Speaker 1: Yeah, I know I drank box wine the last time you saw me, but Europe, it changes you. I can taste Italy in this cup. Let me stop. Let's roll the intro. Hello beautiful people. Welcome back to Let's Unpack That. Girl, we need to unpack that. Let's Unpack That is a travel education series where you and I process and unpack our bag age of social identities, travel privileges, hot topics, and social issues, and travel to understand how they impact our travel experiences. My name is Sojourner and I am international social worker and travel educator behind the platform Sojourneys and your host for this series. And today's topic we are discussing culture shock. Culture shock is pretty common and is experience a person may have when they are immersed in a country that is not their own. And there are a lot of emotions and feelings that can come out of culture shock such as isolation, anxiety, overwhelm, confusion, and all of these things are caused by being in an unfamiliar to you destination, location, culture, and trying to adjust to its practices, behaviors, attitudes. Because of that, it causes culture shock because it can be overwhelming if you're going abroad for the first time, trying to live in a language that is not your own language, and all of that processing kind of puts your body and your mind in overload and therefore culture shock happens. So what are some examples of culture shock? One example can be adjusting to mealtime. So I studied abroad in Spain and they eat lunch at 2 to 3 p.m. compared to US and we eat lunch at noon and so that was an adjustment as well as dinner time. They eat dinner around like 9 p.m. and that's when I'm normally going to sleep. Another example of culture shock is adapting to the amenities that you are now living in. So if you're someone who needs to take a shower like twice a day and then you go to another country you have a different type or different way of showering or bathing or hygienic practices. Being overwhelmed with the language is another example of culture shock. No matter how much you study a language, sometimes you need to learn stuff in country and some of the simplest tasks like reading street signs or a menu, asking for directions, can all overwhelm you because you don't know the language. And all of those things that seem really simple that you can do easily at home are a lot more complex abroad. However, there are technically 5 stages of culture shock. The first stage is the honeymoon stage. This is when everything is so wonderful and perfect. Even the littlest things that you find annoying in your home country, you totally find cute in your host country. For example, you're walking across the street and you're like, oh they jaywalk so cute here. Or you're even watching traffic like, oh their traffic is so charming. Kind of like the ignorance is bliss stage. You are enamored with every little thing. You're learning so much all at once and you're processing it but not as deeply. This can last throughout the entire duration of your trip. If you were only going for a week or two weeks, it can even last a few months. But as we all know, life comes at you fast. Ignorance is bliss until you start learning and living a little more. And then the negotiation and frustration stage is upon us. In this second stage, you start to feel uncomfortable. You may feel disconnected or isolated from your host country. Those rose colored glasses that you had on are totally gone and you no longer see it for this whimsical experience. You may begin to miss your family and friends back home, which signals homesickness. And then after those first two stages, we have the adjustment phase. This is when you start to find some sort of routine in your day. You may have even made some new friends, which makes you feel more integrated into the community you're now living in. You may be learning more of the language, navigating those pesky street signs that may have been making you angry at first or frustrated. Seems a lot more easier and all of your difficulties aren't gone during this phase. But compared to the frustration and negotiation phase, you are adapting and becoming more flexible in your new home. This phase is normally around the 6-12 month mark, though that varies based on how quickly you adjust and also how long you're in a country. Then you end up in the adaptation phase. This is when you are adjusted. This is the stage where you feel more of a sense of belonging that may have come up during the adjustment phase, but now you feel more adapted. You may have solidified those friendships or something a little more. During the adaptation phase, you are learning the language a lot more. You are used to that routine that started in the adjustment phase. You may befriend your local baker, the people at the grocery store. You are feeling fully immersed into the culture that you are now in. But most people think that this is the end. Once you get to the adaptation phase, that's it. You're all good to go. Yet, there is a fifth stage and that is the re-entry stage. Re-entry stage is also referred to as reverse culture shock. We've been talking about culture shock when you go into someone else's country, but what happens when you've been immersed in a culture that is not yours for an extended period of time and now you are put back in your culture of origin? How does that feel? That's the re-entry phase. The re-entry phase can last quite a bit of time. This is when even your family, the friends that you had before you went abroad may seem different because the reality is that even while you were gone, life went on without you back home. Now you're in the stage where you realize that things may have changed and now you have to adjust to those changes. What are some tips to help you manage your culture shock? My first tip is to keep that open mind, keep that flexibility and adaptability. Culture shock can go bad and turn into being more ethnocentric and thinking that your culture is better not just accepting that people live differently and have different cultural practices. Always keep a journal to jot your notes down, jot your feelings down. I have tons of journals from my adventures. It's a great way to reflect once you are back in that re-entry phase. If you are feeling isolated, go talk to someone in your cohort because I would bet money that you are not the only one feeling what you're feeling. Most likely you will be with people who are experiencing this country for the first time too or are adapting and learning just like you. Reach out, build those connections within your cohort and your community. Talk to your host family about it if you can. Just get acquainted with people so that you have a community to lean on while you're abroad. I say this every video because reading is fundamental but read about the country and the cultural practices before you go. You cannot prepare for everything so don't assume that. However, there is something you can be aware of just to be mindful about as you go abroad. My final tip is to just go all in even if it's uncomfortable, if it's dangerous or something then don't do it. But if it's pushing your boundaries or pushing you to get outside your comfort zone, that's what traveling, studying, living abroad is all about. So be open to new experiences, be open to change, reject that ethnocentrism. Yes, it's normal to compare and contrast your experiences abroad with your experiences at home. However, live in that moment. Alright, it's a resource time. If you are looking for more information on culture shock and how to process it, I have two for you. The first is the Re-Entry Roadmap and the Re-Entry Roadmap Podcast by Small Planet Studio which was created by Dr. Kate Brubaker. Dr. Brubaker specializes in re-entry which is stage 5 of culture shock and has a podcast with travelers who have talked about it and who have processed their experiences as well and it offers even more tips on how to adjust when you do return home. The second resource is found on Medium actually under their Global Perspectives, an organization called Participate Learning where a blog post on just four stages of culture shock, but if you want to read more experiences and learn about these stages, definitely check out that blog post. That is it for this episode of Let's Unpack That. I hope you all enjoyed. If you have any comments, reflections, or tips or stories that you want to offer, feel free to comment them below. I look forward to seeing you all next week. Stay curious. Bye.