While prepping for an internship abroad, those feelings of excitement and glee are naturally bound to pop up. Imagining yourself immersed in a new environment, language and society is thrilling, but it also might leave you wondering what it’s really like to be in completely new surroundings. And more importantly, if you’ll experience the infamous culture shock.
Experienced by both expert travelers and newbies alike, culture shock is found in just about every corner of the world. Even though nearly everyone has heard of it, it’s still a concept that isn’t fully understood by everybody. Whether you travel to a new place for three days or three years, the way you’ll experience a new culture will be unique to you.
All Your Questions About Culture Shock Answered
To help make your transition into a nonprofit internship abroad easier, or any new country for that matter, we have compiled all our top culture shock questions and answers.
1. What is culture shock ?
First things first, let’s clarify what does culture shock mean at its core. Culture shock is the feeling of disorientation, frustration, or unease that people may experience when immersed in a new culture or setting. This sensation of culture shock tends to happen when a person moves to a new city or country for an extended period of time. Without adequate preparation for that new environment, feelings of anxiety might arise. However, no matter how big or small that initial shock is, it’s a natural reaction to unfamiliar surroundings, and there’s many ways to manage it. These feelings are, after all, a common part of adapting to a new setting.
2. How long does culture shock last ?
There is no exact time estimate to determine how long culture shock will last since it varies on each individual. For some people, it can last for a few weeks or even several months; for others they might not experience culture shock at all. The length of the shock will all depend on the length of your stay, your personality, language skills, and how drastically different you find this new country compared to yours. When it comes to culture shock, some cultural nuances you can get used to quite quickly, but some experiences will remain surprising for years to come! Nevertheless, if you mentally prepare yourself for this new journey, your shock can dissipate faster.
3. How does culture shock affect an individual?
How culture shock will affect a person will vary greatly on the person and their new environment. By going in completely unprepared to enter a new country and culture, the shock that follows might lead to a difficult initial entry. Extreme differences in food, language, social practices, and even ideologies will always require an adjustment. A person might experience both physical and emotional changes. Physical symptoms that a lot of people experience are headaches from adjusting to a new language, insomnia from adjusting to the new time zone, or an overall overwhelming feeling from trying to adjust to everyday life. Symptoms that activate a more emotional response are homesickness, anxiety, anger, confusion or feelings of isolation.
It’s important to note that it’s not a guarantee that you’ll experience all of these symptoms– or any at all, it’s different for everyone. Some people may experience more severe symptoms than others, while some may not experience any symptoms at all. But, if you’re experiencing more severe symptoms, seek support from friends, family, or a mental health professional.
4. Are all culture shock feelings negative?
Of course not! Although the word “shock” tends to have a negative pretext, when it comes to culture shock, you’ll find a mix of both positive and negative aspects. In every country you’ll find wonderful features that don’t exist in your hometown, as well as sides that won’t be to your liking. Maybe you’ll love the public transportation system in the new country, and dislike the typical food, for example. Even if you find it to be uncomfortable or challenging in the beginning, culture shock is overall a transformative experience. Culture shock can help you grow as a person, develop new perspectives, and appreciate the culture you’re in.
5. How many stages of culture shock are there?
It’s no surprise that there are actually culture shock stages that you will encounter once you arrive at your new destination. This roller coaster of emotions tends to follow this pattern:
- Honeymoon phase: In this initial stage you’ll feel like a tourist in your new destination. And like any typical tourist, everything is new and exciting. It’s easy to find everything astonishing at this stage. You see all the great things that your new place has to offer. Who wouldn’t be overjoyed and excited by all the new adventures that await? But all great things must come to an end at some point, and once it does, more challenging phases start to kick in.
- Frustration phase: Once you take off those rose colored glasses you had on, you’ll start to see the not so great parts of your new town as well. You might start to get frustrated, anxious, or just generally confused. The root of your overwhelming emotions might be due to a language barrier, administrative duties, different cultural nuances, among other things. At this stage it might feel like it never ends, but luckily it will be over soon enough.
- Adjustment phase: After all the uneasiness is set aside, you start to understand your surroundings and you start to fit in with the locals. The strange soon becomes familiar.You start to adapt to the new culture and their customs and become more comfortable. At this phase you’ll start engaging more with those around you and find your community.
- Acceptance phase: Finally after being in your new environment for a while, you fully accept and appreciate the new culture you’re immersed in. Everything starts feeling normal and you don’t struggle as much to get around. You’re not shocked anymore when you discover something new and everyday you feel more like a local.
- Re-entry phase: Just when you think the phases of culture shock are done once you go back to your hometown you find yourself in a new wave of shock or more accurately: reverse culture shock. Since you became accustomed to your new environment, soon things back home seem odd. This is when you start looking around and asking yourself “ has this always been this way?” It most likely has, this just means that your outlook and perspective in life has changed, but there’s nothing negative about that!
6. How to deal with culture shock?
There are many ways to manage culture shock, starting with doing research before your arrival will provide a basic understanding of local customs, traditions, language, and social norms. During this preparation phase, it’s essential to set realistic expectations. Don’t romanticize everything about the culture and prepare to have ups and downs during your journey. If you don’t know the local language, try to learn! Knowing even basic language skills can make a big difference in feeling more comfortable.
Remember to also be open minded with your new environment. It’s normal to find others with an extremely different way of thinking and living, but no matter where you go you can always find a community or like minded people to link with. Culture shock is a normal part of the adjustment process, you’ll have to be patient with yourself and others. However if you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s important to reach out to others for support. Stay connected with friends and family back home, or seek out professional help if necessary.
7. How to avoid culture shock ?
In our opinion, there’s really no way to avoid culture shock completely. It’s a natural phenomenon! But if you’re searching on how to combat culture shock, the best way to do so is by preparing yourself mentally for the new experience you are about to enter in.
Look up resources online or reach out to others living abroad that will help you know what you can expect during your journey. If you’re planning on doing an internship abroad, research how to maintain your mental health during your time there. There are an array of resources that can help you manage your culture shock so that you can enjoy your time abroad!
Have More Culture Shock Questions?
If you still have more questions to ask about culture shock we’re here to help! At Roots we specialize in placing interns all over the world, therefore we’ve had our fair share of learning on how to minimize culture shock as well for the sake of our interns. Check out our Frequently Asked Questions for more information or read through our safety guidelines for internships to help you prepare for your experience abroad.
There’s so many reasons you’ll need to travel in life, maybe it’s for a career shift, for school, an internship abroad, adventurous gap years, or just for fun; let us assist in your journey. Read more reasons to join us or feel free to contact us directly to ask any questions!
This blog was written by Adelis L. Álvarez
