Speaker 1: We are all familiar with our home town, home uni, home culture and values. We go through day to day life easily because we are fluent in our culture's social cues such as when to hold the door or to offer a cup of tea to a friend. When we immerse ourselves in a new culture we have to learn many things, how to get around, what to eat, how to speak and how to act appropriately. At the Global Society we call the process of learning these things the Cultural Adaptation Cycle. This is Norbert, he's travelled abroad for uni and he's about to demonstrate the different stages of cultural adaptation. Upon arriving in a new environment we often feel excited, optimistic and in awe. We are intrigued by new sights, sounds and smells. This is the honeymoon phase. We see the differences between our host culture and our home culture and we tend to focus on the positive aspects of the new environment. At some point after entering a new environment all of the new culture will wear away. Differences that once seemed quaint may now appear more like hurdles or annoyances. Small challenges become devastations. We may begin to resent our host culture and attribute negative feelings towards our overseas experience. We call this the slump phase or more commonly known as culture shock. The slump can happen at different times and in different ways for each of us and its symptoms can affect us physically and mentally. Common symptoms include recurrent illness and changes in your eating habits and sleeping habits, homesickness and persistent negativity towards the host culture, bouts of frustration and irritability and feelings of sadness and depression, self-doubt and withdrawing from friends and other people and activities. While the slump may affect us differently, it's important to remember that we all feel culture shock in some way. Our feelings of struggles are normal and likely being experienced by others too. We should be patient and give ourselves time to work through the slump. Some tips that will assist us in overcoming this challenging phase include, recognise that this unpleasant stage of cultural adaptation is only temporary, get out into the host culture, visit and explore your new surroundings and join in on activities and organisations that the host uni provides. Take time to reflect and put your feelings and observations down in a journal. You can talk to someone about your experiences and don't be afraid to laugh at your mistakes. Having a routine that includes eating well, exercising and getting enough sleep is helpful too and if you're in a second language environment, work on those language skills. With time and patience, we begin to realise the positive outcomes of cultural adaptation. We begin to recover from culture shock and acclimatise to the host culture. We develop an understanding for not only how things are done, but why. This is the realisation phase. Through this, we accept differences more willingly, we navigate the world around us more easily and we are more confident. Eventually, our new home will no longer be new and instead feels like a second home. We will have regained emotional stability and are able to live and study to our full potential. We will have built meaningful connections with our second home. We recognise that we have changed as a result of our experiences and begin to meld this with our identity. This is the adaptation phase. The most breaching adaptation is not the end of the cultural adaptation cycle. We may encounter relapses of culture shock and enter into feelings of frustration or sadness once again. However, having recognised and coped with culture shock once before, we can move forward more confidently using successful strategies. Likely, we will continue to achieve successes and milestones. We will also develop a deeper understanding of our second home. Then, we'll return home. When returning from our overseas experience, we'll be reminded once again that our perception of the world and our home has changed, that we have changed. Re-learning the routines of our home or uni may be frustrating at first. We may struggle to find ways to include our new perspectives in our day-to-day life. However, never doubt. As we have already learnt, these feelings are normal and common. We simply need to adapt. you