The culture shock video reminded me of my transition to America.
I came to the US in 2005 when I was 11 years old. I entered school in seventh grade. As a foreign student I was able to relate to the experiences of the exchange students in the video. I distinctly remember not being able understand English at first. I went to an English medium school in India but the English I learned din school was so much different than the English spoken in America.
After the language barrier came the solitude. I moved to the US with my immediate family and yet I had a hard time with living in a completely different environment. I wanted to interact with others but I simply could not. I didn’t know their language properly neither did I know their culture. I came from a culture that was polychornic and collective. This was much different than the American culture. I did not get used to the American culture till after spending almost five years in the States. Even today, there are times when I feel extremely uncomfortable in some surroundings because I don’t know the American culture!
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If that were the case, the transition would have been a lot tougher. The American culture is much more accepting. Due to globalization, majority of the people around the world know about the US. I ad a clue of what I was getting myself into when I first came to the US. On the other hand, I would have been a complete stranger if I tried to enter the Gujarati culture, everything would have been extremely different: culture, life style, language, values etc. Overall, I am glad that I was born a Gujarati and moved to the US instead of the other way around!
How do you think your experience and culture shock would have been different if you would have instead been an American born person moving to Gujarat?