Updated On: 16 October 2024
How to Overcome Culture Shock While Studying Abroad?
Studying abroad is one of the most rewarding things an individual can do, learning from the different educational systems, experiencing a new way of life, and gaining a broader perspective of the world. Nonetheless, in the midst of all the thrill, a lot of the students are confronted with an unanticipated obstacle; culture shock. This occurs when a person is plunged into a different culture and experiences, disorientation, anxiety or discomfort of any sort. But do not worry! It's not the end of the world, it even has its advantages, conquering such a discomfort as culture shock is a must for enjoying your international experience to the fullest extent. Dive into the blog to understand how to overcome culture shock while studying abroad.
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How Culture Shock Feels Like: Understanding Culture Shock?
In order to understand how to overcome culture shock while studying abroad, it is important to understand what culture shock actually is. Culture shock is a natural phenomenon that consists of a range of emotions and feelings experienced when a person is placed within an unfamiliar society and is subjected to different ways of life that they are not used to. Usually, people experience culture shock in phases:
- The Excitement Phase At the beginning, every aspect of the new culture might be intriguing, refreshing, and fascinating.
- The Frustration Phase With the loss of the excitement phase, the individual may start feeling exasperated or even stressed by the language and communication barrier, different foods, and other typical activities.
- The Adjustment Phase You begin to adjust by knowing what to do in the new environment, and establishing a pattern of activities.
- The Acceptance Phase This is the stage where they start feeling at ease, and able to appreciate the differences in the environment and even bring the changes to their own ways of life.
While culture shock is inevitable to some degree, you can manage and reduce its impact by preparing mentally, emotionally, and practically before and during your studies abroad.
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Strategies for Overcoming Culture Shock While Studying Abroad
- Learn About Your Host Country Before Arrival
To overcome culture shock while studying abroad, the best way to prepare yourself for the new environment that you are supposed to get in is to understand the culture, language, and customs of the people of that society long before you arrive. Familiarize yourself with the expected patterns of behavior, attitudes, and other elements of the defined community. Watch movies, read history, life travel diaries, and blogs to understand how life is in that study abroad destination. Speaking a language will always help people to connect socially and support emotionally.
- Be Curious and Think Out of the Box
How to overcome culture shock while studying abroad is often the question on international students’ minds even when they are engaged in work. While you are studying abroad, doing your researches, get your mind and interest out of the box. What has been called a ‘foreign culture’ should not attract scorn but respect and the desire to understand. Take for instance, when one deems the local cuisine as weird, instead thereof, why not anticipate the thrilling adventure of diverse tastes and different food styles? The larger the differences, the easier it is to adapt and enjoy the culture of the country that a person has gone to visit.
- Build a Support System
One of the best way to overcome culture shock while studying abroad is to build a support system. Be in the company of individuals who comprehend the path that you are treading. Befriend other international students affected by culture outbursts. The most common concern is that universities abroad provide Student Support services, clubs for international students, or cultural sharing activities which allow for such encounters. Further, do not avoid or make assumptions about local students or host family members, as they also help ease cultural shock by enriching one with relevant cultures.
- Maintain a Record of Your Adventures
Sometimes, writing is more effective than talking, and this is often considered one of the best ways to overcome culture shock. This is especially true while you are away for an extended time. Describe the things that are startling, puzzling, or thrilling in a new place. You can also make use of journals for the purpose of evaluating your moods and coping strategies through the process of adaptation. Over the course of time, what used to be anywhere at all becomes everywhere, and the journal will tell your stories in the end.
- Stay Connected with Home (But Not Too Much)
One of the best strategies to overcome culture shock while studying abroad is staying connected with family. Keeping in contact with loved ones back home, especially in hard times, can be reassuring. However, it is equally important to know when to be in touch with people and when to focus on the new environment. The adjustment process may be negatively impacted by either the constant comparison of the foreign country with the home country or engaging in excessive communication with one's home country. Instead, allow yourself some time and space to appreciate your new culture.
- Create a Daily Schedule
One of the best-proven ways to overcome culture shock while studying abroad is by creating a daily routine. Incorporating habits into a new place on a daily basis does help with overcoming unfamiliarity of the new surroundings, and this brings stability to the new place. Things as basic as taking a morning jog, doing some school work at a certain coffee house, and involving oneself in sports, for instance, creates a pattern which makes the new experience less stressful. Eventually, such patterns will help in creating a new normal out of the new environment and will alleviate any feelings of anxiety or disorientation.
- Take Care of Your Mental and Physical Health
In the process of overcome culture shock while studying abroad, students tend to compromise their health. Studying abroad can certainly be physically and mentally draining. Make sure you get self-care by eating right, working out, and sleeping enough. If, however, you feel that the elements of culture shock keep persisting or worsening, it would be in your best interest to use the professional counseling services available. Various universities have mental health resources that attend specifically to the needs of facilitated students.
- Find Ways to Reward Yourself
Lasting changes in adjusting to a new environment and its challenges come over an extended period of time. Therefore, every little success ought to be appreciated and recognized. Successful use of public transport, speaking the local language, tasting food, and many other events should be recognized in their due course. Each small victory comes closer to achieving the goal of understanding cultural perspectives more deeply as well as improving oneself.
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Conclusion
In the course of studying overseas, culture shock is not insurmountable but rather serves as a stepping stone for growth. If one approaches the experience with curiosity, creates a connection with the outside world, and allows themselves enough time to adjust, one will soon discover that the initial stages of culture shock are simply part of the transformation one undergoes when one studies abroad. Therefore, go on the adventure, endure the uneasiness, and take in everything that being in a different country has to offer. It will change you for the better and teach you to appreciate the world's people.
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