're gaining a sense of confidence of feeling like Okay, I understand again, what's expected in this new environment.

And then the fourth stage again, continues where that you that upsurge of being able to integrate both so not just understanding the good and bad in both cultures, but in some sense, becoming binary Culture, you're really understanding more of the values and expectations of the new culture. And you're experiencing this sense of personal growth. Because you can feel competent, you can feel competent, like you've mastered some of the things such as personal space and etiquette, and the expression of values and maybe even picking up language, understanding certain things about the food, all of those differences before that were so prominent, you may still notice them, but you feel like you can navigate the differences and also still feel good about your own culture. And so these aren't stages that you go through one by one, you may go in and out of one stage, you might go through honey, mate, honeymoon and frustration and then back to honeymoon again.

And not everybody will go through every single one for the exact same period of time. It really depends on things such as how long you're traveling, as I said earlier, will how large the difference are between your culture and the culture of the place that you're going to. So again, some of the symptoms of culture shock include the loneliness and melancholy again in that in that stage to where you're feeling frustration, you might feel lonely, a melon melancholy, a loss of identity, not knowing again, who you are what your places so much gets questioned. A lack of confidence, longing for family, even anger and irritability, angry that everything is so different and nobody understands you and you can't understand them, and unwillingness to interact with others. So you might start to isolate, feeling depressed and powerless, even insomnia, difficulty sleeping, and hostility. So these are all things that are some of the negative parts or symptoms that are normal in the culture shock process.

There's no research or new writings now where people are really saying starting to understand that culture shock is not necessarily a bad process. It used to be seen as this negative thing, almost like a disease that you encountered, and that you just had to withstand it. Now it's viewed as a positive experience that facilitates growth, potentially, personal development and learning that is through going through this process of feeling good and then feeling bad and then having a more realistic view of the new culture that you learn. You grow and you develop. There was one study that really tried to talk to people who have been living and traveling abroad, to find out how they thought about culture shock after they came back. 97% of the people surveys said they felt their time living in another culture inspired greater maturity.

So that's the personal growth part. 98% found that culture shock helped them to better understand their own cultural values. And biases, though. So they were very much able to be more introspective and understand themselves and their own culture better. 96% felt more confident in themselves. 94% thought the experience continues to influence their interactions with different cultures.

So again, they've been changed as a result of the travel and experiencing and going through the process of culture shock. 82% felt is helped to develop a more sophisticated way of looking at the world. So this is some evidence that most people have an overwhelmingly positive view of the process of culture shock, once they return, and once they have some time to step back and reflect on it. In the moment, it might be really difficult, but stepping back, you can see how much you've learned and grown from it. So what do you do to prepare for culture shock? Again, we said it's normal.

You're going to go Through even preparing doesn't mean you're not going to experience it. But preparing can help you to again have more of a cushion and understand how you're feeling when you're experiencing it. One is to try to study the language. So we just had some lectures on tips for picking up phrases and language. So you don't have to know the entire, you know, everywhere you go, you have to learn a new language. But if you can pick up some phrases, some Greetings, and really try to understand the roots of the language, and how language is a really important part of the new culture.

You can do some research and learn about the country. We've talked about that in other lectures that doing a little background research, where you get a sense of the history of the country, some basic cultural values, how people interact, what's considered polite, how you communicate in business settings or formal settings versus informal setting. Those are really important things. Also spending some time with nationals in your own country. So you might find people who are from the country that you're planning to travel to interacting with them going to different cultural festivals going to different places where they're their restaurants, where those nationals may serve their national foods. And so you become familiar with some of the behaviors and culture and means of communication.

Also, think about a support system. This is regardless of how long you're going to be there. If you're traveling alone, it might be more important to think about how, who you can interact with in the new country. If you're traveling with friends or a group, you all can talk about ahead of time, how you all will be able to support each other while you're traveling. And if you're staying staying for an extended period where you're going to be in a country for several months, or even thinking about staying indefinitely. This is really important.

