In my last article “The ‘culture shock’ many scholarship students face abroad,” I talked about how a person exposed to a new environment usually goes through a number of phases that start with fascination, when everything is new and shiny, to negotiation phase, when differences start to appear, and then comes the adjustment phase, when the person decides his or her attitude toward the new endeavor, and then there is final phase, coping or rejecting the new life.
Now, given that virtually everyone is vulnerable to experience the cultural shock, the question that begs to be asked is; how can we deal with it?
The first step is to get yourself familiar with the new environment. Read about it, follow its news, listen to its music, watch movies and TV shows coming from it. Be familiar with its cultural and social norms. Small things as trivial as how people tip, and what are their local dishes could make a big difference. The age of communication leaves you with no excuses to realize a comprehensive research; any country, any people, their language, customs, traditions, and lifestyle are all clicks and tweets away.
However, a good research about the new environment is not enough in itself. It should all be wrapped in “open mindedness.” Accept that fact that people around the world differ in their belief, behavior, and that they have their own set of values, morals, stories, legends, and myths. These elements form the way they are, the way they like to live. There is no way for someone with an absolute prejudice against a certain culture to be able to lead a normal life in it. That does not mean, in anyway, accepting all and everything a new environment has to offer. The complex set of values, norms, and belief systems that grow with a person are hard to be abandoned and changed, but they better stand the tests imposed by the new environment. A person with an open mind is always ready for discussions and revisions. He or she builds a personality based on thoroughly thought-out values and set of morals, and are never intimidated by the new and different. It is not surprising, therefore, that those who usually travel and interact with other cultures are more tolerant and respectful to others’ chosen way of life.
Now, once the challenges of living the new experiment start to unfold, and contrary to the common wisdom, a person is better not to cut off his relations with his own culture. Meaning, although it is advisable to form new friendships in the new culture, it is better yet to keep friends from the original one. Such relationships ease the stress accumulated because of the new experience. Being able to talk your own language, to communicate with those who share a similar cultural background with you acts like a cushion; it makes you comfortable, you know that there are people like you and they have been able to make it and cope with the new environment.
So getting prepared to deal with the cultural shock is nothing but getting ourselves in the right mental and emotional state. It is all about living with change and accepting differences. The success of the whole new experience is dependable on our ability to manage our fears, and our judgments on ourselves before others.
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