Travel is an adventure in itself. Travel connects us with other cultures and gives us the opportunity to be immersed in their customs and traditions and to develop a deeper understanding of other people.
Although travelling is an enriching experience, sometimes it can be difficult coming to terms with the way in which other people live, in particular when we travel to second or third world countries for the first time.
Culture Shock is a fact of travel. No matter how much you have travelled, some degree of culture shock is inescapable when you are confronted by a new destination. Culture shock can best be described as the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. One of the reasons what we feel out of place in a new environment is because we have not yet learnt the cues of interpersonal communication for the culture we find ourselves in. Such things as body language, words, facial expressions, tone of voice, idioms and slang are different in different cultures.
Fortunately we can minimise our own culture shock to a large degree by being aware and doing some research on your destination prior to travel, to learn about local customs and traditions and be culturally sensitive.
If you are simply planning a short holiday, then you will most likely experience only the first stage of culture shock, however if you are planning on an extended stay in another country you may wish to consider the different stages of culture shock that you will most likely experience.
The Honeymoon Stage
As you can already guess from the name, in this stage you feel excited about your adventure. The newness and differences are still a novelty. The day-to-day difficulties haven’t set in yet. Most people feel energetic and enthusiastic during this stage.
The Crisis or Cultural Shock Stage
In this stage, reality sets in as you try to make a new home for yourself. You become aware of the differences between your own culture and the new culture. You try to communicate in a new language you might not know very well. You’re not sure how to interact with people and where to find things. In this stage many different feelings and emotions may arise, from confusion, anxiety, homesickness, and loneliness, to being unsure of yourself, feeling less competent than in your home country, feeling overwhelmed, and feeling angry for being in this situation.
Participate in your new environment. Start out with small steps, as you feel comfortable. Read a local newspaper to get informed, find others in the same situation, and see what help is available to you. Slowly but surely you will build a new support system and move into the next stage.
The Adjustment or Recovery Stage
After having been in the new country for a while a daily routine sets in. Your new neighborhood becomes more familiar, you know where to get all your basic things, and you are able to communicate better. Your sense of self comes back and you even return to the excitement of the “Honeymoon Stage” more often. This stage could be described as an oscillation between the two first stages, from feeling excited to being down, from feeling out of place to being an active participant in your new environment.
The Adaptation Stage
Your life resumes with a familiar pattern but now has a different background component from the new culture. You’re ready to develop a realistic understanding of the similarities and differences between your own culture and the new culture. By comparing both, you have the unique opportunity to learn about two different approaches and can decide what fits best for you.
The author and psychiatrist M. Scott Peck says:
“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”
- signing off, Marika Martinez - Women's Own Adventure
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