Studying
abroad and culture shock
Are you planning to study in the UK? Are
you looking forward to an exciting time, with high expectations
of life in Britain?
If you have been to the UK already, then you will roughly know
what to expect. If it is your first time in the country - and perhaps
your first time abroad - you may find that settling in is not an
automatic process but that it requires a bit of effort. You may
be surprised by this, and at some stage you will probably use the
term culture shock to explain your reactions. But what exactly is
culture shock? What does it feel like? Can you prevent it? Probably
not but you can minimise its effect. Read on and find out how. You
may settle in more easily if you know in advance how you are likely
to feel after your arrival.
Research into culture shock
For over thirty years, culture shock has been a bona fide field
of research for European and American anthropologists and psychologists.
They have studied the reactions and experiences during the first
few months in a new country of travellers and diplomats, business
people and international students.
The anthropologist Dr. Kalvero Oberg was the first to use the term.
Others have since experimented with ‘culture fatigue’
and ‘role shock’ but these have not made it into everyday
usage. Culture shock is snappy and somehow we all know what it means
to us, although if asked, we may find it as difficult to define
as ‘jet lag’ or ‘homesickness’.
Some researchers describe five stages; others believe it is a six
or even seven stage process. Not everyone experiences the exact
stages but most travellers will go through the highs and lows, the
positive as well as the negative aspects of living in a new culture.
The different stages roughly are as follows:
At first you are excited by the new environment and a few frustrations
do not spoil your enthusiasm. When experiencing some difficulties
with simple things like, for instance, making telephone calls, or
using public transport, you tend to down-play negative emotions.
Then follows a period in which cultural differences in behaviour
and values become more obvious. What previously seemed exciting,
new and challenging is now merely frustrating. You may feel isolated
and become withdrawn from life around you. You seek security in
the familiar. Food from home, possibly even what you never particularly
enjoyed, becomes a focus, maybe an obsession.
In the next stage you may reject what is around you, perhaps becoming
opinionated and negative. You may feel that everyone is against
you and that nobody understands you. Limpet-like you cling to other
students from your home country, hoping to have your negative stereotypes
of the British and life in Britain reinforced. However, you are
beginning to re-assert yourself.
Based on your successes in negotiating a variety of social situations
and, maybe, increased language skills, your self-esteem grows. You
can accept the negative differences and tolerate them. Knowing that
you cannot change your surroundings you now enjoy certain aspects
of British culture and feel relieved and strengthened from having
overcome the difficulties. You may even feel a sense of belonging.
The symptoms
Just as everyone’s experience of culture shock is unique,
the symptoms associated with it vary, too. They can range from the
physical - headaches, lethargy, sleep problems, loss of appetite
and digestive irregularities - to the psychological, irritability
and anger over minor frustrations, confusion about morals and values.
Suffering from culture shock often leaves people feeling moody,
isolated and insecure.
Researchers believe that the beginning of the negative phases happen
most often within two to six months of living in a new culture but
many travellers experience the full gambit of emotions associated
with culture shock in a much narrower time span.
Not everyone experiences culture shock
But what about all those many people who immediately feel at home
at Britain? Who embrace everything wholeheartedly and enthusiastically?
Who experience no problems in settling in?
Research has shown that the more well-travelled and practised at
absorbing, accepting and adapting you are, the more easily you overcome
culture shock. If you are confident from speaking the language and
possess a thorough knowledge of your new home, you can feel settled
after a relatively short period.
If you have adjusted well to your new environment, you perform
competently the roles that each social context requires and thus
avoid the frustrations resulting from inappropriate behaviour.
Some individuals do not seek cultural adjustment, either because
they do not agree with the values and behaviour prevalent in the
new country, or because they fear to loose too much of their own
cultural identity. Living in a cultural vacuum may not be easy and
can lead to feeling, and being treated, like an outsider.
