Culture Shock and Return Shock
An intercultural experience such as the Spain Program can be a powerful teacher that forces you to realize new things about others and about yourself. The greatest shock may not be in dealing with a new culture, but in recognizing how your own culture has shaped you. You realize the extent of your culture's influence as you leave it and then try to re-enter it smoothly.
This can also be called role shock, or the shock of self-discovery. Many times what is really shocking to people is not the new culture, but rather the change in roles they must assume in their personal, social, or organizational structure as it functions in new cultures or as they see themselves with new insights.
The adjustment process can be challenging. Remember that it is a temporary condition and that it will pass as you become familiar with aspects of the new culture. This is the first step toward adjustment. You may not like to believe you are experiencing emotional, mental, social, and physical stress, but it is wise to admit that it is happening. Even mild cases generally involve four phases and occur during the early part of a stay abroad and the return home.
What is culture shock? How do we get it?
Culture shock is a feeling of frustration, uneasiness, or uncertainty that many people experience in unknown settings. There are many potential things that can cause culture shock. Most often, we feel culture shock because the new culture has different rules from our own; we are no longer in "the world taken for granted." We get upset when the new society's unspoken rules, gestures, and assumptions about behavior are not the same as our own. We do not know how to act appropriately in our new environment and others do not act as we expect them. It makes us uncomfortable when expectations are placed upon us for reasons that were not explained in terms that we could understand. We feel unhappy and confused those things are not turning out as we had thought. This is culture shock.
It is important to go to Spain knowing about the likelihood of culture shock. Knowing that feelings of frustration and dismay are completely normal as you try to adapt to life in a new culture provides a rational understanding of feelings that you might not have anticipated. Also, it is important to emphasize that culture shock is not permanent: everyone experiences it and everyone can get over it.
What happens when culture shock hits?
There are many different symptoms of culture shock. Each person experiences culture shock in his or her own way and in different levels of severity. Some people may have only short lived twinges of discomfort, while others may experience more intense feelings of displacement. Some common symptoms of culture shock are listed below, but keep in mind that there are many others:
- Homesickness
- Boredom
- Withdrawal and/or spending time exclusively with people of your nationality
- Excessive sleeping
- Stereotyping others
- Physical illness
- Excessive cleanliness
When do you get culture shock? Will it ever end?
There are several typical stages of cultural adaptation that students go through when learning to adapt to a new culture. The length of each stage varies for the individual, and often people move back and forth among the first three stages.
- Initial Euphoria and Enthusiasm. This stage can be described by feelings of excitement and wonderment about the new culture. Everything about the culture is perceived to be great and wonderful by the individual.
- Irritability and Hostility. Culture Shock. This stage is the period in which people experience culture shock. Everything is seen as different and at least weird if not bad. Things do not feel quite right. Symptoms of culture shock become evident. Symptoms can include: homesickness, boredom, withdrawal or spending time exclusively with people of your own nationality, excessive sleeping, stereotyping others, and physical maladies.
- Gradual Adjustment. This stage begins when we start to perceive different ways of behaving or thinking in order to feel more comfortable in the host culture.
- Adaptation. This final stage occurs when the individual can appreciate, value, and live in both the home and the new culture.
As you move through these stages of cultural adaptation, the program leader and staff will provide activities to help you think through your feelings and behaviors. Remember, all of us on the program will go through culture shock and that the group, as a resource and as a sounding board, will be invaluable in this process.
Coming Home
Coming home after being in a new cultural framework is often a difficult change for many and this is often referred to as reverse cultural shock or return shock. All forms of shock require an adjustment period. The most important part of this process, though, is that it produces learning and personal growth. You will have changed; your insights will have broadened and your perspectives will be different. It may be difficult to fit in to your former lifestyle.
The best time to prepare for coming home is before you get home. Think about incorporating the knowledge, skills, and perspectives you've gained by being on the program into your life after your return. Think about how you might apply this to your lifestyle back at home in academics, in your personal life, and in your long-term career and life goals. In what ways will this experience continue to have an impact on what you do and how you think about the world?
