SDLAP 105. Learning Journal #8

            Culture shock is a response that people may have when faced with different habits and behaviors than what they are used to. It manifests itself in language, food, academics, and everyday costumes. The movie we watched in class describes the cultural experiences of several international students and faculty at the University of Richmond. As an international student, I found the film to be very interesting because I have been through mostly everything mentioned in it.

            I have been in new cultures when I attended high school in Bosnia and Herzegovina and now at Richmond. The first stage of cultural shock for me both times was the same as the German student mentioned; sitting alone in the room wondering “Why am I here?” That is a normal question for any foreigner living in a new area. The next stage is comparing everything in the new culture to the native culture. Usually, this ends up with finding all the flaws in the new culture. For example, one girl in the film talked about how American guys are “weird” and “not emotionally open”. This may not necessarily be a bad thing in the United States. The American culture expects men to be stronger and more assertive. This can be the reason why American guys seem different to an international student. However, this is more of a college culture than an American culture issue. Social life in college can be different and the interaction between the two genders does not represent the American culture in general.

            One important aspect in every culture is the colloquial language. It is different even among Anglo speaking countries. While most people do not have a problem with the American accent, it is the idioms that may create difficulty for someone visiting the United States for the first time. This may extend to communication in general and greeting others is a part of communication. One student in the film stressed the issue of the impersonal greeting he found at the University of Richmond. People will walk by you and simple say “what’s up” or “’sup”. They do not expect a long response from you and they are not ready to give you a long answer if you ask back “how are you?” What I personally found even worse is when you walk by people you already met and you know they saw you, but they look down and walk past you as if they did not see you. This does create a big gap in a communication, especially for someone from a culture that values personal communication.

            Not too surprising, academics also create a cultural shock for someone visiting a country for educational reasons. Each country has a different system and it is not easy to adapt to a new system after 12 years of the other. The student from Bangladesh talked about class participation and how that was difficult for him in the beginning because he was not accustomed to it. I personally faced a similar problem when I was studying for the IB diploma in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I arrived to school three weeks late because of visa issues and I was asked to make a presentation and write a two page paper during my first week. I have never done either in Iraq. The grade in Iraq is only based on test results. I had a really hard time during that week because I did not understand what a presentation should be about, and what I should write in my paper.

            Culture shock is a normal thing for travelers. After the “honeymoon” phase, it is hard to immediately adapt into new cultural habits. One of the best ways to overcome culture shock is by integrating into the culture. Usually, this happens by joining activities, clubs, and organizations. Of course, the one best way to overcome culture shock is by having friends from that culture. They will help you understand why things function the way they do. They will help you realize that they are happy with the way things are and they do not think their culture is bad at all.

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