After finding myself rather teary eyed in church this morning, and fairly overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions lately, I decided to google ‘Culture Shock’ afresh. What did I find? Mmmmm…a picture of my life. When I’ve mentioned the term Culture Shock to certain people in the past, it has seemed to them that the term Shock is a little dramatized. Perhaps they are correct. The term Shock implies something that is obvious, dramatic and instantly recognizable; ‘A violent collision or impact’ according to the freedictionary.com. Culture Shock does not seem obvious, instant or very easily recognizable for that matter. It feels more like a slow and unspectacular increase of electrical voltage through your body released over a period of time. It’s unnoticeable at first, but after a while you start to feel more and more uncomfortable without fully understanding why.
So what is Culture Shock exactly? A Wikipedia definition: “Culture shock is the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown culture such as one may encounter in a foreign country. It grows out of the difficulties in assimilating the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not. This is often combined with a dislike for, or even disgust (moral or aesthetic) with certain aspects of the new or different culture.”
What are some of the physical symptoms: too much sleep or too little sleep, eating too much or no appetite, frequent minor illnesses, upset stomach/headaches. Yep, that covers it….constant tiredness, very little appetite (except for Swiss chocolate ;-)
Some of the psychological symptoms of culture shock include: loneliness or boredom, homesickness, idealizing home, feeling helpless and dependent, irritability and even hostility, social withdrawal, excessive concern for health or security, rebellion against rules and authority, feeling like you have no control in your life, feeling unimportant and being a foreigner, crying, negative stereotyping of your host country people. Gosh, that does NOT sound like fun! The crying and a general sense of I-can’t-put-my-finger-on-it disorientation seems to be the order of the day.
Apparently after the difficult ‘I hate my world and want to go home’ withdrawal phase comes the ‘I know how things work’ adjustment phase. I’m looking forward to progressing to the next phase! Alas, for now, recognizing my classic Culture Shock symptoms helps to know that I’m still fairly normal, I have not made a mistake and that this too shall pass. Until then, I look forward to moving to my more long term housing next Saturday where I will finally be able to unpack everything so I will be able to find my stuff when I need it!
