On Culture Shock

To cite Veekeepaydayuhs, culture shock is defined as ”the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country.” Culture shock is depicted as having 4 distinct, but not fixed, stages:

1. Honeymoon Phase – Cultural differences are seen in a romantic light, wonderful and new.
2. Negotiation Phase – Cultural differences are apparent and may create anxiety. This phase is often marked by mood swings caused by minor issues or without apparent reason. Depression is not uncommon.
3. Adjustment Phase - One grows accustomed to the new culture and develops routines. One knows what to expect in most situations and the host country no longer feels all that new.
4. Reverse Culture Shock – Upon re-entry, cultural differences once again become apparent and create anxiety.

Our first encounter with culture shock was, interestingly enough, not on foreign soil. It was the first day of Thanksgiving Break last semester, and Elizabeth, being an RA, was charged with making sure all of her residents had left their rooms to go home for the 5-day break. Unfortunately, not all of her residents had gotten the memo about getting out by 9:00 am. While most left with only a little prodding, Elizabeth realized that one of the international students living on her hall had yet to be seen that morning; assuming he had simply overslept, Elizabeth walked over and knocked on his door. Then knocked again. Having other duties to complete, Elizabeth went back to her business, but by 9:00 she suspected she’d have to key into the room, so she gathered reinforcements – Jaime – and returned to the international student’s suite.
Outside: *Knock-knock-knock*
Inside: *Rustle-rustle-rustle*
Outside:*Knock-knock-knock*
Inside: *Rustle-rustle-rustle*
Hmm. We could hear that obviously something was abrew inside, so Elizabeth resorted to calling out, “HOUSING!” Rustle-rustle-rustle one last time, and a muted “coming!” before the door slowly opened, revealing a highly disheveled, sleepy student clad only in thin, high-cut tighty-whities. Shocked and slightly embarrassed at the sight of her resident in his underwear, Elizabeth regained her composure and informed him of the approaching deadline. Jaime, meanwhile, had regained her composure and was trying really, really hard not to laugh. We’re not really sure if this is what they were talking about, but we did come from different cultures, and there was definitely shock.

Recently, we’ve been trying to place ourselves on the graphs. Elizabeth, being 6 days into a broken leg, probably should be somewhere near rock-bottom (what the experts term the Crisis), but is in surprisingly good spirits. We’re not quite sure if she had a very quick Crisis at hour 9 in the hospital, stuck in a wheelchair and 4 hours past needing more Ibuprofen, or if she’s still got one looming. Jaime, on the other hand, has fortunately definitely gotten past her Crisis moment: that was one night after being extremely overtired, having heard some bad news, and through a bit of miscommunication thinking that Elizabeth was completely ignoring her and subsequently slamming her door – though we’re happy to report that the friendship is entirely intact. (We now know to add “Elizabeth keeps her iPod volume high enough to drown out all outside noises” to the list of things we’ve learned about ourselves…)

Interestingly, Jaime’s Crisis really had nothing to do with culture – it’s just that through a combination of mishaps, coincidences, and bad news, we’ve both sort of been going through a rough week. On the bright side… well, just wait for the next post.