Every year at Arizona State University, around 1,500 students decide to study abroad and immerse themselves in a culture different from their own. For some students, however, being thrust into such a new environment can be a bit of a shock.
Hence the term culture shock, the phrase that describes the anxiety people have when facing difficulties in an unfamiliar environment.
Journalism sophomore Samantha Hauser said she experienced culture shock this semester, where she is currently studying abroad at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.
“I was really excited when I first arrived in the UK, but when I got to Leeds and stepped into my dorm room, I burst into tears,” Hauser said. “It's like you suddenly realize that you've plopped yourself in a foreign country all alone with just a bag of clothes.”
According to The Five Stages of Culture Shock by Paul Pederson, travelers often go through a number of acceptance phases when traveling abroad.
For instance, students who travel abroad usually go through what’s known as “The Honeymoon,” when they initially embrace and experience excitement over their new surroundings.
However, in the next step, they began to feel more and more foreign, and the cultural discrepancies begin to take a toll.
“I loved everything about England for the first few weeks, then the culture shock kicked in,” Hauser said. “About three weeks into it, all of the little annoyances about living in England started getting to me, and I really started to hate it.”
Hauser said she had some trouble with cultural differences like having to walk everywhere, even to a grocery store miles away. She also said the English people come off as “naturally rude,” something that she was not used to.
Nikolai De Vera, Japanese studies and English linguistics junior, studied at the Hiroshima Shudo University in Japan and the University of Cambridge in England. In Japan especially, De Vera said he encountered cultural differences.
“Japan is more of a collectivistic society where one has high consideration for group harmony rather than individuality,” De Vera said.
Jill Carly, an ASU political science graduate student, works as a peer advisor for ASU’s Study Abroad program. Carly herself studied abroad in France, and said that culture shock it just a part of the experience.
“The severity is different for everybody. Some people experience much more culture shock,” Carly said. “But it’s a natural part of studying abroad.”
Carly said educational processes are one of the dissimilarites that students face when studying abroad. She said in European countries especially, like where she studied, the educational styles tend to differ.
“One thing more common in the United States is discussion during class,” Carly said. “In a lot of countries, they don’t have a lot of participation time. There’s not much interaction between students and professors.”
According to The Five Stages of Culture Shock, in the last few steps, students become more accustomed and open to their surroundings, finally accepting the new culture.
Hauser, for example, said her resentments eventually began to fade away, and now she enjoys Leeds.
“Now it just feels like England is a second home to me,” Hauser said. “You adjust to the differences and they stop getting to you.”
De Vera said he also adjusted and learned to accept the new culture.
“It's funny how after a month, most of us kept on saying how we wanted to stay after a while,” De Vera said. “You start learning about your surroundings and how to interact with natives on a regular basis and it doesn't become so foreign anymore.”
The last phase in culture shock is the “re-entry shock,” when travelers return home and have trouble reconnecting to their own culture.
“It made me realize that there's so much more going on out there and sometimes, people here in the US are very ethnocentric,” De Vera said. “Traveling and studying abroad has certainly opened my eyes about other cultures. More importantly, I think it also made me learn more about myself.”
Reach the reporter at scotthuscher@yahoo.com.
