Understanding Culture Shock

Study Notes

Culture Shock

Culture shock is a feeling experienced when someone moves to a new place with a different culture.
People typically go through three stages during culture shock: initial/honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and adaptation/acceptance.
The initial stage involves romanticizing the new culture, while the frustration stage involves a negative feeling toward the new environment and a yearning for the familiar.
The adjustment stage comes with getting used to the environment and adapting to the new culture, and the acceptance stage involves integrating into the new surroundings.
Finding a balance between home and host country values is not necessary.

Definitions

Frustration: A strong, sad feeling of missing one's home when physically away.
Homesickness: An unhappy and worried mental state caused by a strong, sad feeling of missing one's home when physically away.
Disturbance: A feeling of being annoyed because you cannot control a situation.
Invaluable: Extremely useful
Adjustment: A change in the way someone behaves or thinks.
Integration: The process of fitting into a community.

Diana's Experience

Diana, a student from Aleppo, Syria is studying in Montreal, Canada.
The climate in Syria is Mediterranean, with mild, rainy winters.
Canada has a very different climate, with very cold and snowy winters.
Diana found that Montreal has well-heated buildings and an underground city system to stay warm during winter.
Diana found the food in Montreal delicious, but different from her home cuisine, but she misses her mother's food.
She notes that Canadian national dishes like poutine, Montreal bagels, and butter tarts are different from Syria's.
She experienced maple syrup, a Canadian delicacy, for the first time.
She notes how hard it is to get used to a new culture.
She learned to avoid making quick judgments and try to understand the local culture's perspective.
She observed that people in Montreal did not easily adapt to the new culture and often returned home.

Description

Explore the stages of culture shock: from the initial honeymoon phase to the frustration and adjustment phases, and finally to acceptance. This quiz will help you understand your feelings when adapting to a new cultural environment. Gain insights into concepts like homesickness and disturbance during this transformative experience.