To start thinking about if you don't have a specific support system, how you can develop one, are you going to be able to interact with the different communities of expats or travelers in that new country? How are you going to meet people who can help support you while you go through this process of culture shock. And there are different ways to cope while you're experiencing it. One is to just recognize the stages. So when you feel yourself feeling really happy and excited, that's a great thing. And you can say, you know what, I'm in the honeymoon stage.

I'm really glad about being here. But then when things start to take a turn, and you're feeling more upset or irritated or frustrated, you can recognize Okay, now I'm in the frustration stage. This is normal. I'm starting to really be immersed in and feel confused about how to behave here. The other thing is to really remind yourself this can't be emphasized enough. Remind yourself and understand that this Normal.

There's nothing wrong with you. You're not a freak, you're not incompetent. You're not a person who can't cope with life. Actually, sometimes people who are really well adjusted back in their home culture, they might have a harder time adjusting in the new culture that's really different because they start to feel really incompetent and lack confidence because they don't understand why they can't operate as normal in the new culture. also prepare to cope. What are some things that help you when you're really stressed out?

Do you know how to if Do you need to exercise or is it eating or drinking right or do you listen to music? Or do you write in your journal? Do you need to communicate with people back home, whatever it is that comforts you that helps you to cope when you're under stress. Try to have some of those tools or tips on hand so that when you start to feel some of the loneliness, or the irritation or the frustration You can have some things to help you cope. Also know that it's temporary. Because it's a process you won't you, you know, it's not going to last forever.

You'll go some stages may last longer than others for you, you may cycle back to different stages again. But this is temporary as you become more acclimated, depending on how long you're going to be traveling, it's going to change for you. And if you're not going to be there for very, very long, it's temporary just because you're going to be you know, you won't be there forever. Also, don't take it personally. When you have interactions that make you feel out of place. Again, those expectations aren't clear to you.

You don't necessarily have to take it as something is wrong with you. People don't like you. It's just a difference and misunderstanding oftentimes around communication around picking up on social cues and responding to social cues. cultures around the world are vastly different from each other. And so there's bound to be anytime different cultures interact, as some people say they're bound to be clashes. And this isn't not necessarily a reflection on you, or even the other person being bad, or negative, so don't take it personally.

The other thing is to try to understand what factors are outside of your control. So there are certain things that you may encounters or interactions that you may have where you and another person don't speak any. There's no overlap in the language that you speak or understand. That can be really frustrating. You're trying to get something from that person, or they're trying to get information from you, for example, at your accommodations, that's just outside of your control and then you just have to problem solve about either how to get someone to translate for you how you can try to find, use Google Translate or some other means of trying to help that person understand you and help you understand that person. So there's certain things that are outside of your control.

And really understanding that is part of not taking the whole negative part of culture shock personally. So your challenge is to try to identify one thing that will be hard for you to adjust to in the country you plan to travel to next. So this takes doing some research you have to research some of the culture some of the values things like etiquette communication, politeness, personal space, the way languages use, try to research some of those things and think ahead about what might be hard for you to adjust in. In this way, you've already started to plan ahead, because you've done some background research and you thought you've taken into account your own personality, what might be hard for you. And the second part is to identify one person, thing or activity that can be used to help you cope. Whether or not that's communicating with Someone who you're going to be traveling with, or talking to someone back at home, or doing something like listening to music or having a certain comfort item with you a certain journal or a book, or is it dancing, walking, exercising, eating indulging in food, it's okay, whatever it is, try to think ahead about what it is you can use to cope.

And all of these things, again, will help you to know that culture shock, as we said earlier, is normal. That it can be expected to be difficult at some points, but it's temporary, it won't last forever. And ultimately, when you step back and you look back, you may see that this was a really valuable experience. A really important way for you to understand yourself better understand your own culture better, and to be confident that you are able to overcome these cultural differences. Good luck.