Others deny or even reject their own culture and unquestioningly
embrace everything new. Whilst living in Britain, this may seem
a viable course of action but on returning home can lead to re-integration
problems.
Those who neither completely reject their own culture nor that
of the new country tend to be most successful at overcoming culture
shock. They will attempt to mix and merge aspects of both cultures
and thus become bicultural.
Preparing for culture shock
What strategies can you use to minimise, and cope with, culture
shock? Research has shown that our expectations affect how we react
to a new country. Therefore, thorough pre-departure preparations
are necessary;
- Read the very useful booklet ‘How to live in Britain’
(from the British Council)
- Perhaps you know someone who has lived in the UK, or - better
still - studied at the university or college you are going to.
Talk to them but beware, they may indulge in some nostalgia when
looking back on their student days. Ask them what problems and
disappointments they have experienced. To contact former students,
find out whether the institution you are going to supports an
alumni group in your country.
- Read all the pre-departure literature sent to you by your university
or college. Write to the International Welfare Officer for information
if you are unsure about anything.
- Before leaving home, try and find out some social survival skills:
-
how to address people in different social groups
how gender roles affect social relationships
what constitutes acceptable behaviour in a range of everyday
situations
how gestures and body language differ from your country’s
Do not rely on TV or cinema films to provide you cultural pointers.
British soap operas and films only give you a stereotypical and
often idolised view.
How to overcome culture shock
After arriving at your new university or college, the following
suggestions may assist you in reducing the strain of culture shock:
- Be aware of the signs, including the physical symptoms.
- Soon after arriving, explore you immediate environment. Having
taken advice on personal safety, walk around and get to know your
neighbourhood. Create a mental map of your surroundings.
- Be courageous and introduce yourself to you neighbours. If you
live in university accommodation, these are likely to be other
students who feel just the way you do.
- Locate useful places such as the post office, the doctor’s
surgery and the university welfare office so that you know where
they are when you need them.
- Read a local newspaper and find out what the topical issues
are. If you are well informed, you can hold conversations with
British people without always feeling the outsider.
- If you are unsure of your English, boost your confidence by
remembering that most British people do not speak a foreign language.
Make an effort at improving your language skills by watching TV
and listening to the radio. You institution may run free courses
for international students.
- Take a break from studying and take part in social activities.
Enquire about things like etiquette and dress code if you are
at all unsure.
- Ask questions about social customs from people with whom you
feel comfortable. You will always find someone who will assist
you in finding out about life in Britain. This can be a two-way
exchange, with you telling people about life in your home country.
- Keep in touch with your own culture. The university’s International
Welfare Officer should know, for instance, where the nearest temples
and mosques are and where you can buy the cookery ingredients
that you are used to from home.
- Avoid mixing only with compatriots or other international students.
Contact with British people allows you to adapt more quickly.
By asking questions you have a point of contact when trying to
make friends.
- A good way of meeting British people is to take part in a hosting
scheme where British families invite international students into
their homes for a meal, or a weekend stay. Ask the International
Welfare Officer about this.
- Ask yourself which situations irritate or confuse you the most.
Are you sure that you have always understood people’s reactions
to you, or could it be that you misinterpreting their behaviour?
- Avoid comparing them and us, good and bad. Establishing why
people behave the way they do and placing their behaviour in a
social or economic context is more helpful.
- Help to reduce stress on your body by keeping fit physically.
- If you are feeling very low, talk to someone about it. This
could be your fellow students, your landlord, or university staff
such as the International Welfare Officer or Student Counsellor.
- Write down things you like and do not like. Can you change them?
If not, perhaps you can find a way of living with them.
- And finally, remember that other students probably go through
the same experiences as you do. Even British students have to
adjust to living away from home.
Adapting to a different climate, different social conventions and
different cultural values can be a complex and sometimes painful
process, but coming out at the other end is rewarding, enriching
and definitely worth the effort!
Author: Christine Eickelmann, University of Northumbria,
U.K
This article first appeared in Educational Courses in Britain
