Travel is exciting but also sometimes daunting. Travelling on your own, even more so. Over and above concerns such as safety and money there is another concern often overlooked. Culture shock.
There is so much administration around travelling and so many fears that the logistics aspects of your trip may go wrong that often we don’t explore our feelings around travel.
Usually we start with the excitement of departing but soon after leaving our comfortable safe spaces and the daunting prospect of being in foreign lands can outweigh the fun of exploring new places.
Whether you are planning a gap year to travel the world, or planning to study abroad, or join a volunteer program, there are lots of important things to consider about culture shock, including what to do if it happens and also how to avoid it.
Four Stages of Culture Shock
One of the best ways to mitigate culture shock is to be aware of it and prepare for it.
The four stages of culture shock, as out lined by Kalervo Oberg, are: Honeymoon, Crisis, Recovery, Adjustment.
This does not always come in this order and the time spent in each phase is different for everyone.
The honeymoon phase is often characterised by comparing the new country to your home country – and the new country come out tops each time.
You are often excited to explore even mundane aspects of the new county, becoming excited to see how locals react and respond to everyday situations. It is pleasant to live in a country where you are special.
The crisis phase is often characterised difficulty in doing tasks that were simple back home. Language barriers and changes in diet come into sharp relief, as does the absence of your usual support network.
This is minimised by internet access and today’s connected world but decreased physical interaction and having to explain your life story to strangers in order for them to understand your current predicament becomes taxing.
Recovery is an ongoing practice that leads to the final stage, adjustment. The recovery phase could take long and will decide whether you survive in your new environment.
This phase is characterised by small adjustments to the way you think and live that will help you integrate and feel accepted by your new community.
Advice for Dealing with Culture Shock
Travel with a Group
Often, students who travel with others or as part of group tours do not experience culture shock to the same degree as solo travellers. Culture shock has thus been linked to connectedness.
Being around a group of like minded people buffers us from the underlying separations between ourselves and foreign cultures. Culture has more aspects that just different food, music, dress and language.
There are differences in idea around body shape and hair. Ideas around relationships and personal space can also differ and resulting in awkward moments and hilarious anecdotes to tell back home. Understanding these differences will take you closer to the final stage of adjustment.
Choose Where You Go Carefully
If for example it is your first time away from home and you only speak English, do you really want to be left to your own devices somewhere like China, Brazil or India? Maybe it is safer and more relaxed to stay somewhere where you can speak the language e.g Australia, Canada or South Africa.
Keep in Touch with Home
Feeling connected to the people at home can also buffer us from the extremes of culture shock. Write home often, link with people on chat programmes and schedule weekly chat sessions. But a better option would be to create genuine connections to the people in your new country.
Be Social
Make friends and meet with them often. Be friendly to locals and open up about your reasons for travel and how you’re feeling. While it is often impossible to completely integrate into a new culture, finding your space in a community will help you make new connections.
Have an Open Mind
Remember, every day is a new opportunity for something new and exciting, try to be open to everything. If you plan a structured trip with a top rated gap year company then you will get in country support to make sure you are happy, safe and comfortable during your trip.