As an international student in the United States, I am aware of the culture shock phenomenon, and could therefore greatly identify with the 'Culture Shock' video. It was heartening to hear other students voice concerns which I faced (and sometimes still face) but did not talk much about. Away from family, friends and culture, all of us international students try to ignore any sort of 'shock' we might be feeling as a coping mechanism. We often confuse denial of this understandable feeling with a way to enable a better fitting into the new culture. The differences that made me feel alienated were not only cultural, but academic as well. That threw me of a bit, because I used to think that even if it took me a while to find a close group of friends, I would at least have a good understanding of my studies. Therefore, the students from the video were very relatable when they were talking about their academic struggles.
Just as there is a big difference between Indian and American culture, there is an equal if not bigger difference between Indian and Korean culture. Both countries have unique cultural and social practices, and I also lack interaction experience with many native Koreans. Since there is not a very big Indian population in Korea, this problem might be mutual. As I progress with my Korean language learning, I realize how different Korean is from either Hindi or English, and therefore I went through a sort of culture shock when I had to adjust my brain's methods of dealing with languages to accommodate a learning plan for such a different language. A good quality of the self-directed learning course is that it encourages not only learning the structure of a language but also the history, culture, and society of the language's native population. Therefore, my culture shock towards Korean is limited to not only learning how to speak and write it, but also its usage in Korea. I plan to go for study abroad to South Korea next year, and I believe my early experience with Korean language and culture will incredibly enhance my experience there and help me deal and reduce the culture shock I may experience.
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